Ecologies Urban

PRESENTATIONS /
(Fig. 1 - Construction Industry)
While considerable development has occurred recently, incorporating
computers and digital information, the actual methods
of production for buildings remain largely anachronistic. In a
certain light, this could be seen as a connection to a rich and
enduring heritage. It can also be understood as an impediment
to innovation.
Comparing the construction industry to the telecommunications
industry, we see a completely different picture of
progress over a much shorter period of time. (Fig. 2) In the
span of little more than a century, telephony developed from
a relatively simple analog electrical transmission system to
the, comparatively, fantastically complex digital devices and
networks that are the status quo today. It is fair to say that
the communications devices and networks we use today are
so advanced that they would not have been conceivable to the
originators of telecommunications. This is an example of an
industry that has sustained innovation.
Why does this difference exist between the two industries:
one transforming in a century and the other remaining
unchanged for millennia? At some point in the past one
hundred years, the telecommunications industry became an
Information Technology industry.
By Information Technology industry, we mean an industry
where each successive generation of products is predicated on
the previous generation, building on the information generated
in its development. The microprocessor industry is an excellent
example: the current generation of CPUs is used to design the
next generation of higher performance CPUs. This process will
URBAN ECOLOGIES 2013
CONSTABLE & TURNBULL
67