ABSTRACT
Designers working in an urban context can suddenly become major actors posed with a challenge that can be both daunting and rewarding. The city is an agglomeration of living organisms and objects, come together in an historical process, creating a rich tapestry of meanings and possibilities. Any intervention in the city is an intervention in a multitude of layers of meaning, which can have the desired effect for some parties but can also have unintended consequences for them or undesirable effects for others. How do the designers approach this complex context? Do they leave this complexity as incomprehensible, irrelevant or beyond the scope of their work, focusing entirely on what can be done on a single site? Or do they try to take into account a broader context, with the complexity of meaning and significance that such breadth entails? Designers may feel confident about knowing their own actions, but how do they make sense of the city if they are to meet this serious challenge of intervention in what appears to be no more than a tangled web of complex issues?
