2

This is a major study presented to the Department of Architecture of Ox-

ford Brookes University as part of my Major Studies course in my Diploma of

Architecture

Statement of Originality

This Major Study is an original piece of work which is made available for

copying with permission of the Head of the Department of Architecture.

Signed ________________________________________________________

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Harriet Harriss and Dr. Igea Troiani for providing con-

stant help whilst I was writing my research project. I am grateful for all of the

guidance, encouragement and meticulous care given throughout my time

at Brookes. It has all helped me develop more confidence in tackling design

issues whilst enjoying all the qualities of architecture. The knowledge gained

through critiques and discussions with colleagues have been invaluable. The

feedback from many of the guests and the diverse inputs have been vital in

my development.

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Preface

This major study extends my 5th year design project. Titled the “Code Catchers”, it was a place-making col-

location project involving a collaboration between the National Autistic Society and MI5 with the aim to

reduce cyber crime. Criminals with High-Functioning Autism and in particular Asperger’s Syndrome dwell in

cyberspace and operate through cyber communication channels. A place for MI5 and the National Autistic

Society was designed, for the purpose of remedying their lack of social skills and the nurturing of their tal-

ent, often used and expressed in belligerent ways. The distinct abstraction I wish to take and combine with

this major study, is the idea that those with low social skills can utilize digital communication tools to ap-

propriate cyberspace for their own diacritic beliefs and in their own somewhat peculiar ways. This abstrac-

tion from my 5th year project predicates that spaces either virtual or physical can become occupied by an

emergence of diacritic ideas, transforming it into an insurgent space with modern forms of communication

tools.

However, my 5th year project did not address questions on how architecture can be used as a medium for

the proliferation of diacritic beliefs, ideas and knowledge whilst mediating the insurgent transformation

of public space. This major study questions the predicament found between cultural mechanisms and the

appropriation of public spaces. The study will identify and compare traditional and digital forms of commu-

nication that aid in proliferating political, economical and cultural ideas, whilst highlighting the importance

of these tools in the evolutionary nature of culture, it’s contestations and appropriation of public space.

That is, “Can architecture be used to emancipate people from the spread of ideas and trends, that proliferate

through social media and create the insurgent transformations of our public spaces?”

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Contents

Acknowledgements 2

Preface 3

Introduction 6

Memetics: Proliferation of Ideas 8

Memetic: Limitations of Traditional Media 14

Case Study: The East London Federation of the Suffragettes 17

Social Media and the Transcendent Memes 23

Case Study: Occupy St Paul’s Cathedral 26

Utio Meme Viewer 40

Utio Meme Catcher 42

Memetic Appropriation of Public Space 50

Conclusion 52

Bibliography 56

Lexicon 62

List of Figures 66

Appendix 68

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6

Introduction

This thesis intends to initiate a unique response to the growing use of social media and the impact it has on

our public spaces. This design research analyses the point of interaction between the escalation of ideas and

the insurgent spaces and how social media as an instrument, amplifies these public interactions. The ap-

propriation of spaces and the transformation of insurgent public spaces are not an everyday event. Due to

its temporal nature it remains unfamiliar within the city. Jeffery Hou (2010, pg1) who’s research and practice

focuses on design activism and engaging marginalised social groups in the making of public space, wrote

the book Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities which is a key

proponent to this thesis. He’s book makes use of case studies to highlight instances of how insurgent public

spaces occur across the world. Examples range from community gardening in Seattle and Los Angeles,

street dancing in Beijing, to the transformation of parking spaces into temporary parks in San Francisco. This

thesis subscribes to Hou’s (2010, pg.4) assertion that spaces of insurgency are no longer delimited to the

archetypes, codes or categories found in public spaces. Instead they become a place of public expressions;

a common ground where our collective senses are developed and expressed. These public expressions and

ideas tend to have a memetic agenda of wanting to be proliferated as far and as fast as possible. With this

assertion, the research intends to ascertain an understanding of the transformation from public spaces to

insurgent spaces, through the ideas and expressions proliferating out of social media tools. I will be analys-

ing the creation of insurgent spaces using the study of cultural evolution and memetics. Susan Blackmore

(1999, pg.1), a prominent memeticist, who’s work has made a large contribution to the field of memetics.

She makes an assertion in her book The Meme Machine that culture has an evolutionary model consisting

of small units of information that are called memes. Memes are what genes are to the human body and cul-

tural information in it self has the same selfish desire as the gene in wanting to be replicated and multiplied.

However with social media and modern communication tools, how fast do these memes travel and what

behaviours do they possess that may affect our public space?

By using the theory of memetics this thesis will have a safe conceptual scheme in which to identify and

examine the interactions and the implications of social media in public spaces. I will be using case studies to

better understand the impact surges of cultural information through modern and traditional channels have

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on our spaces. It predicates an attempt to address the question of whether architecture can be used as a

medium for cultural diplomacy, and an agent to emancipate people from dominant trends in culture and in

space. I will focus on how traditional tools of communication were used to strategically channel ideas of po-

litical movements and social issues in public spaces. In comparison, I will examine how modern digital tools

of communication have aided, amplified and instrumented the reclamation and appropriation of public

space for the transformation of insurgent spaces. This premise underpins the design research investigation

ratifying this body of work.

“These instances of self-made urban spaces, reclaimed and appropriated sites, temporary events, and flash

mobs, as well as informal gathering places created by predominantly marginalised communities, have pro-

vided new expressions of the collective realms in the contemporary city.” (Hou, 2010, pg.2).

I have not found any work on how memetics can illuminate the transcendent nature of social media. As a

case study I will be thoroughly analysing the build up to the protests outside of St Paul’s Cathedral at Tent

City. I intend to address how the social aspect of these communication channels eventually appropriate

the public space through the proliferation of these contagious viral like pieces of information. As part of a

secondary case study I will carry out extensive library research to identify the key events in the struggle the

Suffragettes endured whilst trying to proliferate their message, and the restrictions their information faced

from spreading further.

I will make observations of the public interactions between the meme’s physical form, which is the meme

that surfaces to the real world from social media and its interaction with Tent City. The length of time the

public spend and the interest shown to the signs, information and protestors will be well observed and

backed with a survey. I will also observe the movement of the protestors and how they appropriated the

space, and how much of that appropriation and behaviour lends it self to the meme’s level of social media

presence.

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Memetics: Proliferation of Ideas

“God exists, if only in the form of a meme with high survival value, or infective power, in the environment

provided by human culture.” (Dawkins, 1976, p.193)

“Meme, An element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, esp. imita-

tion.” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2010, http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meme).

Culture is constructed entirely from information that once stood in its place, formed from fragments of hu-

man intellectual thought or a collective unconscious from the outside world. It serves as a purpose through

being a transmitter of information and as background noise humming through space. Memetics help

analyse ideas, behaviours or styles that spread from person to person within a culture. The term ‘meme’, first

coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, has today almost reached the level of com-

mon language, if not common acceptance for its place as a legitimate cultural construct. A meme is a unit of

cultural information that spreads across space. This study will look at the spread of cultural information that

affects our public space and how it proliferates and replicates itself. Whether through the excellence of taste

in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture or an integrated pattern of human knowledge,

belief, and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning. Within

culture is a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization,

or group.

As a measurement of culture, a memeticist monitors and uses their ability to separate seminal thoughts

from background noise to understand how the spread of mental content happens. A memeticist believes

that a cognitive connection exists between the human unconscious and the living structure of knowledge

in our abstract spaces. Through an analytical approach the memeticist would use his ability to view the

channel of communication between the human conscious and the structure of knowledge as a platform of

human expression. To view existing spaces of information and looking at its condition helps create a greater

understanding of the mechanisms used to pass information in space. This would shed light on the process

of communication in the modern era, which leads to concerns about how physical space is treated, and how

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well information is passed before it reaches us, and whether our existing methods of communication that

makes our culture creates synchronicity or dissent.

A memeticist thoroughly interrogates our communication portals. Channels of communication funnel

information that inadvertently render our physical spaces. The quality of our spaces can be correlated to the

quality of the information we receive from the channels of communication. Whether or not these communi-

cation channels help in creating the culture depends on how well connected we are and if the connected-

ness of us in space does not degrade the quality of the information as it passes through. The use of memet-

ics is increasing rapidly and the application of memetics are spreading across multiple disciplines. It is used

as an approach to evolutionary models for cultural information transfer (Gulas, 2004, pg.3). I have chosen

this method to analyse the effects of social media on public spaces. By determining what the behaviours

and patterns are of memes whilst contesting in there respective evolutionary models, it can help describe

it’s space and the environment in which these behaviours and patterns occur. What are the socio-spatial

boundaries for the meme’s replications? What is the meme physically up against? Has the meme set up a

new temporal re-configurations of the space? What are the general perceptions of the meme and what are

the implications of the new topology that the meme create whilst replicating in public space? In culture and

commercialism, the principles of memetics are translated into the artificial world and put into practice for

human benefit and use. In architecture, we can use memetics to help answer a few questions that, issues

regarding the city and an increasingly techno-socially engaged public space, may pose.

