Cutting up Space, Part 1: L = S - [l + c + i = e + p]

As a psychogeographer I am particularly interested in pieces of land that appear to be waiting for something to happen. These can be owned by either the local council or a property developer and can be in abeyance for many reasons, including land-sitting (buying property to stop someone else buying it, or buying land speculatively). Sometimes, in the case of local councils, funding might have run out and the land development halted. Rarely, are they owned by individuals, although there are cases of private houses being left vacant, as has appeared on the news recently.

The land in the image above is off Low Lane, Horsforth, Leeds, and I think it might be waiting for further development in relationship to the future Woodside Railway Station in Horsforth, although I'm not certain.

This strange liminal space is in Hunstanton, Norfolk (below), is just off the promenade, but is easy to miss. Who does it belong to? Was it part of someone's garden? Do the council own it?

Philip Kivell's book 'Land and the City' is a really interesting book and discusses these issues:

He introduces a neat formula that is used in calculating land value which is dependant on the market value of existing properties in the local area:


L = S - [l + c + i = e + p]

Where:

L = developer's bid price for the land
S = anticipated selling price of completed development
l = estimated land preparation and infrastructure costs
c = estimated construction costs
i = estimated interest charges on land and construction costs
e = estimated legal and marketing costs
p = estimated developer's profits

There is a lot of development going on in the Holbeck area of Leeds, although it has somewhat come to a halt recently; for instance, the demolition of the terraced houses in one particular area. The satellite map below shows the rows of terraced houses that are under threat. It is not easy to see, because the road names block the view of the actual streets, but some of the terraces have already been pulled down. A local solicitor told me that the only reason that the demolition has stopped is because the council ran out of money.

Local councils acquire space currently used for private housing through Compulsory Purchase Orders. They just need to have a 'good reason' to do this, invariably economic, and it can be done with little recourse. The laws in this regard changed in the 1980s and became vaguer in relation to urban policy. This meant that just about anything could be done under the aegis of adding economic value to a region. We can thank Margaret Thatcher for this. Anna Minton writes about it in her book Ground Control

Kivell comments on land speculation when discussing power in relation to acquisition. He remarks that some critics of it claim that it "provoked the 1974 recession through an unbalanced flow of land onto the markets, the distortion of production costs of firms and the reduction in the spending power of households." (p. 131). I have heard this theory from other sources, too.

While Kivell does not talk philosophically about the cutting up of space (this is not his field), he does talk about zoning: the demarcation of space by the State for specific purposes. I think G. Spencer Brown's Laws of Form may be a useful way to approach this, coupled with deconstruction, so Part 2 of the blog will investigate the cutting up of space from that perspective.

Please click here for part 2 of this blog:

Cuttingup Space, Part 2: The Laws of Form

The following links may be of interest:
What else could go here?

Student farm in Brooklyn

When E.W.D. Hurst raises his arm, we follow...

...into the bowels of the Parkinson Building at the University of Leeds. To the university's secret place: the cemetery. And even into Ellie's bedroom in the Henry Price Halls of Residence!

We met E.W.D. Hurst on the iconic Parkinson Steps and were given our special exploration pack and a new name:

We had all responded to a call out for intrepid explorers and turned up on the steps with our "pocketful of dreams" (E.W.D. Hurst) ready to brave the hazards, hidden dangers and lurking monsters secreted away in the nooks and crannies of the campus. And, of course, to be impressed by all the extras who had been placed around the campus in order to make it appear authentic. As you can see in this photograph of actors in the cemetery pretending to enjoy the sun after a hard week of exams:

We even had special pop-up actors - not extras because they had speaking parts - who pretended to be research fellows from the geography department. This one called himself Andy Turner and while it looks like he is wearing a tablecloth, it is the original flag from the first North/South pole expeditions... apparently:

Our exploration took us to a number of artworks around the campus. Some by the BA Fine Art students, but also some by guerilla artists. The image below shows us looking at a pop-up gallery in the Brotherton library, and below that is one of the more spontaneous installations:

We had a great afternoon in the sunshine with the entertaining and enigmatic E.W.D. Hurst and also met a fabulous group of people all with pseudonyms which our leader, amazingly, seemed to remember. We got to blow whistles, set off party poppers, applaud random groups of people and had a thoroughly good time!

This is Curly Richardson, at the university, signing off!

Related Links:

AnExploration into Exploring by E.W.D. Hurst

Explorean Exploration into Exploring by Andy Turner

Richardson and Robinson in Ruins

Patrick Keiller's follow up to Robinson in Space, Robinson in Ruins, came out in 2010. This time narrated by Vanessa Redgrave, it gave me the opportunity to make a homage to Keiller based on my research in St George's Field, the cemetery at the University of Leeds. This film is re-appropriated from the trailer for Keiller's film. Please click below to see both.
The University in Ruins
Robinson in Ruins

The Art of Cartocraftery or Mischevious Mappage

Cartography: "The drawing of maps or charts"
Craft: "A skillful contrivance, a device, artifice, or expedient"
-ery, suffix: "classes of goods...used in the coinage of jocular nonce-words"

Full Definition: Cartocraftery is the tongue-in-cheek re-approriation of maps for the purposes of détournement (the recuperation of past forms and ideas). Old items are 'mapped' through the process of paper lacquering, then decorated and given an amusing name based on the map used. For instance, see Least Anglia and an interview about the object on Anything LS:

This, now, storage box is made from an old black 40-year-old suitcase, while the image, below, is an old gift box which has been mapped with Leicestershire and renamed More-or-Less-Tershire. The original box can still be seen through tiny holes which were punched in the small torn-up pieces of the county:

Click here to see the Easter cards which started off the whole project: Why did the psychogeographer cross the road?

