ABSTRACT
Chapter 5, Everyday aesthetics, focuses on the engagement of social space and the formation of a “social aesthetic,” outlining how the concepts of flux and flow were used as operative terms to catalyse the social occupation of former industrial sites at Saint-Ouen Park in Paris and Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto. These projects indicate a shift from the conventional focus on spatial form to foreground design for social participation, interwoven with natural systems, while being related to the idea of “everyday aesthetics” that places value on social dynamics. This is further explored through ideas of transgressive space, loose space, and commons space, which have emerged in response to peoples’ “rights to the city,” resulting in tensions between forms of social appropriation and regulatory planning systems. The Kings Cross Pond Club in London and Tempelhof in Berlin provide examples of design strategies that identify with the potential for a “participatory aesthetic” that engages people in the production of space.