An example of memetic processes can be found in commercialism, when entering the Apple Mac Store

in Oxford Street, London; you enter a space that is more unified, you’re amongst people with a common

function, interest and purpose. The ‘transcendent’ nature of the space caused by the memetic agent in the

customers mind and the cultural make up of the app store; uncovers a patriarchal space that proselytizes

the meme and eventually helps sell more products. Like in commercialism, companies use memetic strate-

gies to help there products survive competition, as does social media as it enters the physical space, it uses

memetic models to help there memes survive competition.

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A meme can also take the form of ‘social media content’, such as a ‘tweet’, ‘article’, a ‘picture’ or a ‘Facebook

like’. The memetic makeup of public activity and its rendition of our public spaces is a vital aspect of this

study. As we become more conscious of a memetic structure shaping our cultures through social media the

proliferation of ideas and memes become more accessible as a function of human expression and part of

the everyday life. It is becoming increasingly evident that the gradual development of an enriched media

environment, ubiquitous computing, mobile and wireless communication technologies, as well as the

internet as a non-extraordinary part of our everyday lives, are changing the ways people use cities and live

in them. What is less clear, however, is how these technologies are actually modifying city living and the

fruition of urban spaces. (Aurigi, 2009, p.5). The existence of a memetic structure in culture predicates that

any existing communication channels for memes to pass through makes our spaces highly vulnerable to

memetic exploitation. Diacritic ideas and beliefs multiplying and replicating in digital spaces can and will

surface into the physical world, especially when there is high contestation between varying ideas. Contest-

ing ideas will find a new format of space to contest in until one idea or meme obliterates the other. Susan

Blackmore (1999, pg.93) likens the contestation between memes to natural selection and evolution, that is

the greatest idea prevails. A greater idea does not necessarily mean the truest idea to its context, but the

idea that has been able to acquire the public the most, which can be aided through social media tools.

Social media can shift the contention between memes and ideas from digital spaces to the physical spaces

as part of a new environment where the memes compete for the amount of people to acquire in a totally

different level of contention. For example, two lions from the wild in Sub-Saharan Africa could compete for

a mate or resource, but how integral would the competition be given that those two lions where instead

put in a zoo. The zoo gives a totally different environment for the contention between the two lions and

their subject. The zoo in this case would have infrastructure, walls, barriers, mediators, rangers that feed

them. The parameters of a meme’s evolution change in a different environment. These ideas or memes can

have adverse affects on our public spaces, depending on how viral they are, or rather to which extent social

media amplifies the meme’s replication and spread. A concentrated area of similar memes, or a memeplex

makes the space less public as any newer or other idea has less chance of proselytising (Blackmore, 1999,

pg 187). A single dominant meme can take over a public space and make it inhospitable to any other idea

or meme. These memes can act almost like a virus. “We tend to call something a virus when it is clearly act-

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ing mainly for its own replication by stealing the replicating resource of some other system - and especially

when it does harm to that system. We usually give it a different name when it is useful to us. “(Blackmore,

1999, pg.22).

An open memetic infrastructure for the making of culture can become open for abuse, especially when the

communication channels are so easily available and social media tools makes these communication chan-

nels much more transmittable for memes to go through. The assertions being made is that the evolutionary

model of memes and its subsequent behaviours and characteristics are only out to attract as much people

as possible to help spread it, and will consequently selfishly and ignorantly use the city’s space as a stage to

proselytize itself for replication. The city then becomes highly a permeable to memes and becomes impres-

sionable to the greater meme, where the spaces in the physical world start to harbour more memes just as

in the digital world of social media. The spread of memes and ideas happen through imitation, the memes

acquire people to then be replicated. Ideas spread through the city through imitation. “When you imitate

someone else, something is passed on . This ‘something; can then be passed on again, and again, and so

take on a life its own. We might call this thing an idea, an instruction, a behaviour, a piece of information.”

(Blackmore, 1999, pg.4)

Aurigi asserts (2009, p.140) that in the actual world, our body is the mediator in creating our personal iden-

tity, but when the body is put aside, precisely as it happens in online social interaction, technology replaces

it. Blackmore’s (1999, pg.22) assertion that memes are like viruses leaves the city impressionable to a public

to the point of interaction between the social online world and the physical. Memes can exploit this open

interaction between the two spaces and the affects can amplify much greater and faster than if a meme was

spreading in the physical world alone. This can have adverse dystopian affects, if unregulated and without

an mediation of ideas and beliefs, replication of any meme can take over and create interstitial spaces in

the physical world. The biology of culture and the evolution of ideas through such an unregulated and an

open form of communication creates an uncivil, harsh and dystopian environment. Hou (2010, pg7) states

“While new technologies in telecommunication and media have undermined the importance of place-

based public space, they have also enabled new types of actions and means of public dissent” (Hou, 2010,

pg.7). Memes can also give a public space attachment and define the public by their location. People who

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are defined by a location usually develop an emotional attachment to a particular place. This social identity

is not only defined by socialization but also refers to perceptions in the form of images, memories, facts,

ideas, beliefs, values, and behaviour tendencies relevant to the individual’s existence in the physical world.

(Aurigi, 2009, pg 127). Memes then stitch together the notion of place, and creates the community in public

space, whether the place is a build of memes two hundred years old or from memes relatively new surfac-

ing from social media. Memes in a community and in public space contest for dominance and for resources

to replicate further. In the physical world the contestation becomes ever more prevalent as Donath (1999,

http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html) puts it in the physical world there

is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The

norm is: one body, one identity.” (Donath, 1999, http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/judith/Identity/Identi-

tyDeception.html). A contesting meme wants to dominate and vies for singularity. This can be in a form of

political dissent and violent protests with the aim of uniting as much people under one banner. “The com-

munity is the centrepiece around which all resources, spaces, instruments, and the knowledge contained in

them evolve. That being said, it must also be emphasised that the community is continually being shaped

by the very things it is shaping.” (Aurigi, 2009, pg. 188). Aurigi goes onto say that a there is a commonality

between a community which is the continuum of the knowledge process, in which the boundaries between

individual and collective knowledge are blurred. This assertion goes on to predicate that ideas as a resource

increases in value the more it is used. Unlike physical resources which may deplete with use, such as water

and grazing land, the more knowledge that is created and used in a community, the more useful it becomes.

Wikipedia is an excellent example as it gives people open access to its resources and allows anyone to edit

pages. (Aurigi, 2009, pg.189). Recent evidence has also shown how the quality of resources in Wikipedia

increases the more they are edited (http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/

view/1763/1643 , 2007).

Memes are the product of complex situations and interactions that are expressed in a multichannel way.

Memes are expressed through digital, social and traditional avenues. This study splits the meme into two

forms. The digital meme which is the part of a meme that interacts with other memes inside of cyberspace

and the surfaced meme which is the other part that interacts with its local environment in the physical

space of the city. Both forms of memes share the same traits, behaviours and characteristics but one devel-

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ops and spreads faster than the other due to their respective environment. The study will specifically look at

how invasive the surfaced meme is capable of becoming, whilst quantitatively comparing the memetic level

of the surfaced agent against any consequential heterogenous and interstitial spaces. Splitting the meme

into two forms gives a better insight into the emergence of social media and its physical spatial assemblage.

As social media has different functions and settings, the meme’s characteristics respond differently. For

example, the internet, lacking a physical verification of the self, allows people to create multiple identities if

they wish to. Even if a person does not want to create multiple identities but a single one, the online identity

does not necessarily match the physical identity due to the use of pseudonyms. From this perspective, iden-

tity is constructed through participation in terms of frequency and quality of posts, and digital signatures

(Aurigi, 2009, pg.126). Both of these forms of memes share one great memetic trait, that helps spread ideas

and beliefs across a given space. The altruistic trait of memes help the meme look much more attractive to

replicate. From a cybernetics perspective, one would compare this to the biological model of evolution the

same way a gene amongst a tribe is passed. The altruistic trait of the meme or a gene helps entice the meme

amongst a community to spread it further as those with that piece of information or meme look more gen-

erous and beneficiary to others. The meme becomes more open to a community and anyone willing to take

the meme on would be suitably impressed and may see to gain something out of the generosity through

its altruism (Blackmore, 1999, pg.169). Similarly in commerce, a company would offer incentives to any

potential customers. Not only for the sole act of selling a product but for the company to be seen as gener-

ous, charitable and self-sacrificing for the good of the local community. The altruistic factor in memetics

helps the meme spread amongst a community and specifically targets people within a community because

of its humane characteristic. Royrvik (2000, pg.4) elaborates that instead of genes in the original model of

evolution, memes become the unit of analysis in the exploration of cultural transformation. Large clusters

of memes forming a contextual collective sense of publicness through sharing ideas, information and the

memes transcend the public space. Transcending the public space away from its original context and its

mere functional nature can both have the meme acquire significance whilst creating insurgent spaces.