Please feel free to contact me for commissions.

Cyborg Attack Over Bridgewater Place

Here are some images I took over Leeds from the top of West Riding House last summer (2011).

There's something surreal about this car park, which looks more like a childs' toy than a real car park.

While this one of cranes is a bit disorienting, I think I was fortunate to just be in the right place to get them to appear like they are crossing over each other.

Here is the famous Leeds Dalek aka Bridgewater Place. Where I was standing I was unable to get the sloping section on the other side which gives it the Dalek-effect. However, there does seem to be a supernatural/cosmic occurrence taking place above it, which can only be some kind of cyborg attack .

Links:

Armed for Armley

The Lickless Derive (Horsforth)

Knitting a New Holbeck

The Headingley Arndale Centre

Why did the psychogeographer cross the road?

Here are my limited edition 2012 Easter Cards. A short run of 12 , hand-made, that friends were forced to volunteer to receive. Many of the map-pouches were customised for the district that the individual lived in, well those who lived in London anyway. So the front showed their road and the back was perforated over a 'sniff here' instruction of which emanated the smell of rose incense. Here are the various comments, all hugely positive, I would say ; )

Anonymous from Hemel Hempstead council district (via text, not a psychogeographer): "Thank you for my Easter card. Not sure what to say really..."

Tina to Anonymous from Meanwood, Leeds (in person, a psychogeographer, should know better): "Did you get the Easter card?"
Anonymous from Meanwood: "Aah...yes...thanks"

Anonymous from Middlesex (via facebook): "Thanks for the Easter Card, Tina. I'm impressed with the way the white strip of paper inscribed 'Why did the psychogeographer cross the road?' passes right through my living room."

Anonymous from Golders Green (via facebook): "Thanks for my card too, Tina. Golders Green has never smelt so good!"

Anonymous from (district withheld) on expressing an interest in the Easter card: "I'd love a chunk of [somewhere in London] - I've no idea why the psychogeographer crossed the road but I bet when they got there they found Iain Sinclair had already written about it."

Author's brother from Milton Keynes:

SILENCE!

I bet my friends can't wait to see what Christmas brings...

Links:
The Psychogeography Franchise
Using Psychogeography to Discover the Hidden Consequences of Social Reproduction

Taking an Urban Walk With Freud (part 2): The Red Light District

This is the second part of my Freud-as-psychogeographer-blog. For the first part, please click here: Gradiva's Gait

Before I introduce Freud's urban wanderings in a "small Italian town", I would like to say a little about the complex term 'uncanny' as it appears in Freud's essay The Uncanny. Freud takes the word from the German unheimlich which means the opposite of what one might find familiar (heimlich meaning familiar - homely, but be careful here, because for Freud the two terms become conflated in what he means by 'uncanny'). So, the uncanny has the qualities of both the familiar and the unfamiliar at the same time. I would describe it as producing a strange kind of affective dissonance, which is disturbing. It throws you into this spaceless space in between the two binary oppositions (recognisable/unrecognisable, understandable/incomprehensible). Sometimes, the thing recognised is known, but is out of place and this decontextualisation can create the feeling of the uncanny.

Freud uses a super example in E.T.A Hoffman's story The Sandman to tease out what uncanny means. Although the term can appear somewhat contradictory, mysterious and hard to pin down, this is not because Freud does not do a good job in explaining it, but rather because of its unconscious origins in the person feeling this subjective reaction. Once you have started to explore the uncanny, you will understand it by comparing it to some experiences you will have likely had yourself.

Freud spends many pages analysing the term from a number of sources. Here is a definition he provides which I particularly like, and I include it here because it is a useful springboard for me to take you into Freud's walk in Italy:

"Uncanny is what one calls everything that was meant to remain secret and hidden and has come into the open."

So...Freud uses a moment when he accidentally walks into the red light district of this town in Italy, to provide his own example of the uncanny. Basically it goes thus (quotation marks are when I am using his own terms):

Freud strolls through "unfamiliar" streets in the town and stumbles upon the red light district. He quickly attempts to move out of this area and walks for a while down a few different streets. After a while he suddenly finds himself back in the same district and realises people were looking at him. He then attempts to leave again, but ends up there for the third time. At this point he gets the uncanny feeling. Freud describes this as "the unintentional return", which then enables him to talk about one of his well-known, and most fascinating theories, the "compulsion to repeat".

What I find interesting about Freud's example here is his lack of analysis (of himself) of why he might have ended up there three times. Freud would not have let his own analysand 'off the hook' if this story had been regaled to him, so I am sure he has his own theory about how his unconscious took him there three times, (well at least twice, let's say). So, in regards to the quote above: is what was meant to "remain secret and hidden" the overt buying/selling of sex by men/women on the streets of Italy, or is it some desire Freud had to witness this - what would be for him as an analyst - fascinating transaction?