Bio-politics and Architecture - Essay Example

Bio-politics and Architecture Bio-politics and Architecture Introduction Bio-politics is a field that marries politics with biology. The term is mainly associated with Rudolf Kjellén, a Swedish political scientist and politician who used the term in the 1920s (it was Rudolf who also coined the term “geopolitics”)(Turda , 2010). However, it was not Rudolf who coined the term; it appear in print as early as 1912. In contemporary political science studies, the term has a postmodernist meaning assigned to it by the French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault. It denotes the interaction between social and political power and how that interaction shapes society (Turda, 2010). This paper examines the concept of bio-politics and proposes ways in which it can be applied to architecture. To achieve this purpose, the author first discusses the idea as conceived by Foucault. Next, the author, by use of examples from around the world, attempts to demonstrate that there exists a relationship between architecture and politics before proposing how the concept of bio-politics may be applied to architecture. Finally, the author summarises the main ideas put forward in the paper. The ideas of bio-politics, though highly philosophical and abstract, may be applied to architecture. Discussion Michel Foucault and Bio-politics According to Foucault, the concept of bio-politics is closely tied to that of government or what he called “governmentality”(Lemke, 2001). The philosopher used the concept of governmentality to demonstrate the existence of a relationship between the means of acquiring and exercising power and knowledge. He posited that it was not possible to study power techniques without studying the political thinking behind them. There are two sides to "the art of government", a term Foucault uses interchangeably with governmentality. First, the term implies a specific form of representation called government. Besides enabling representation, government is the instrument through which the exercise power is justified and legitimised. As a form of representation, governments primary function is to solve societal problems using strategies. To discharge this function, government organises itself into appropriate structures. To legitimise its existence, the government must turn to some supreme law that, in most countries, is the constitution. The legitimacy of government is important if it is to discharge its core and other functions. Secondly, Foucault uses the term government in its older, broader sense where it implies the connection between forms of power and the process of subjectification(Lemke, 2001). Whereas the term government today carries purely a political meaning, Foucault demonstrates that until the eighteenth century, the concept of government was broader and more problematic. The term politics was discussed not only in political literature, but also religious, medical and philosophical literature. In addition to the control of the state, government also implied problems of managing the household and directing the soul. Consequently, Foucault defines government as governing the self and others. In his historical analysis of governmentality, Foucault strives to illustrate that the modern sovereign state and the autonomous individual are interdependent(Lemke, 2001). In antiquity, philosophers belaboured to distinguish between man as a living being (or zoe) with his sphere of influence being in the home and man as a political subject to whom the polis, or the state, is their sphere of influence(Deleuze, 1992). According to Foucault and many philosophers, the introduction of the zoe (or the natural life) into the state (or bios) is the most important event in the history of the modern man. However, what the philosophers did not agree on is cause or force behind the marriage between the man and the state. On the one hand, some philosophers argued that the new order was the result of the action of sovereign power. Another school of thought held that the new order is due to a set of new forces that are beyond the control of sovereign power. Foucault subscribed to the latter school. Foucault posited that bio-politics was the new form of government brought about by the interaction of new dynamic forces. These forces have resulted in new power relations that were unknown to the classical world. On reading him closely, however, Foucault does not define the dynamic new set of forces. Neither does he define the new power relations that are the result of the new set of forces. Nonetheless, he described the new power relations as representing both resistance and creation. The resistance to the new order, Foucault argued, demanded that government puts in place measures to combat it. Foucault also analysed the introduction of the so-called "life into history" using developing the political economy. He endeavoured to demonstrate that the techniques of power changed at the point that the economy (meaning the government of the family) and politics (meaning the government of the state) became intertwined. Like other proponents of bio-politics, Foucault was concerned about what can be done to manage the family more effectively then transfer the effective management of the family to the state. Implicit in this statement is the notion that the state was less effective in managing its affairs than the family. In making this judgement, however, Foucault overlooked the fact that the two institutions are different in terms of complexity and the range of issues that each is faced with: the state is far more complex and deals with a more extensive range of issues than the family. Moreover, in proposing that the family guides the state in running its affairs, Foucault must have had the ideal, efficient family in mind. In reality, however, families, though small and more manageable than the state, have their challenges that render them ineffectively managed units. Architecture and Politics Architecture has always offered architects avenues to express not only their creativity, but also their views(Cope ). However, throughout the history of mankind, time and again, political ideology has manipulated architecture. For instance, in creating the capitols of the various states of the United States, their conceivers saw them as powerful statements of democracy, coming shortly after the War of Independence(Cope ). The capitols propagated political and national ideals, most of which were influenced by the teachings of Enlightenment in France. In this section, the author makes an attempt to illustrate, with the help of examples, the strong links between architecture and politics. An appreciation of such links will set the stage for an attempt to apply bio-politics to the discipline and practice of architecture. Abuja, Nigeria’s New Federal Capital