statement• Claim the city –

• This process and approach into decoding and challenging the urban fabric of the city’s cultural and physical structure has been simultaneously challenging and informative. By utilising the methods of observation and participation I have begun the process of deconstructing the boundaries and make up surrounding the concepts of private and public space. Through various acts of occupation and interaction we are able to interpret how these systems of investigation influence the reading of particular spaces and their uses within the public arena. The importance of the individual has become clear. Giving an individual a voice – wether it be through a scrabble game, a simple bodily occupation or by writing on the footpath with water- facilitates a deeper analysis of space, in both a static and performative sense, and how these concepts build the stage and foundation to begin to re-‘claim the city’ from an individuals perspective.

• My interest lies not in the act of these somewhat intrusive encounters but more so in how we as

designers can ultimately choreograph and manipulate the functions and flow of the city landscape.

Engagement with the city’s surface is a means of

communication and expression. Although many actions are deemed illegal - the traces left behind add

texture to the fabric of our city landscape.

Informal visual details help us to take a pause and look -

giving us time to consider and engage with our

surroundings.

Through simple actions and connections with the surface of the

city we are representing the voice of the

individual.

By challenging the structure of public space and encounters -

introducing private actions into the public sphere - a new form of interaction is created.

What was once a everyday footpath becomes the platform for

new encounters.

When combining forces larger scale experiments can be carried

out. Sculptural interventions and actions,

reconfigure public space through the simple act of

occupation.

• Through this research I hope to build a greater knowledge of the dynamics, the flow and the uses of the city’s landscape and how we can bring more diversity into the everyday functions of urban spaces.