Gulas (2004, pg.472) states that memetically created transcendent spaces, like churches or Apple stores cre-

ates a sense of union amongst a community, where proliferation is orchestrated harmoniously in a group to

both show the capacity of altruism and strength in exposure. These characteristics further help strengthen

memes and are done both in the digital and the surfaced memes.

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Memetic: Limitations of Traditional Media

Protests appear suddenly in prominent public spaces. The purpose is to stand out in public and create

dramatic, allegorical and parabolic contrast to the context of the space. The act of protesting and the calling

for democracy in public space has a distinctness about it that galvanises the place and animates the city as a

form of public theatre. The dramaturgy of public protesting in the past was a key characteristic of the prolif-

eration of memes and its development over a given space. Fraser argues “It designates a theatre in modern

societies in which political participation is enacted through the medium of talk. It is the space in which citi-

zens deliberate about their common affairs, and hence an institutionalized arena of discursive interaction.”

(Fraser, 1992, pg.110). Fraser also distinguishes public spaces from other spaces. “This arena is conceptually

distinct from the state; it is a site for the production and circulation of discourses that can in principle be

critical for the state.“ (Fraser, 1992, pg.111). By critically subscribing to this assertion, the memetic evolution-

ary structure of culture and information surrounding public spaces predicates that public space is indeed a

space of memetic replication and a harbinger of memes. Susan Blackmore argues that memes are easier to

transmit and replicate when they’re being harbingered by a familiar source or replicator. (Blackmore, 1999,

pg.67). It’s at a familiar space that protesters hope to find a commonality between others that may help

replicate and spread their memes. Acts of protesting and demonstrations don’t require and overburdening

infrastructure or investment, they enable individuals and often small groups to effect changes in the other-

wise hegemonic landscapes (Hou, 2010, pg. 8).

Hou (2010, pg. 11) argues that as cities and their economical, social and political dimensions continue to

change, the functions, meanings, and production of public space have also evolved over time. Hou, con-

tinues to say as urban populations and cultures become more heterogeneous, a growing presence and

recognition of cultural and social differences have made the production and use of public space a highly

contested process. There’s a constant predisposition for memetic contestations between ideas, expressions

and information on our public spaces. Reflecting any current cultural, spatial or cultural changes to our cit-

ies, insurgent public spaces represents a growing array of actions and practices that enable and empower

such contestation.

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Protests and public demonstration through insurgent spaces can help bring human and domestic elements

into public and political life. Despite the contestation of the space and ideas practiced, its a democratic

struggle for ideas, expressions and beliefs. The insurgent space is an amalgamation of hostile memes look-

ing to replicate their ideas further. Relating to an individual, this could be political concern, strife, trying to

make an opinion or meme heard. In the past traditional forms of media and communication channels used

to express ideas were limiting, they were predominantly seen as the antithesis of architecture and the public

space. On the contrary, their role in democratic cities is significant. They exert democratic life in to the city

and provide a healthy contestation of ideas and memes. Memes are the unit of cultural information and if

there is biological and evolutionary traits found in the build up of culture, than surely that’s a sign of good

democratic perseverance for a city. Mitchell states that the openness and freedom offered in the making of

public spaces still requires vigilance and actions. (Mitchell, 2003, pg. 5).

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Figure 1-1. The Suffragettes and their traditional.

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Case Study: The East London Federation of the SuffragettesAt the beginning of the 21st century, a group of radical, militant, working class feminists started The East

London Federation of the Suffragettes. It was a highly provocative movement at the time, which sought

to expose the exploitation and oppression of women in all aspect of day to day life. It was a community

organisation that involved activities aimed at disrupting and challenging the openness of public life and

the preconceptions of women in society at that time. They admitted men and were not only focused on the

right for women to vote. They used military tactics and they actively recruited and roused the poor women

of London. (Winslow, 1996)

The suffragettes carried out numerous campaigns during the start of the 21st century with varying results;

some campaigns were not as successful as others. However, the campaigns led to the appearance of sister

groups, such as the Suffragists who also mimicked the suffragettes in their methodology for demonstra-

tions. Both the Suffragettes and the Suffragists used methods for the sole aim of publicity and demonstra-

tions. The methods were predominantly successful, except the groups where demonstrating in more private

and restricted areas; which areas that were less memetically penetrable. It was during the year 1905 in

Parliament where Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney of The Suffragettes who interrupted a political

meeting in Manchester. They managed to get through security and access to the meeting to ask two Liberal

politicians, Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey if they believed women should have the right to vote.

Both men listened courteously and silently but gave no reply, to which both Pankhurst and Kenny got out

a banner out which said their slogan “Votes for Women”, and they then both went on to shout at the politi-

cians. (Dorling, 2011). There actions were futile and there attempt at spreading their meme was ineffective

with their initial approaches. Their demonstrations in secluded, well guarded and insular private spaces of

parliament led to no memetic value. Neither did their meme spread, replicate or mutate and negotiate into

another meme. The politicians were in this case not ones to replicate anything to.

In 1903 two women Emmeline Pankhurst aged 45 and her daughter Christabe Pankhurst aged 23 got fed up

with the approach, the majority of the feminist movement were taking. The slow and inadequate protest-

ing directed at these men was futile and led to no cultural, social or political change. They instead opted for

18

Figure 1-2. Women Rights Activist, July 31 1914, A Women’s Right activist handing out the ‘Votes for Women’ Newsletter

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a more bolder move. A move that would make a new meme much more powerful. On the end of a dieing

cause the two women set up “Women Social and Political Group” which would see thousands of women

flock to this new group. A group under a new banner and style of protesting, looked for violence and mili-

tant tactics to spread their campaign. They believed violence would give them the results they were look-

ing for. What was interesting is that their gradual lack of patience, their sudden change in approach to their

meme and ideologies led to an increase in recruits. The initial peaceful campaign and the respective meme

spread through street handouts, pamphlets and leaflets. However, these forms of traditional communica-

tion tools had ill effect in a society were even the medical profession painted women as being incapable of

working in indelicate places. (Dorling, 2011)

The Daily Mail, a prominent newspaper at the time, printed out an article which seemed to have sarcasti-

cally coined the term ‘Suffragette’ for any woman that was part of the movement. The women gained

momentum, and the meme was mutating in a direction that wasn’t in one it was in before. A great orator of

her time, in a speech at the Albert Hall, London on October 17, 1912 Emmeline Pankhurst declared “I say to

the Government: You have not dared to take the leaders of Ulster for their incitement to rebellion. Take me

if you dare.” (Dorling, 2011) Emmeline became the chief proponent of their meme, and any meme joining

or otherwise would go through her to be replicated and evolve. The violence continued and many were

arrested and imprisoned. Many of the imprisoned went through hunger strikes, acts of self mutilation were

part of spreading the meme and Emmeline amplified these acts by rewarding the women who went on

hunger strike with the ‘Suffragette hunger strike medal’, which had the name and date of the woman and

when they went on hunger strike. (Dorling, 2011) This meme was avoided all possible threats and instead

grew stronger. Although the meme was very strong, partly because it involved an absolute human right, it

did however struggle by having to go through physical contestation, to be heard and reciprocated. It grew

not through social procurement, or persuasive memetic tactics but through radical, militant and insurgent

techniques. Traditional media did not compel the public to the meme, and the public were not as exploita-

ble to a meme through traditional media. Print media did not connect ideas and beliefs, it was only through

the strengthening of those who were already aware of the meme but were not fully committed. With The

meme gaining little exposure the poor single down trodden mothers where one of the only group of people

that the meme could attract.

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Figure 1-3. The Suffragettes Poster, July 31 1914, Poster depicts Force Feeding of the Suffragettes to quell and martyrdom.

Figure 1-4. The Suffragettes Newsletter, July 31 1914, Poster depicts Force Feeding of the Suffragettes to quell and martyrdom.

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The problem I found whilst researching the memetic behaviour through traditional forms of communication

and past events is that, the public were not as aware of the meme’s spread. There was no monitoring de-

vice, one could use to monitor the growth of the meme. Any observation of the memes growth was limited

and were only made possible through the human rights abuses the women endured and was reported of. I

believe it was vital that the speed, spread and growth-rate of their meme had to have been noticed by the

public for it to have developed more successfully and to effectively polarize the public. A visible and notice-

able measurement of the meme is a factor that would have led to greater public awareness, regardless of

whether the public agreed or not. A monitoring device or a greater outlet for the meme to surface onto

would have made a greater difference as more people would have been aware and exposed to the meme.

