Introducing 'Urban Networks - Network Urbanism'

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11Introduction

Introducing Urban Networks Network Urbanism

Jeroen van Schaick and Ina Klaasen

Gabriel Dupuy: an oeuvre

It is not easy to boil down the work o 30 years in a single book. Gabriel Dupuys ascination with the

relation between the technical proessions and urbanism started early, exemplifed by his doctorate

thesis and frst bookUrbanisme et Technique, Chronique dun Mariage de Raison (Urbanism and Technique:

Chronicle o A Marriage o Convenience) rom 1978. During the 1980s he became interested not only

in the role o techniques (e.g. calculating size and structure o conduits, modelling tra c, simulating

urbanization), but also in the role o technology in urbanism, i.e. the role o physical networks in urban

development. Using the notion o networks, the work o Gabriel Dupuy has broadened over time in the

sense that he has treated a network not just as a physical object, but also as a concept. Moreover, he

has shown that network thinking is a necessary element o urban planning in the 21st century.

The work o Gabriel Dupuy has gained considerable depth over the years because o three things

mainly. Firstly, his work radiates a thorough understanding o historical developments, as illustrated by

his integral treatment o the coming into being o networks, the development o underlying concepts

through cross-sectoral and cross-border knowledge transers and the changes in physical structure o

networks. Secondly, his in-depth dealing with case studies, sometimes holistic, sometimes to illustrate

specifc concepts and arguments, has enriched his theoretical groundwork. Thirdly, his detailed study

o both the automobile system and ICTs links his theoretical work to the policy agendas o today and

tomorrow.

Until now though, much o Dupuys publications were only available in French and Spanish. This book

aims to introduce his network thinking, in its depth and its width, to an English-reading audience.

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Urban Networks Network Urbanism12

1990 was an important year or Gabriel Dupuy. It was the year that he ounded the magazine Flux, a

journal that is especially concerned with the ways in which networks are designed, regulated and

operated, as well as the relationship between networks and the territories they serve. As such, Fluxis

one o the ew academic publications in French which specializes in the feld o town planning. (http://

latts.cnrs.r, accessed July 2008). Moreover, 1990 was the year that he wrote LUrbanisme des Rseaux

(Urbanism o Networks; Dupuy, 1991a). In that book, Gabriel Dupuy translated his work on technical

networks into a study on network thinking in the feld o urbanism, reacting to what he perceived as a

crisis in the feld o urban planning.

The crisis that Dupuy signalled at the start o the 1990s has not been overcome. The conict between

urban planning based on an areolar conception o space (i.e. based on zones, boundaries and edges,

see p.65) and urban planning viewed rom a network-based conception o space is still very much alive.

Networks, both as object and as concept, are still not seen as part and parcel o mainstream urbanism.

However, since 1990, some things have changed. It seems that a shi t in spatial planning is taking placetowards relational thinking, i.e. towards network thinking.

A shift in spatial planning

In 2007 the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrantdeveloped a list o 50 subjects-every-Dutchman-should-

know-about-science-and-technology. One o those 50 subjects published in 2008 in book edition

was Techniek en Stadsontwikkeling (Technology and urban development). Van Klee (2008) explains

that nowadays technology is still oten invisible in urban designs and plans, despite the real, although

intricate relation between the development o technical networks and the development o the city.

But this is not the only reason to re-examine networks in light o urban design and planning.

In addition to this view o networks as physical things that re-organize time and space a viewpoint

commented upon by Dupuy (2005: 120-122) Albrechts and Mandelbaum (2004: v-vii) show two

other important strands o network thinking in relation to spatial planning. On the one hand, network



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13Introduction

thinking can be seen as a new paradigm as ar ranging as shown by the term the network society

that conronts spatial planning with a challenge or undamental change in light o a new context. On

the other hand, network thinking has direct implications or the way planning processes are organized

requiring governance styles that include a range o stakeholders organizing themselves in networks.

However, Albrechts and Mandelbaum also show that physically-oriented thinking, paradigmatic

thinking and social network-oriented thinking are sometimes as ar removed rom each other rom

each other as zonal thinking and network thinking are in spatial planning (see Chapter 1).

Moreover, authors on network thinking seem to be split up in, on the one hand, a group that sees a

new kind o society developing based on new networked structures and, on the other hand, a group

that thinks o networks as undamental structures in any society rather than as something recent. The

ormer sees networks as an organization orm with characteristics such as oot-looseness and virtuality

that is replacing old organization orms. The latter emphasizes the durability o physical structures.

There are also those in the middle that see networks as undamental to human society and at thesame time see dramatic partially technology-driven changes in the intensity, scale, multiplicity

and complexity o networked organization orms. This standpoint implies that there are strong links

between the three dierent types o network thinking. However, literature that bridges the gaps

between physically-oriented thinking, paradigmatic thinking and social-network-oriented thinking is

scarce.

