Kwinter “Wildness”

phenomenon | artificial

phe·nom·e·non   [fi-nom-uh-non, -nuhn] 

–noun, plural -na  [-nuh] or, especially for 3, -nons.

1. a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable: to study the phenomena of nature.

2. something or someone that is impressive or extraordinary.

3. Philosophy . a. an appearance or immediate object of awareness in experience. b. Kantianism . a thing as it appears to and is constructed by the mind, as distinguished from a noumenon, or thing-in-itself.

—Synonyms

1.  event, incident. 2, 3.  marvel, miracle.

ar·ti·fi·cial   [ahr-tuh-fish-uhl] 

–adjective

1. made by human skill; produced by humans ( opposed to natural): artificial flowers.

2. imitation; simulated; sham: artificial vanilla flavoring.

3. lacking naturalness or spontaneity; forced; contrived; feigned: an artificial smile.

4. made without regard to the particular needs of a situation, person, etc.; imposed arbitrarily; unnatural: artificial rules for dormitory residents.

5. Biology . based on arbitrary, superficial characteristics rather than natural, organic relationships: an artificial system of classification.

—Synonyms

1.  synthetic, inorganic. 2.  counterfeit, factitious. 3.  pretentious.

Kwinter’s advocacy for the “wild” and for the liberation of planned systems to a more spontaneous path struck me not in its originality but in just the opposite. It seems like there are hundreds such publications, not just in the field of architecture, but otherwise also, where experts make similar arguments against over planning.

Take “Blink” for example, an international bestselling book, in which the author Malcolm Gladwell gives examples and evidence detailing the benefits of making quick decisions unhindered by the process of rational decision-making. In particular, the story of the Millennium Challenge, a simulated battle by the Pentagon to test a set of radical ideas about how to go to war. Team one was given much greater intellectual resources, with an Operational Net Assessment, a formal decision making tool that broke down the enemy into a series of systems and matrices showing how the systems were interrelated and weak and strong points between them. Team two, on the other hand, possessed no such method and had players under command to simply act according to the situation at hand. Of course to the surprise of those in command of the challenge, team two won a decisive victory due to the elements of speed and surprise. While team two was burdened by the bureaucratic decision making process, team two acted as a spontaneous machine where the various parts synchronized together of their own accord, providing greater flexibility and in the end, better results.