City Rhythms: An Approach to Urban Rhythm Analysis (2020)

Chapter 8, Rhythm and Critique, Edinburgh University Press, edited by Paola Crespi & Sunil Manghani

This chapter explores rhythm as a dynamic in the social and cultural domain. By executing different case studies in which qualitative methodologies from architecture and the social sciences were used, a methodology for rhythm analyses is constructed. In the case studies, it is found that the rhythm analyses functions as boundary object in conversations with stakeholders for identifying new solutions spaces for specific social issues. The case studies also identify three rhythm dynamics that are significant to the social domain: tuning, matching, and balancing rhythm.

Results of the case studies are then contextualized by different rhythm theories that are relevant for the urban context: as variation in a pattern, as territory, as force for engagement and factor for trade-offs for trust. Rhythm has long been a topic of interest, though arguably this becomes more explicit over the 20th century, with rhythm being referenced and studied in Europe in a variety of fields (Crespi 2014). This chapter draws insights from the writings of contemporary academics working on rhythm, in order to explore the possibility of bringing rhythm analysis into practice in today’s urban contexts. It is found that in the literature there is a gap in formulating a methodology for rhythm analyses that can be validated and falsified. As result, based on case studies and rhythm theory, a methodology for Urban Rhythm Analyses is formulated.

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