We make up the rules as we go along? Projektyzacja, „bystre” miasta i widma emergencji
We make up the rules as we go along? Projectification, ‘Smart’ Cities, and the Spectres of Emergence

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the issues of the so-called projectification of reality from the perspective of the praxis philosophy. This point of view triggers the reflection upon the profound transformations of social reality resulting from the proliferation of “projects” as methods of operation and organizational forms. However, due to such transformations, it is necessary to move on from the deliberations predominantly based on management sciences to a more humanistic (philosophical) reflection and the associated ontological issues. As a consequence, a “project” is understood not only as an educational method, a method of (e.g. creative) work in general, or an organizational form (e.g. in business) but, above all, as a property of social reality. Due to the projectification processes of the modern world, such fundamental variables of our functioning in reality in general as time, space, and social relations are evolving. This approach, proposed by Anders Fogh Jensen, for instance, records the fundamental transformation of modern disciplinary societies into contemporary project societies. Nevertheless, it prompts the following query in a critical plan: What are the consequences of this process? What is the post-project reality like? What are the effects of such temporary activities: flexible tools for the transformation of the world, emergent interventions into social reality? These questions are raised in relation to a specific case: the Oasis Little India project implemented in the historical Indian district of Singapore. This case perfectly fits into one of the most “projectified” ideologies of urban development—the notion of smart city.

• Details
• Contents