Unlike today, communication channels have far more memetic output such as the Television and the Inter-

net. It was only through word of mouth and communal organisations that the memes of the women’s rights

as a political and social belief that the Suffragettes could spread the idea and have it replicated by enough

people for the meme to grow in a favourable and congruous size.

Figure 1-5. A variety of pamphlets as a traditional form of communication for the building of the Suffragettes memetic strategy in improving Women’s Rights in Society and Parliament. These were handed out during demonstrations, before the violence and chaos that later started.

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Figure 1-6. Social media tools proliferate and amplifies ideas, images, opinions and memes.

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Social Media and the Transcendent Memes

Social networking sites allow individuals to build a public or semi-public profile, articulate a list of other us-

ers in the network with whom they share a connection and view and traverse this list. As the member base

of these sites grows, so does the general accessibility as people have more and more sophisticated devices

to connect to these sites with. (Boyd, 2007, http://www.danah.org/papers/KnowledgeTree.pdf ).

“Since the rise of Social media it has become increasingly clear that the gradual development of an enriched

media environment, ubiquitous computing, mobile and wireless communication technologies, as well as

the Internet as a normal part of our everyday lives, are all changing the ways people use cities and live in

them”. (Aurigi, 2009, pg. 5). Social media works to enable, amplify and drive new forms of in this case, politi-

cal, cultural and social interaction; mutating or evolving how we have communicated, allowing for new

forms of civic interaction and habitation. This makes our new cities an ideal place for memes to pass into

and through the new forms of communication channels.

Lynch (1996, pg .6) characterises memetics as a new criterion for how ideas proselytises and ‘acquire’ people,

which goes against the traditional notion that ideas ‘acquire’ people. I find this resonates well with the case

study of the Suffragettes and how the failure of their meme replicating was due to this paradigm shift. Their

way of spreading their meme gravitated towards militancy and violence, which is where the meme’s growth

stalled for over 35 years before the Suffragettes could see change. The militancy shifted the paradigm from

their meme ‘acquiring’ the public - to the suffragettes trying to ‘acquire’ an idea. Their militancy and violence,

saw public spaces being appropriated and caused demonstrations to be less heard and weakening the ef-

fect of their proselytising meme. Their meme and ideas had no effective form of communication to travel

and spread through. The nonexistence of a suitable tool for their idea or meme to acquire the public was

one of their toughest set backs and proved a challenge for their meme’s growth. I believe this was largely

due to the ineffective media of that time, such as print, symbolism and the lack of tools to have a meme

replicate and be monitored, creating insufficient success. None of these mediums had an effective form of

tracking their meme’s growth.

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People reflect the places they inhabit because places interpenetrate the human body, heart, and mind.

Fundamentally places matter. But so often, they are invisible, simply there. Places do not come into con-

sciousness unless their inhabitants experience them as distressed, as rapidly changing, or as exception-

ally beautiful. In modern Western cultures, in which the virtual becomes more real every day and in which

professional sand experts have taken over the making of the spatial world, places have become the back-

ground of everyday life, neutral and inevitable. But such perceptions, or lack thereof, belie the unremitting

presence of place in human life, especially for those confined, literally, in the margins of society. (Kemp,

2011, pg .1). Social media is decentralised, abides to no rules and has no central governance, power is given

to the public. Social media is made up of those that can replicate a meme harboured by and from social

media that can then pass them meme on in physical space. Therefore, making the city permeable to viral

information. Over 50 million tweets a day and 15 million Twitter users in the UK alone, social media is accu-

mulating a massive amount of textual content, cultural information and value (Parr, 2010, http://mashable.

com/2010/02/22/twitter-50-million-tweets/ ). Over time the memes that live and interact in social media

have built themselves a vast infrastructure, for the sole purpose of infecting citizens and spread as far out as

possible. Ignorant to our local environment the meme infects the citizen and takes over there identity, from

the destruction of public spaces in Tottenham during the London Riots to the mobilisation of people during

Flash Mobs in New York; social media is having an increasing affect on our spaces.

For the sake of clarity, social media refers to digital devices and communication technology used to access

social networking sites where cultural information circulates and is sent back out through devices to form

part of the physical world. Memetic analysis of key events in a cultural context through the use of social

media can help identify the interaction between the contestation of ideas prevalent in social media. Signs

of memetic growth over time is much more visible, both textually and well documented and referenced

through web pages. Traditional media tools had no effective way of verifying the growth of a meme. Social

media allows us to observe and analyse a meme qualitatively and quantitatively. Digital tools allow us to use

the power of search to yield data that helps us make better decisions over whether we should replicate a

meme or not. It gives us far more information about a particular idea, opinion or a political movement than

traditional media did in the past.

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Figure 1-7. Social media impulses during the day of November 18th 2011 showing meme replications.

Social media provides for a more democratic platform, with accessibility to opinion and provision of feed-

back incredibly easy compared to traditional tools of communication did in replicating memes. The value

of ideas can be highlighted through their growth values and be turned into quantitative data. This can be

formally extrapolated and used in decision based tasks, but the data can also exploit public space and cause

appropriation. Social media is a open tool and many make the most of it in their own way.

November 18th 2011, 13:00. Social media pulses showing digital memes over the afternoon, with a low rate of replication, stated in re-tweets of the meme hash tagged #occupylondon.

November 18th 2011, 18:00. The evening shows a higher rate of replication, growth and inheritance. The rate of replication and growth shows a very physical attribute to time and space. Hash tags of #occupylon-don.

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Case Study: Occupy St Paul’s CathedralAt the time of writing this thesis, the public space outside of Saint Paul’s Cathedral had been occupied since

October 2011 up until February 2012. I had been fortunate enough to be able take multiple site visits and

document the occupation of the space through photographic documentation, extensive internet research

and read numerous news articles on it.

The public space outside of St Paul’s Cathedral’s had been occupied by a meme originating from a much

wider movement from the United States of America. The primary word ‘occupy’ of the ‘occupy’ meme

became the word of the year in 2011 (Zennie, 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083898/

Occupy-camps-2011s-word-year--conquering-99-percent-job-creators.html) which has coagulates the

memetic phenomena that social media predisposes in our modern time. The ‘occupy’ meme has taken the

form of a written word, which is ‘occupy’ and has spread in this form through out the internet and digital

communication devices. The meme first started as ‘Occupy Wall St’ and later evolved, mutated and multi-

plied in different variations from the original ‘occupy’ meme. There has been ‘Occupy Nigeria’, ‘Occupy Chile’,

‘Occupy Poland’ but the variation this thesis focuses on is the one variation of the ‘Occupy St Paul’s’. The

‘Occupy St Paul’s’ meme in its diacritical context has caused controversy, angst and contestation between

opposing beliefs and ideas relating to the physical space it has appropriate. ‘Occupy London’, which was

a derivative before it became ‘Occupy St Paul’s’ had come from an international political and democratic

struggle relating to the increasing gap between the rich and the poor in America. This meme later grew in

strength through the absorption of many other diacritic beliefs, opinions and ideas linked to mainstream

political issues and world affairs. Many political issues or smaller memes such as the anti-war and student

fee’s protesters became part of and under the ‘occupy’ meme banner. St Paul’s Cathedral became the hub or

nurturing ground for this growing meme, and it was established as the site for the ‘Occupy’ meme because

it challenged the traditional and cultural make up of the space, which was about religion and all of its tenets

that kept the public secure from harm in the past. It became the platform of political expression, ideas and

opinions where people could voice their opinions and it opened up a physical manifestation of the digital

meme that was being communicated on the internet around the world.

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Just as the Suffragettes did, the ‘occupiers’ sought refuge within the public by demonstrating and proselytis-

ing their meme in a place where high contestation for cultural make up. St Paul’s became a battleground

for memetic contestation in a physical environment. Blackmore (1999), who asserts that a place of high

memetic value can be seen through the many contesting ideas and opinions fighting for supremacy over

a given territory becomes a place also known as a memeplex where idea’s vow to acquire the public, each

person becoming a node in the interlocking intricacies of the memes structure to replicate. Lynch’s (1996)

criterion in memetics for idea’s acquiring the public became ever more clear through observing the ‘occupy’

camp when seeing people from different classes, races and ages be attracted by the ideas emitting from this

place, that they could also join and learn more about.

