Thesis+statement

Feb 8th Feb 12th

Ceyda Gokgur Complex Systems of Artificial & Natural Islands Pratt Institute School of Architecture

Throughout the semester I have been interested in the exploration of new and complex systems that related to films and readings we were assigned. During that time I was not aware how they were going to relate with one another but time would tell. As I continued on my journey I noticed that I was gaining more knowledge from not only one reading or film but that the gathered information when put together made up a system of understanding. This system of perceptive appreciation became quite influential in my process of research. A system is made up of several components and in order to take them apart a definition of each part is necessary. For example a city is a center of population, commerce, and culture in other words it has to have a significant size and importance to be capable of independence and interaction with other land. However, in a historical logic or not, a city is known as a fenced area and surrounded by fortifications and high walls. Taking both definitions that are contradicting each other I would like to add another aspect to the piece in order to create a more complex system. Netlogo has had a large power over the process of playing God in a way that a person or process could be able to change a topographical format into their own creation of land or complex system. Generally topography had impact on people and their civilization but what happens if the roles were reversed? Could man be proficient enough to contribute to the impact of topography? I believe in order for that to take place a separation of individualism from the mainland is needed. Going forward on with my research I chose Netlogo’s Erosion model for my specific land formation strategy. This model gives way to a new method of thinking. Island formation is natural but as time changes and land becomes more and more valuable man tries to imitate nature. Nature can be duplicated, but in the process an exact copy cannot be produced. The process I will be taking in my passage through complex systems is researching some case studies which include natural coast lines, artificial and cultural forces, iconography island formation, and economic forces. Land formations due to nature or mankind have many features that are similar and conflicting but the main focus is on where complexity exists on island life and how is it formed?
 * Introduction**

//**The Theory of Island Biogeography:**// The general theory is to explain the facts of island biogeography. This theory builds on the first principles of population ecology and genetics to explain how distance and area combine to regulate the balance between immigration and extinction in island populations. //**Islands:**// An island is a fundamentally appealing study object. It is simpler than a continent or a large piece of land, a visibly discrete object that can be labeled with a name and a population. It is a piece of land that is completely surrounded by water. There is no standard of size which distinguishes islands from [|islets] and [|continents]. Any landmass surrounded by water could be considered an island. As such, the largest island in the world is actually the super-continent of [|Africa-Eurasia].
 * Chapter 2:**

//**Artificial Islands:**// An artificial island is an [|island] that has been formed by human, rather than natural means. It is usually constructed on an existing [|reef] or may be an expansion of a small natural [|islet]. Traditional artificial islands are created by [|land reclamation], although some recent developments have been constructed more in the manner of [|oil platforms]. Another, less distinctive, type of artificial island is formed by the incidental isolation of an existing piece of [|mainland] by [|canal] construction.

- Dubai's shore and dead coral crunches underfoot. - The normally crystal-clear gulf is fogged with silt. Eroding beaches need truckloads of sand to stay in place. - The $14 billion manmade project that is luring buyers from around the world is also damaging the habitat for gulf marine life. -The new land masses have buried coral reefs, oyster beds and sea grasses that nurtured fish and sea turtles. - They block and reroute natural currents, eroding Dubai's famed natural beaches.
 * //Problems in Dubai://**

1. Natural Coast Line protects itself through native vegetation, wildlife, creeks, rivers, lakes, dunes, beaches, wetlands, forests 2. Artificial & Cultural Forces 3. Iconography = island formation 4. Economic forces: that forces unnatural sense - Forces landscape to be what it doesn’t want to be
 * //Case Studies://**

Good example: coastal region: fishery/market, marsh life, stretch fabrics to create zones (balances relationships)

Poor example: Dubai Play of forces: terrain / water Passive / active (all Netlogo)

//"Understanding the qualities of nature in each place, expressing it in the design of communities, integrating it within our towns..."(4)//
 * Chapter 3: Individual Project**

Island formation is a dynamic process that is still occurring today. The forces that create and modify coastal barrier islands include: the topography of the ocean floor, tides, waves, wind, and man. But other forces are at work, changing the islands' shape.

