co+labo Radović @ Keio University

7 June 2012 @ co+laboradović 2012

ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM @ KEIO

Barrie Shelton

held a research seminar

Learning from the Japanese City: Cultural Predispositions in Design

We all carry cultural predispositions acquired through the practice and observation of everyday things - as in Pierre Bordieu's concept of habitus. The actions (as in design) and results (patterns and forms) are so familiar that we do not pause to think - they become 'second nature'.  The seminar will explore spatial predispositions in Japanese culture across several scales from the humble QR code to the structure and appearance of cities with some attention to the Japanese writing system. This is a theme commenced in my book, Learning from the Japanese City.

Barrie Shelton is Associate Professor - Urban Design at the University of Melbourne. His areas of expertise are in urban design, history and theory, and urban morphology, with special interests in East Asia and particularly Japan. He has directed postgraduate urban design and town planning programs at the Universities of Sydney (2002-10) and Tasmania (1990-97). His most important recent works are The Making of Hong Kong: from Vertical to Volumetric (co-author 2011) and Learning from the Japanese City: Looking East from Urban Design (2012), both published by Routledge, London & NY. He is an executive member of the International Society for Engineering and Design (ISHED).