For those that had subscribed to the meme initially through digital communication channels linked to ‘St

Paul’s’, the manifesting memeplex transcended the public space, and made it a place of worship for their

meme. An assertion can be made that the digital communication channels have aided the public outside

of this small space in lending their energy and willingness for their meme, just by merely being exposed to

it through these channels. Unlike the suffragettes who had little or no complex communication channels

during their time, the mechanism for exposing their meme in their memetic strategies largely failed. With

social media how ever the transcendence of the place was aided by a meme that became ever more ubiq-

uitous and godly, growing larger through just being exposed to the public through social media. People

communicating in and out of the memeplex in St Paul’s were almost having an asynchronous communica-

tion channel with god, one would relate this transcendent feeling aptly with the cathedral it was inhabiting

quite successfully.

Unlike the Suffragettes case study where the meme contested through proselytising the human rights of

women, a large predisposition of the occupy protesters where fuelled largely by a memetic take-over, and

what Blackmore (1999, pg.188) calls a memeplex. I can see this by identifying certain trend statistics on

keyword search based analytical tools and mapping them out to ground based correspondent journalists.

On Monday 31st of October the Guardian (2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/31/dean-st-pauls-

resigns-occupy) reported that the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral had resigned over the ‘occupy’ protest. The

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article also reported that the bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres had said he wanted “St Paul’s to find

a place in modern public life as pivotal as that it had during bombing of London in the second world war,

when it was a symbol of Blitz defiance.” The occupy movement deliberately challenged St Paul’s transcend-

ent meme or belief in religion to help join and replicate their meme. This was an obvious contestation of

space between “modern public life” as Dr Richard Chartres (2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/

oct/31/dean-st-pauls-resigns-occupy) put it and the memetic make up of the public space outside St Paul’s

Cathedral. The FIGURE on the opposite page shows a search result using Google Trends that shows a com-

parison between the two memes. The thickness of the graph line over time shows the contestation between

the memes. This exercise demonstrates that social media can have its communication channels analysed,

which in this case exposes the memetic make up of this space over time. Key events show that social media

can have an effect on the public space. I had a look at the time line of the meme, ‘Occupy London’; shown

in the next page. I saw a peak in the memetic replication or popularity, which helped the meme break geo-

spatial boundaries and spread to Cardiff, Wales. Having had a site visit. I saw over 30 tents erected, trans-

forming public space, right across the north facing side of St Paul’s Cathedral, parallel to Starbucks’s WiFi

signal, which ironically provides the protesters with free internet. The place dubbed Tent City, is a small com-

munity of protesters with different tents designated a certain functionality, i.e. One tent was an information

hub for people interested in the protest and another was a small cafe. There where many anti-corporation

signs, posters, QR codes, A4 print outs laminated and stuck on the existing architecture. Many of the people

had Guy Fawkes masks on, which is a mergence of existing memes already there.

I surveyed 16 protesters at Tent City and over 60% of them had organised most of the camping material,

events and living instructions through the internet. I found that they had been communicated within Tent

City through social media tools, keeping interested people updated through the medium of vlogging and

making video diaries that were published to the web. I also found that most of the activity at Tent City

was documented and blogged about as it happened through Twitter. So not only does the meme spread

through digital communication channels, but the data shows its exposure levels, confirming the meme’s

strength and making it more likely to spread even more amongst the predominant media outlets such as

the BBC. You can find the survey at the back of this thesis in Appendix 1.

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1/11/11 Eviction NoticeOccupy Spreads to Cardiff

‘Occupy London, St Paul’s, a brief account of the Occupy London protest at St Paul’s Cathedral’s ‘Tent City’ with two key peaks in its memetic replication. The thickness of the above line expresses the level of the memetic replication across digital devices (using Google trends) with an increase in the appro-priation of public space across St Paul’s Cathedral.

30/11/11

‘OccupyLondon’

‘StPaulsCathedral’

St Paul’s Cathedral

StarbucksFREE Internet

Wi-Fi Signal

Figure 1-8. St Paul’s Cathedral and the memetic timeline of key peak replications.

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Figure 1-9. 1:2500 site plan of St Paul’s Cathedral.

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court

Figure 1-10. St Paul’s Public Space

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33

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35

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Figure 1-11. The public stopping by the walk through onto St Paul’s Underground station were drawn into the campus fac-ing the Cathedrals Northern facade.

Figure 1-13. St Paul’s entrance had a visible sign of a memeplex appropriating physical space. A large amount of the information gathered here had been from the internet and occupiers set up their tents engulfing the entire space.

Figure 1-12. Tents were a clear sign of an occupation and the space perpendicular to St Paul’s Cathedral and a walk-through to the station had been appropriated.

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Figure 1-15. There was purpose built tents for spreading the meme through traditional media too. Pamphlets, Discussion space and a Shop selling self published books were an attempt at drawing the public in to learn more about the surfaced meme as opposed to be put off by the spatial appropriation in public space.

Figure 1-14. Tents were a clear sign of an occupation and the space perpendicular to St Paul’s Cathedral and a walk-through to the station had been appropriated.

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Figure 1-16. an open public camp, handing out refreshments and food to the public.

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Figure 1-17. Surfaces memes in the form of print media decorate the existing building with varying memes.

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Utio Meme ViewerI built a web application that positions tweets on a map relative to where they were tweeted from. The

web app was built over the Christmas holiday of 2012 and is located at http://ut.io. Although, as of writing

this thesis, Useful Terminal Input Output or Ut.io is still incomplete in some of its features, what it does do

is sufficient for this research. It has validated that there is memetic data over a certain space. In this case, it

has shown that there is social media activity over St Paul’s Cathedral and its surrounding public space in a

specific meme, the ‘occupy’ meme.

Blackmore’s (1999, pg.186) subscription to memeplexes being a heap of amalgamated memes forming one

concentrated area, manifesting their own built-in defence mechanisms for not letting intruding memes can

be seen at the ‘Occupy St Paul’s’ meme. Utio helps visualise the memeplex. The visualization of a memeplex

helps identify the source to which social media will help surface the digital meme into the physical public

space. This does several things for us as architect’s it shows there is cultural concern, and enough of it over

a certain public spaces; it shows what exactly the key concerns are and helps facilitate discussions, ideas

and disputes. With its current state it does enough to search for one or more keywords or memes and finds

contestation and appropriation of space, either in physical or digital space. I hope to continue working on it

after this thesis by making Utio analyse and identify the key attributes and characteristics of a given meme

and contrasting it to the memetic makeup of its local public space. Besides identifying memeplex, I think

there is a tremendous amount more one could do, with the data that is given from a comparison made be-

tween the memetic make up of a given space and a meme. For example how would the characteristics, simi-

larities and differences between public space and the current cultural ideas of that space help build better

architecture both socially and physically or help mediate between the two differences and the contestation

caused. This would be for later research and stretches out of the scope of this thesis. However, Utio provides

enough for me to see that there is memetic contestation over St Paul’s Cathedral and the memes are taking

physical appropriation. So I will be designing a brief that addresses the memetic contestation created by

social media. As all of the data on Utio is channelled through social media tools and other technologies that

can make use of this data

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http://ut.io

Geo-spatial search engine verifying social media activity over a space. The red dots represent memes that are pro-war and the black dots represent the ‘occupy’ meme. This also shows the level of contestation with the amount of black dots versus the amount of red dots.

Utio can provide a pattern of surfaced agents, across St Paul’s Cathedral. The findings will be cross compared with the survey of the public and the interview of the protest-ers. A pattern drawn across the city would also allow me to see the concentration level of memeplexes that may be the precursor for creation of interstitial spaces. The asser-tion made is that enough memes in one spot can leave the space exposed for spatial appropriation.

Figure 1-18. ut.io meme mapper created by Sirwan Qutbi, showing digital memes across a space.

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Utio Meme CatcherBesides coding and creating the Utio Meme Viewer, I decided to compliment it by designing a tool that

would help capture more memes across the physical space and channel through social media tools. An

iPhone application would help capture more memes and create a memeplex for both the architect and the

public to be aware of.

An idea, an opinion could then be more mediated, discussed and negotiated through social media before it

starts to unconsciously get stronger without being detected. So the purpose of this app is to capture unde-

tected memes and insert it into a democratic memeplex. Social media has a far greater platform for demo-

cratic and for free expressions to take place than the appropriation or contesting of physical spaces. Used to

monitor all memes across a given space, for every meme or idea to have an equal amount of exposure time.

Every meme observed through the device will have an opposing meme show up. In a way where it shows

relevant context but with opposite views to the subject meme. I have story boarded the use of the iPhone

app in its physical public context and how its use would help expose memes to people with different ideas

and negotiate the process of communication through social media.

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Tent City, St Paul’s Cathedral,

Tweet : #OccupyLondon

Meme

Digital Agent

Surfaced AgentThis QR code is a digital representation of the meme linking the digital with the physical space.