Unfortunately for humans, we like the beach so much, that we want to build homes, hotels, and entire cities on them. What most people don't understand is that nature never intended them to stay in one place. They are going to change shape and to try to stop that process is going to require a concerted effort to dredge and reconstruct the beach, periodically.

Throughout the years so many have tried to mimic nature but one country has begun the process of actually constructing islands as a way of living on new land formation. The Gulf emirate of Dubai has announced the development of the world's largest man-made island. Palm Island will take up to five years to complete and which will offer their villas for sale to foreigners. The island will be built on land dredged from the approach channel to the Jebel Ali port. A few miles from Palm Island, shaped like a palm tree and the first of several artificial islands rising off the coast, work is continuing on "The World", a cluster of some 300 islands looking like a blurred vision of the planet's nations. But several years after the launch of the island ventures, their consequences on the marine environment remain a matter of debate. "The environment is very important to us," said Adnan Dawood, a Nakheel spokesman. Before the man-made islands began taking shape, the zone attracted migratory fish, Dawood said. Today "you have fish where there was no fish before, because now they have a habitat," he said. "Fifteen new species of fish have made this (The World) their habitat... Today you can (even) see dolphins," he added. (7)
 * //I propose a design perspective that will involve the design of built environments which exist in a relationship with both the environment around the design and the environments from which the design materials originated. Nature is the core principle of the design method.//**

Land Formations: ex. The Islands of Dubai Project: to create land formations which are best to be situated for Form = Function -take various land formations and see whish fit best for different categories
 * //Hex Alepha / Erosion Model://**

- Impact of topography to impact of nature/population - Separate individualism from mainland

- Weather, resources, people all contribute to the impacted topography Hydraulic systems Geologic systems Smoothness / Hardness
 * Impact of Topography:**

To what extent does it make things/effects? [Self perforated membrane – opening/closing pores] - Pattern it shows can be artificially modeled
 * //Netlogo://**

Usefulness – to open / imagine program - Self opening membrane - Different scales (cityà plaza/park) Generate programmatic clusters (forms of activity) Location of distribution system Programmatic clusters - Density of infrastructure to create various market structures - site for trade à via a particular interpretation

- learn system of Netlogo and program it to Island Topography / Formation - think of ways that come out of Netlogo and define my own territory
 * Points of integration from Netlogo to individual project:**

Netlogo: testing in an abstract way - In the act it forces me to generate a critical mass of work

“Valuable Research = Netlogo” - Can be base in order to think through what I have done with Netlogo

Degrees of autonomy: - Collective behavior / energy, pool of resources - Productive accumulation of collectiveness vs. individualism - Come up with taxonomy of potential sites: Islands / Land Formations

Complexity - opposite - Simplicity A complex system is any system composed of multiple elements. While interactions among the elements in any complex system will change the system over time, such changes cannot be attributed to any single rule or explanation. In recent years, a number of intriguing computer programs has been developed to simulate complex systems. These include adaptive agents, artificial life, genetic algorithms, neural networks, cellular automata, and Boolean networks. Complex = made up of closely connected parts which cannot be separated without destroying it

- The //Complex// //City// understands the complexity of the multiple forms of transformation of urban land use and transport infrastructure. - Special emphasis is put on the behavioral, welfare related, distributional, environmental and economic consequences of such transformational processes. - Aspect of urban development: building activity town green areas transport infrastructure public services

- As with the ocean, we live in a constant state of flux: changing with the give and take, flow of the tides in our own lives. - I will explore how change affects life and influences places in the region //Cultivation of Island Life//


 * //Complexity on island life?//**

Colonization and ecosystem development of near-shore islands constitute just a special case of ecological succession, and thus the development of theories of island assembly may benefit accordingly from efforts to incorporate ideas from the ecological succession literature, the need to build a greater degree of complexity into the development of island ecological models.