Diversity as a unique constellation of superimposing network logics

The urban space is the result of multiple processes of generation, formation, emergence, development and implementation – to different degrees conspicuous, conscious and specific, overlapping and sequential in time. It is the temporary product of a multitude of exchange relations – material and immaterial – giving a provisional ordering to urban life through their underlying network logic (Latour et al, 1998). The urban form as the material sediment and urban life as the immaterial field of activity are equally important components to urban space. Moreover, the underlying processes are constitutive to Urban Space Diversity, as urban form shapes urban life and vice versa. In an economic system, where knowledge is the key resource, space becomes the principal mode of social ordering and control (Harvey, 1989; Soja, 1989). Architectural and urban design research in this context focuses on the production of qualitatively different spatial conditions based on local interactions between relevant networks. The immanent field of relations between nodes of a network manifests difference and is constituted via other nodes of the network, delineating urban space. The resultant configurations are regarded as loosely bounded aggregates characterized by porosity and local interconnectivity conducive to human activity. Urban development in this context becomes the art of mediating this interplay and providing the flexibility for adaptation in ever changing configurations (Eisinger, 2010). The urban space, rather than being an object in itself, is constituted by its relations between physical substance and nonphysical flows as well as its position and meaning in the global network of interrelations (Lefebvre, 1991). Urban space, the product, created and constantly recreated by processes of production and consumption that imprint on the physical and nonphysical environment of the city (Löw, 2001).