Part of a Meme that Proliferates in social media.

Figure 1-19. Devices such as the iPhone used to transmit surfaced memes backed into digital meme.

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User captures meme, tweets, judges it and viewother memes in the area.

Protestors start to discuss the meme, at a common place - to related better to the meme and to better materialise the cyber identity with the physical. Protesters start to gather at St Paul’s Cathedral as they find through the app, that the area is concentrated with related memes. (occupy)

A user snaps up a varying meme of the ‘occupy’ version. Tweets, and shares it. Others take not of this memes vari-ation.

The occupy meme starts off on internet discussion boards, the meme makes a few faint appearances in the form of a small crowd demos. Those at the protest and those outside of it, help spread the occupy meme through social media, and an increase in Tent City takes place. The iphone app captures the meme, and it spreads faster on the in-ternet and through devices that help pinpoint geo-spatial areas relating to the capture.

Tent City takes over St Paul’s Public space.

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Others voicing concerns over there take on democ-racy, join the protest. Albeit, start to have other ‘ideas’ since they were pro-war.

Smaller memes, like the Kurdish rights and the Armenian genocide fuse under the occupy meme and make both memes spread faster. However, there were some at the demo who where pro-war but most where anti-war.

The ‘occupy’ meme becomes a banner under which anyone has issues with democracy joins in. Regardless, of whetherthe context of the origins of the ‘occupy’ meme. This both loses the memes integrity and creates greater insurgency and spatial appropriation.

Tent City matures and opens up its first University.

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The iPhone app extends the debate, and the protest, people cast there own vote on issues relating to the nearest meme ‘occupy’, discuss and share. People find places relative to there opinions. They find memeplexes they can join.

Social media has helped push Tent City into a self autono-mous space. With the rate of replication and spread of the ‘occupy’ banner it shows there is public support for the demos. Which in a way, makes the appropriated space more public. So its the receptiveness of the meme through social media that makes it consensual for the meme and the insur-gent space.

The iPhone app, shows relating memes,discussions, photos, videos of things happening around the area, with a degree of relativity to the occupy meme. One would search the tagged ‘occupy’ meme and all relative content would show up around St Paul’s - allowing the user to cast there own opinion on it.

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“Through a variety of actions and practices, insur-gent public space enables the participation and ac-tions of individuals and groups in renewing the city as an arena of civic exchanges and debates. Through continued expressions and contestation, the pres-ence and making of insurgent public space serves as a barometer of the democratic well-being and inclu-siveness of our present society.” (Hou, 2010, pg.5)

Kurdish separatist activists share their physical meme.

A correlation between the number of shares in Social Media tools and an increase in new comers emerges, as more and more are sharing content on there phone in and around public spaces.

Tent City takes over most of the public space.

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The iPhone application will help create a pattern of memes across the city, showing any contestation

between two or more memes, ideas or opinions. The capture of memes will also help analyse the memes

rate of growth and correlate it to a time line of events in and around the space, making any suggestions of

memes surfacing from the digital world into public space.

The capturing of memes will help visualise a memeplex across the city and yield better information for

architects to build architecture that nurtures the space’s memetic make up and take into consideration the

rate of growth memes grow in that space. Some spaces are less receptive to memes than others and other

places create a transcendent nature to the space.

With human replicators of a meme at the site a memeplex forms through the contestation between ideas. The black dots were pro-war and the red dots were for anti-war memes.

Figure 1-20. Social media content being replicated via re-tweets at ‘Tent City’.

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Concentrated memes forming a memeplex near St Paul’s Cathedral, surface into physical space through digital communication tools. A memeplex, the iPhone app senses and locates a place of discussion for all the memes to be mediated, dis-cussed and nurtured by those that wish to share theirs. The iphone app will show the user a visualisation of where and how intense the memeplex is, what it relates to and pictures at the scene.

Figure 1-21. Graphic definition of a memeplex over the public space near St Paul’s Cathedral.

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Memetic Appropriation of Public Space

“Public space has had a positive connotation that evokes the practice of democracy, openness, and publicity

of debate since the time of the Greek agora.” (Hou, 2010, pg .2). Hou (2010, pg. 3) goes on to say that public

spaces serve as a vehicle for social relationships, public discourse and political expressions. Public spaces

become familiar to everyone, promotes civil engagements and creates our collective sense of what we de-

velop as a public arena. It is a place where we associate and where we see the public space as being acces-

sible to everyone, thus reflecting and embodying the diversity of the city.

However, during my research and whilst writing this thesis I have found that the openness, inclusiveness of

public space and the making of it can reflect different political and social biases. St Paul’s Cathedral is con-

sidered a public space for both religion and an the establishment of Britain’s past and to an extent its cur-

rent social status too. It had been occupied by people from different social biases and political beliefs who

challenged the space’s memetic makeup just by appropriating the space. In the past public spaces where

a way of displaying political power to impress citizens, they were often used to stage military parades,

national celebrations and exert order amongst the public, to both legitimize and express political control.

(Hou, 2010, pg. 3). Modern democracies assert a contestation amongst public spaces that contain an ag-

ing memeplex of memes that originate from older times. As the power shifts to the people, public spaces

become a legitimate place of protests and demonstration, which advocates an expression of freedom of

speech. This freedom of speech and expression is what creates a contestation amongst the memes in our

aging public spaces. The freedom of speech is not only an exercise in modern society and democracies but

are a representation of individual ideas, beliefs and social statuses. The contestations and appropriation of

public spaces is created through a growing group of minorities from any political, social or ideological back-

ground demonstrating and proselytising their meme. The affect in public space is the traction that meme

gains against the older memes of that public space. Buildings like St Paul’s Cathedral embody memes from

an older time that are threatened by the lack of memetic rejuvenation. St Paul’s Cathedral and all the memes

that make it up as a space, belief and idea is threatened by growing groups of communities demonstrating,

camping and appropriating the spaces that represent St Paul’s Cathedral. Kemp (2011, pg. 119) asserts that

such groups extend the duties of place making in public spaces to create a community amongst the space.

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St Paul’s camp had its own cafe, university and information centres; the camp concatenated the word ‘city’ to

its name for it to be referred to as more of a community engagement. Memetically, this would be considered

an extension of the ‘occupy’ network. It was the sharing of responsibilities within the communal arrange-

ments that had helped proselytise the ‘occupy’ meme. Kent (2011, pg 118) goes on to say that in a commu-

nal arrangement, members of the community share responsibilities such as cooking, celebrating, caring for

children and providing informal social services without expecting that you will get anything immediately

in return but have the confidence that someone will return the favour is a primary function of an appropri-

ated space. Through communal interactions in appropriate space memes can get passed and be replicated

within the camps and consequentially creates a memeplex. Blackmore (1999, pg. 145) makes an assertion

that memes possess an altruistic trait where part of the evolution of culture involves doing something that

costs time, effort or resources for the sake of someone else. This altruistic trait serves as too increase the

meme’s popularity. In the context of culture, the act of appropriating space has evolutionary mechanisms

such as altruism that help create a public space which is more relevant to the people. If a member of the

public witnesses an act of generosity at the ‘occupy’ St Paul’s camp, then this act of communal generosity

can be imitated in precisely the same way as the altruistic act happened in the camp, which references the

act of generosity back to the ‘occupy’ camp. One example of an altruistic act that I saw help the meme grow

is that of the willingness to give free information out to the general public. I saw more of the general public

talking to each other about the information given and who then asked more questions, reciprocated the act

of generosity and shared the information. This memetic behaviour helps harbour a common ground where

we establish a collective sense and where the public space becomes a communal democratic forum for free

speech and expressions.

Appropriating represents actions and manners through which the meaning ownership, and structure of

official public space can be temporarily or permanently suspended. (Hou, 2010, pg. 13). The occupy move-

ment lends its popularity to Twitter and its respective #OWS hash tag that helped it spread and break the

geo-spatial barriers from New York City right across the world. The altruistic trait of sharing information took

place in the digital space complimented any altruistic communal and generous acts of sharing information

in the physical space, which happened a lot faster due to allowing more communication channels.

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Conclusion

To analyse the results of this investigation into how social media has amplified the memetic creation of

culture, I will refer to Susan Blackmore’s (Blackmore, 1999, pg. 18) assertion that the idea of memes is an ex-

ample of the best use of analogy in science. What beings as an analogy ends up as a powerful new explana-

tory principle. In the case, the most powerful idea in all of science - the explanation of biological diversity

by the simple process of natural selection - becomes the explanation of mental and cultural diversity by the

simple process of memetic selection. “The over arching theory of evolution provides a framework for both.”

(Blackmore, 1999, pg. 18). Blackmore like Dennet and other memeticists argue that memetics can provide

a framework for culture and with the rise of social media and big data can be used as a measurement of

cultural growth around a particular space. In this case memes being used as the analogical unit for a tweet.

