This issue of Volume magazine looks at the relation between formal and informal and how this may be changing due to the introduction of new technologies and the way these are used.
Informality can be interpreted as a positive quality hinting at individual freedom or even be romanticized as bottom up and empowering force. But informality as safety valve for a system that is not able to adjust to changing conditions quickly enough is another matter. The mass migration of people to cities cannot be met by regular housing schemes, so people provide their own. The sea of unemployed provides a labor reserve that comes in handy when the economy is growing and that can easily be ditched once the economy slows down again. In global capitalist market economy, informality is not an errant, a flaw in the system that will soon be taken care of; it is part of the system’s ‘design’.
With contributions by: René Boer, Diego Ramírez-Lovering, Timothy Moore, Stefan Heidenreich, Jacqueline Hassink, Merve Bedir, Max Hampshire, Ton Matton, Larissa Meyer, Antoine Turillon, Mohammad Salemy, DPR Barcelona, Guus Beumer, Anil Bawa-Cavia, Keller Easterling, Jacqueline Tellinga.
Plus the insert Are You Working On Your Fringe? publication that Volume produced with the sub>urban. Reinventing the fringe network.
Table of Contents
Editorial: If Then Else!?, Arjen Oosterman
Smooth City,René Boer
Disaster, Infrastructure and Commons,Diego Ramìrez Lovering interviewed by Timothy Moore
There is no Such Thing,Stefan Heidenreich interviewed by Arjen Oosterman and Leonardo Dellanoce
Unwired,Jacqueline Hassink
The Violence of Safety: Transforamtion of Informal Housing in Turkey,Merve Bedir
Informality in Times of Blockchain,Max Hampshire interviewed by Leonardo Dellanoce and Arjen Oosterman
The Vibrant Parts,Ton Matton, Larissa Meyer, Antoine Turillon
Fully Automated Luxury Curation,Mohammad Salemy
The Explicit-lyrics City,DPR Barcelona
Justin’s Superbowl,Guus Beumer
Algol 68,Anil Bawa-Cavia
Empowering Design,Keller Easterling interviewed by Leonardo Dellanoce and Arjen Oosterman
I’d Rather Call it Self-regulation,Jacqueline Tellinga interviewed by Arjen Oosterman