Where then can we place the work by Gabriel Dupuy? Three issues are important to understand his

position. Firstly, Dupuys background in planning is grounded in engineering. Secondly, France has

a long-standing tradition o spatial planning or regional and urban development () carried out by

the central government or by local governments (Ministre des Aaires trangres, 2006: 50). Thirdly,

France is known or its tradition o prospective research and scenario development (Drewe, 2008). From

this perspective, Dupuy clearly takes the stand that network thinking is not limited to either seeing

cities as physical networks or to seeing urban planning as interplay o numerous stakeholders. ForDupuy the development o networks in relation to territorial development hangs very much together

with parallel changes in organizational structure and stakeholder involvement.



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The structure of the book

Urban Networks Network Urbanism consists o fve Parts. A number o the core Chapters o Dupuys

bookLUrbanisme des Rseaux(1991) have been selected or Part 1. In these Chapters the history and

theory o network thinking in the context o urban planning are addressed supplying the theoretical

basis or this book. In the frst Chapter the ocus is on the history o network urbanism: a re- examination

o urban planning classics highlighting the way their authors dealt with network thinking. Also attention

is paid to a number o people outside the world o urban planning who developed some o the early

urban technical networks. While explaining what these networks meant or urban development, in

this Chapter a frst step is taken in developing a network concept or urban planning based on the

concepts topology, kinetics and adaptivity. In the second Chapter a theory o network urbanism

is built that provides grounds and arguments or urban planning in the network age. The concept

o network operators is developed and the three levels on which they operate are defned: physicalnetworks, unctional networks and household networks. The third Chapter introduces the concept

network territory. Dupuy argues here that technical networks have introduced into our societies a

new, predominant orm o territoriality that urban planning, as a rule, ailed to acknowledge, without

claiming that this is the only remaining orm o territoriality (p. 66). The fnal Chapter o Part 1 elaborates

on the problems connected with the use o network maps. Using examples rom the early days o

computational visualization tools, it explains that there is a undamental conict between network

maps and their usability or urban planners.

The Chapters chosen or Part 2 adaptations o articles mostly predating 1991 illustrate the lines o

thought leading to the Urbanism o Networks idea. In this part o the book it is shown that network

urbanism needs to be seen in the contex t o territorial development. It extends the concept o network

territory rom Chapter 3 on the basis o our case studies: the encapsulation o Andrsy an outer

suburb o Paris in regional networks, the development o the French road system in light o Americantra c models, the collapse o networks in the Buenos Aires region and the way this is dealt with, and

the cross-border development o the Eurovision radio and television broadcasting network.



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15Introduction

The Chapters in Part 3 and 4 written between 1995 and 2007, ater the publication o LUrbanisme

des Rseaux have been selected to give more depth to the implications o network thinking in urban

and regional territories by ocusing, respectively, on the automobile and on ICTs. Ater a Chapter

that develops the metaphor o the universal adapter or the automobile system, Part 3 elaborates

on the concept o automobile dependence; how it works, how it varies between national, regional

and cultural contexts and how to deal with it. The Chapters in Part 4 address the rise o ICTs. Chapter

13 and 14 explore the conditions o an ICT-miracle, respectively as it developed in Iceland and in

contrast as it did not in Saint Pierre et Miquelon, a number o small French islands an overseas

department close to the Canadian coast. Whereas in Part 3 automobile dependence as a societal

problem is explained as being inherent to the automobile system itsel, in Part 4 the digital divide as

a major societal problem is attributed to the rise o ICTs. The Chapters on ICTs show how the digital

divide is related to other types o divides, in particular ocusing on the digital divide as a geographical

problem as well as a problem o scale.

In the two Chapters o Part 5 the ocus is again on the broader question o urban planning, revisiting

the original ideas about an Urbanism o Networks as set out in Part 1. The conditions under which

network urbanism has to operate in the 21st century are summarized in Chapter 18. A number o

challenges or urban planning are pointed out: changes o scale, continuing technological progress,

the development o two-track cities and the reality o deregulation. Chapter 19 subsequently sketches

the contours and possible ingredients o network urbanism or the uture by elaborating on a number

o key concepts.

Concluding remarks

All Chapters, except or Chapter 19, have been previously published, albeit some in an earlier version

and/or in French and Spanish. So the book has not been written as a monograph and should be read

as a collection o articles. Still, cross-reerences between Chapters may help the reader to see that the

Chapters are strongly interrelated. In view o this interrelation it was decided to put the reerences

together at the end o the book instead o at the end o each Chapter.



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Throughout the book the reader will fnd a number o text boxes. These white texts on dark backgrounds

showcase ideas citations rom authors who have inuenced Gabriel Dupuys way o thinking. The

attentive reader will see that they reer to some o the key concepts used throughout Urban Networks

Network Urbanism. In addition, numbered boxes inside the Chapters unction as particular illustrations

and are reerenced in the text.

As said, the goal o this book is to open up a mainly French oeuvre to an English-reading audience:

twelve o the nineteen Chapters are frst-time English translations. So Urban Networks Network

Urbanism should also be o interest to readers who came across publications by Dupuy in English

beore and would like to get a better understanding o his views on urban planning. In addition, the

French avour o the case studies - and the mix o Anglo-Saxon, Hispanic and French reerences - might

help in discovering the richness o the French discourse on geography and spatial planning.


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