The findings of my survey concluded that social media does amplify the appropriation of insurgent public

spaces. The appropriation of public space at Tent City near St Paul’s Cathedral and its intensity can be cor-

related to the intensity of the meme’s virility. The survey showed social media can also replicate the meme in

physical space by live streaming the events to social media and that people were more than likely to use so-

cial media in contesting their ideas and beliefs. The social aspect of social media is what makes social media

much more effective in proliferating ideas in as Blackmore’s evolutionary analogies states (Blackmore, 1999,

pg. 83). The viral memes in the digital space help create a similarity with the physical space, in that memes

proliferate from distances outside of an individuals reach. The evolutionary model of ideas is prevalent in

the digital spaces as it is in the physical space. “It is hard to say who started it. Occupy Wall Street, which

began in September, was the first to popularise the term. But #OWS was itself predated by camps in Ma-

drid, Athens, Santiago – and even Malaysia. The day most Occupy camps got going – 15 October – was first

proposed because it marked the five-month anniversary of the Spanish occupation.” (Kingsley, 2011, http://

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/30/occupy-movement-we-are-world).

It is evident just by the data gathered from search engine sites that culture has a memetic evolutionary

model to it, whether it’s a hash tag on Twitter and how different tweets group together under one meme to

replicate further. With this in mind it becomes necessary to establish a lack of contemplation for memetic.

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Towards the end of writing this thesis, the occupy movement saw its self spread closer to my self than I had

imagined possible. Students from Oxford Brookes University camped outside the university in protest of

rising tuition fees. They created their own tent community and had appropriated the public space near the

car park. I had not had a chance to survey them as time was running out for my research. However, it was

certainly clear that the ‘occupy’ meme had taken a standard physical form consisting of communal public

appropriation, tents and information centres.

Figure 1-22. Occupy Oxford Brookes, have appropriated the student green space.

54

I found that memes have a strong resemblance to genes, in the analogy of evolution and natural selec-

tion. Both aim to selfishly replicate and multiply. However, just as genes, memes also have other similar

characteristics that adhere to an evolutionary model, such as their altruistic trait of showing generosity in

a communal setting to attract replicators and spread the meme. I found this was the case at Tent City, but

only through social media were the memes much more altruistic as opposed to its restrictive counterpart -

traditional media. Social media predicates a sense of community, and in a sense is a patriarchal space where

people share information they all find relevant to each other, so this brings out the meme’s inherent altruis-

tic trait, similar to the biological gene.

“It is the meme that launched a thousand camps. The protests in Wall Street, London and Oakland may be its

flagships, but the Occupy movement is a global one, stretching across six continents, more than 60 coun-

tries, and sparking up to 2,600 demonstrations. There have been 10 camps in Britain alone.” (Kingsley, 2011,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/30/occupy-movement-we-are-world).

Since memetics falls under the field of cybernetics, which is the study of the relationships between one

or more components in a system. We can use memes as a unit of measurement, to measure the quality of

interaction between people and the environment in culture. A person infected by a meme, carries data

that is traceable in culture and social media. If we were to think about using memes as real time data, we as

architects would probably only need to consider a more normalized rendition of the frequency of change.

In short, memes can change very abruptly, when would it be the right time to capture a meme, and use it

as part of both the spatial analysis and the design solution. The question is can the city communicate with

digital memes to create a progressive and interactive feedback loop with social media applications currently

webbing the city; which would benefit us, both as users and designers of the city. We cannot completely ex-

perience the physical world under our digital personalities, identities and formats. However, I still believe we

can glue the two spaces of social media and the city, for a relationship with less contestation and appropria-

tion by those infected by a viral meme. Nurturing the meme and accepting its evolutionary model would be

the initial idea.

55

For my Design Specialisation (which can be found in the appendix with this thesis) I will be designing a fo-

rum for public expressions, both for the physical and digital spaces. “Creativity takes place in the interaction

between a person’s thought and socio-cultural context and the memories there of.” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996,

pg. 24). Interaction with other people, institutions and societal structures that embody knowledge and

resources are therefore important contributors to a culture. Building upon the idea of memetics as a series

of memes and ideas. It is my opinion that by taking a memetic approach to the social media phenomenon,

we can identify and mirror the behavioural qualities of memes to the physical world, By creating portals and

communication channels to their heterotopic origin, we can establish a means of spatial negotiation for a

realisation of a greater social conscious, amongst any interstitial space.

56

Bibliography

Dawkins, Richard, 1979, The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, p193.

Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meme (ac-

cessed April 23, 2012).

Blackmore, Susan, 1999, The Meme Machine.

Fraser, Nancy, 1992, Habermas and the Public Sphere.

Wilkinson, Denis, 2007, Accessing the value of cooperation in Wikipedia, First Monday, Volume 12, Number 4

— 2 April 2007, http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1763/1643

Mitchell, Don, 2003, The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space, New York: Paragon

House

Gulas, Charles S, The Memetics of Transcendent Places, 2004, Advances in Consumer Research, Volume 31

Lynch, Aaron (1996), Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society, NY: Basic Books

Zennie, Michael (2012), Linguists name ‘Occupy’ as 2011’s word of the year... conquering both ‘the 99 per-

cent’ and ‘job creators’, Daily Mail - available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083898/Occupy-

camps-2011s-word-year--conquering-99-percent-job-creators.html

Royrvik, E. (2000, September). The knowing vortex: Mytho-logical organisational memetics. Paper presented at

the International Conference on Complexity and Complex Systems in Industry conference, The University of

Warwick, London.

57

Winslow, Barbara (1996) Sylvia Pankhurst: Sexual politics and political activism

Aurigi, Alessandro, 2009, Augmented Urban Spaces: Articulating the Physical and Electronic City.

Kingsley, Patrick, 2011, Occupy: we are the world. Accessed March, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/

nov/30/occupy-movement-we-are-world

Donath, J.S, 1999, Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/judith/

Identity/IdentityDeception.html, Accessed January, 1, 2012.

Kalantzis-Cope, Phillip, 2010, Emerging Digital Spaces in Contemporary Society: Properties of Technology

Dehaene, Michiel, 2008. Heterotopia and the City: Public space in a post civil society.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 1996. Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York:

Harper Perennial.

Boyd, Danah. 2007. Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?, Knowledge Tree 13, May. http://

kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/?page_id=28

The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Wednesday 16 April 1913, page 7

Hou, Jeffrey, 2010. Insurgent Public Spaces: Guerrilla Urbanism and the remaking of contemporary cities.

Shaftoe, Henry, 2008, Convivial Urban Spaces: Creating Effective Public Spaces.

Krauel, Jacobo, 2006, New Urban Spaces.

58

Parr, Ben, Twitter Hits 50 Million Tweets Per Day, http://mashable.com/2010/02/22/twitter-50-million-tweets/

Gehl, Jan, 2009, New City Spaces.

Aymonino, Aldo, 2006, Contemporary Public Spaces Unvolumentric Architecture.

Carmona, Matthew, 2003, Public Places Urban Spaces: The Dimensions of Urban Design.

Sommer, Robert, 1974, Tight Spaces: Hard Architecture and How to Humanize it.

Tyler, Tim, 2011, Memetics: Memes and the Science of Cultural Evolution.

Pollone, Ambito, 2011, Responsive Parametric Infrastructure, a proposal for a smarter Turin

Imperiale, Alicia, 2006, New Flatness: Surface Tension in Digital Architecture.

De Luca, Francesco, 2006, Behind the scenes, Avant-garde Techniques in Contemporary Design.

Oosterhuis, Kas, 2006, Hyperbodies Towards an E-motive architecture.

Kemp, Sussan, 2011, The paradox of urban space.

Kalay, Yehuda, 2007, Architecture’s New Media, Principles, Theories, and Methods of computer aided design.

Barclay, Alex, 2010, Digital meets Architecture.

59

60

61

62

Lexicon

You can verify these definitions by checking them online at dictionary.com or oxforddictionaries.com for

validity. The words marked with * are words I made up.

meme

an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation

or other non-genetic means.

memetic

derivative of ‘meme’. Origin: from Greek mimēma ‘that which is imitated’, on the pattern of gene

digital meme *

a memetic unit of cultural information in Social Media, i.e. a tweet, an article, a ‘like’ or an opinion

circulating in social media.

surfaced meme *

a surfaced digital meme which has materialized onto the physical world. The appearance of a the

meme in material form, which may be an event, activity, poster or a mask. Surfaced memes evolve

from memes replicating in significant numbers from social media.

memeplex

a memeplex is a large concentration of surfaced memes in one particular area of physical space.

They are generally made up of one dominant idea or belief.

social media

websites and applications used for social networking.

63

app

a self-contained program or piece of software designed to fulfil a particular purpose; an application,

especially as downloaded by a user to a mobile device

memeticist

“Memeticist” was coined as analogous to “geneticist” originally in The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawk-

ins, 1979.

diacritic

Adjective: (of a mark or sign) Indicating a difference in pronunciation or of a different view.

viral

relating to or involving an image, video, piece of information, etc. that is circulated rapidly and

widely from one Internet user to another:

altruism

The belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.

trancedent

Surpassing the ordinary.

dramaturgy

The art of writing and producing plays

replicator

A person or device that is considered able to replicate or help a meme multiply.

interpenetrate

Penetrate or permeate between or within (something else).

64

blog

A Web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular

basis.

blogging

Add new material to or regularly update a blog.

vlogging

Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding

twittersphere

Twitters entire tweet database.

hash tag

A keyword that helps tag a tweet to other tweets under a common categorically.

big data

data extropolated from a large database source.

65

66

List of Figures

Figure 1-1. The Suffragettes and their traditional.

Figure 1-2. Women Rights Activist, July 31 1914, A Women’s Right activist handing out the ‘Votes for Women’

Newsletter

Figure 1-4. The Suffragettes Newsletter, July 31 1914, Poster depicts Force Feeding of the Suffragettes to

quell and martyrdom.

Figure 1-3. The Suffragettes Poster, July 31 1914, Poster depicts Force Feeding of the Suffragettes to quell

and martyrdom.

Figure 1-5. A variety of pamphlets as a traditional form of communication for the building of the Suffra-

gettes memetic strategy in improving Women’s Rights in Society and Parliament. These were handed out

during demonstrations, before the violence and chaos that later started.

Figure 1-6. Social media tools proliferate and amplifies ideas, images, opinions and memes.

Figure 1-7. Social media impulses during the day of November 18th 2011 showing meme replications.

Figure 1-8. St Paul’s Cathedral and the memetic timeline of key peak replications.

Figure 1-9. 1:2500 site plan of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Figure 1-10. St Paul’s Public Space

Figure 1-11. The public stopping by the walk through onto St Paul’s Underground station were drawn into

the campus facing the Cathedrals Northern facade.

Figure 1-13. St Paul’s entrance had a visible sign of a memeplex appropriating physical space. A large

amount of the information gathered here had been from the internet and occupiers set up their tents en-

gulfing the entire space.

Figure 1-12. Tents were a clear sign of an occupation and the space perpendicular to St Paul’s Cathedral and

a walk-through to the station had been appropriated.

Figure 1-14. Tents were a clear sign of an occupation and the space perpendicular to St Paul’s Cathedral and

a walk-through to the station had been appropriated.

Figure 1-15. There was purpose built tents for spreading the meme through traditional media too. Pam-

phlets, Discussion space and a Shop selling self published books were an attempt at drawing the public

in to learn more about the surfaced meme as opposed to be put off by the spatial appropriation in public

space.

67

Figure 1-16. an open public camp, handing out refreshments and food to the public.

Figure 1-17. Surfaces memes in the form of print media decorate the existing building with varying memes.

Figure 1-18. ut.io meme mapper created by Sirwan Qutbi, showing digital memes across a space.

Figure 1-19. Devices such as the iPhone used to transmit surfaced memes backed into digital meme.

Figure 1-20. Social media content being replicated via re-tweets at ‘Tent City’.

Figure 1-21. Graphic definition of a memeplex over the public space near St Paul’s Cathedral.

Figure 1-22. Occupy Oxford Brookes, have appropriated the student green space.

68

Appendix

69

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

1. Do you have a twitter account?

1. Do you have a twitter account?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

5.Do you use more than one social media tool for the same purpose?

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

3. How often do you create social media content on the internet.

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

7. How long does it take you to broadcast live events?

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

2. How often do you use social me-dia to communicate with organis-ers at events and demonstrations.

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

6. How many online identities do you have approximatly ?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

4. How much of your fellow pro-testors have you shared informa-tion with on social media?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

8. How long have you been using Social Media tools for personal use?

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Yesb) No

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Once a dayb) Over 5 times a dayc) Over 10 times a day

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Instantlyb) I blog after the eventc) I stream live

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Rarelyb) Seldomc) Frequently

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) Oneb) a fewc) Several

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) noneb) a few friendsc) everyone

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

a) A monthb) A yearc) More than a Year

Brief DesignI will be designing a building that addresses current cultural ideas, opinions, expressions as a piece of archi-

tecture that helps nurture the contetation between different ideas and beliefs and the appropriation of public

space.

I think by engaging the city in social media, we can create a more conscious and reactionary space that adheres

to our contesting identity and reciprocates and provides a feedback loop with the memes, it could drastically

change the way we live for the better. Ride-share network applications could improve the environment, specific

social networking sites could improve the local community and thousands of more specific application that will

help the city support our changing lifestyles. I think it would helpful for architects to have a tool that allows them

to have a geo spatial view of memes in real time.

How much of the city’s properties and attributes can be inherited into social media applications, enough to

make the city a platform for a fair exchange of cultural information between the physical and the digital? How

much can a potential feedback loop within the city affect our emotions or instincts, can a feedback loop trans-

pose all affects, or will the digital agent affect the feedback pathway? What will the quality of architecture en-

gaged in social media, in terms of form, infrastructure and systems, financially, socially and politically. Would this

result in oversimplifications, producing bland generated cities, or could this tool hold the key to producing a city

conscious of our changing lifestyles? As a memetic tool how would this affect humans, how will humans take

to such systems, would it be viewed as a labour and time saving device? A threat to jobs, a redundancy of our

skills? Would this save a lot of time? Is this a tool of capture or live feedback with the city? As an inhabitant would

we feel safer? Would there be a backlash even if it provided a perfectly engineered space for our lifestyles? How

deep has the meme run through the activists, how much of there appropriation is actually made to replicate the

meme. How relative to the meme has there spatial identity become? How much of there identity is based off of

social media?

Utio BuildingThe brief was developed from my conclusion of this thesis.

Memes spotted across the public space at

St Paul’s Cathedral and their intensity help

allocate not only the precise space but the

form of the building itself as meme units

have levels of intesity. The level of replica-

tion over the same space helps create a

greater memetic value of intesity of that

given space.

Using the iPhone as a device to catch memes, visual data can also be used as part of the forming and the

memetic makeup of that space over time.

Plan 1:350

Concept Model, showing form generated through the meme parameters.

Concept Model, showing connections between ideas and the relationship between the physical space and the digital.

Simone Giostra & Partners Architects have designed the GreenPix – Zero

Energy Media Wall – a project applying a self-sustainable digital media LED

display on the curtain wall of Xicui Entertainment Complex in Beijing, near

the site of the 2008 Olympics. Featuring one of the largest color LED display

worldwide and the first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain

wall in China, GreenPix transforms the building envelop into a self-sufficient

organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the

screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle.

Farnsworth Wall is an architectural wall module that uses and harvests solar energy for illuminating indoor

spaces. This application, using real-time responses to it’s surrounding environment, creates an engaging

experience for people on site. The Farnsworth wall is a modular paneling system built as a Structural Insu-

lated Panel (S.I.P.) in a standard 4x8 size.This module can be cut and applied to virtually any existing or new

construction. A layer of solar panels on the exterior harvests and stores radiant energy and an embedded

system of low-energy L.E.D. lights on the other side illuminates the interior space.

The hyposurface wall physically moves to given data, recieved through a pro-

gramme written to make the wall responsive. The hyposurface wall would

connect the digital meme and its pulses of replication and intensity into the

physical space, mediating between the digital and the physical surfaced meme.

A responsive architecture would help mediate between contesting memes.

A mock up view of how Liquid Crystal Film panels suspended

above the public space at St Paul’s Cathedral. Electrical pulses

turn the panels on and off gradualy at a rate of speed according

to the streaming feeds being circulated through digital space

such as the twittersphere, with a tag of ‘Occupy’ and ‘St Pauls’.

The finer details of the building such as the surfaces or the

form will be generated through parameters within the values

of the memes in a particular space. Data such as the inten-

sity of a meme and its dynamic and changing values give

the architecture a responsiveness to its cultural context. A

hyposurface wall and projections of tweets help mediate

ideas and opinions and provide a space which will nurture a

democratic platform for expressions.

The building is formed from the relationship between sorrounding memes. The relationship between the

contesting ideas nearby and the intensity of every single meme in that particular space. Through only taking

the level of replication, we can exptrolate its intensity and make up the form. So we’re taking the concept of

harmony into making the form of the building by using the relationship between the ideas

Contesting ideas and memes in social media across the public space at St Paul’s Cathedral were used as part

of the architectural form.

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