At independence, Lagos was Nigeria’s federal capital. At the dawn of independence, the nation’s political elite had hoped to carve a new image for the city and the nation as a whole through urban planning and architecture (Immerwahr, 2007). However, as Lagos was not a planned city from the onset and given the rapid rate of urbanisation and development, that vision was never realised. Instead, the nations founding fathers toiled with the idea of relocating the federal capital. However, they were not the first to contemplate the move. Long before independence, the colonial authorities had contemplated the possibility of relocating the capital from Lagos. In 1975, the federal government took its intention to relocate a step farther when it set up a Committee on the Location of the Federal Capital to assess the need for a new capital. The Committee criticised Lagos heavily and concluded in 1976 that the city was unfit for a federal capital. Following the recommendations of the Committee, an international planning firm was contracted to prepare the Master Plan for the new capital (Immerwahr, 2007). That plan was handed to the federal government in 1979. It is worthwhile to note that much of the time lapse between the time the idea of a new capital was first floated by the colonialists to the time the decision to relocate to Abuja was adopted in 1976 was mainly due to competing political interests at both the federal and state levels (Immerwahr, 2007). For instance state authorities in Lagos, not surprisingly, were opposed to the move to relocate the federal capital to Abuja (Immerwahr, 2007). Being the seat of the federal government, Lagos enjoyed certain benefits that included higher levels of services relative to other states. Relocating the federal capital would erode those benefits. It took General Murtala Muhammed and the Supreme Military Council to unanimously decide in 1975 to relocate the capital (Immerwahr, 2007). However, the decision to relocate brought with it and architectural problem. Using its power, the federal government defied the existing architecture in Lagos and elsewhere in the country (that architecture was better suited to the tropical conditions of the country) in favour of air-conditioned corporate modernist architecture that could easily fit into London or New York, for example (Immerwahr, 2007). The proposed National Mall, for instance, is said to have been lifted from Washington, DC. Today, very few buildings in Abuja represent the Nigerian culture; the majority are fashioned after buildings in the United States and Europe (Immerwahr, 2007). The New Parliament House, Canberra Parliamentary buildings the world over are designed to attract attention: the grander the structure, the more attention it attracts and the stronger emotions it evokes(Cope ). These buildings stand for tradition and authority. More often than not, they elicit feelings of national unity and pride. Australias New Parliament House in Canberra has been occupied since 1988 and is, therefore, in the strict sense of the word, no longer new. Soon after its completion and occupation in 1988, the new parliamentary building received much positive publicity that has since diminished over the years. However, amid the fanfare, some critics were questioning the appropriateness of a country with a modest economy such as Australia exhibiting much power and grandeur through its parliamentary building(Cope ). The debate is beyond the scope of this paper. To illustrate the politics involved in the New Parliament House, it is worth noting that the project was the result of the dissatisfaction with working conditions in the old Parliament House as expressed by backbench parliamentarians(Cope ). The Executive has been documented as having been less enthusiastic about the project. The low enthusiasm by the Executive given the large sum of money that was required to build the structure. Given that the project was the first of its kind, architectural and construction authorities had few examples from which to borrow. Both the old Parliament Building and 1927 provisional parliamentary building was too small to be compared to the proposed new building. The New Parliament Building sits adjacent to Lake Burley Griffin, a creation of the American architect-planner, Walter Griffin Burley, who prepared the original Canberra Master Plan early in the twentieth century. It has been said that in proposing the siting of the New Parliament Building in particular, Burley was heavily influenced by American democratic ideals(Cope ). The application of Bio-politics to Architecture From the preceding discussion, it is clear that there exists a relationship between politics and architecture. It is helpful at this point to stress that the term "politics" is used in its wider sense to mean the collectivity of the interactions between the architect and their clients, other built environment professionals and other stakeholders and the techniques the architect uses to influence the outcomes of those interactions. This is the authors operational definition that takes into account the fact in the course of their work, the architect interacts with many actors. Consequently, the architect must be prudent enough to know how to interact with each actor in a manner that will further the architect’s career and the profession (Cope ). In this section, some proposals are made on how architecture can apply some of the ideas of bio-politics. In the language of bio-politics, there exists a relation between the zoe (or the family) and the polis (or the state)(Turda, 2010). As a profession in the built environment, architecture acts as the link between the two. Taking a building construction project as example, in general terms, the project is likely to proceed as follows. The physical planner first prepares a site plan for the proposed project site and sets the general conditions of development in line with the city master plan and the various zoning regulation. The site plan is accompanied by computer-generated and physical models. The physical planner presents the site plan, the models and all the city department of planning for approval. Once approved, the stage is set for the architect to enter the project. Using the planner’s models, the architects prepares detailed models of the structures proposed for the site and submits them to the city department of planning for approval. Once the architect’s models are approved, the other professionals in the construction industry, such as engineers and quantity surveyors, play their part. In this generalised model, the architect and the planner act as the link between the client and the approving authorities – the former representing the zoe and the latter the bios. Foucault stressed the importance of making families better-managed institutions and transferring their efficiency to the state(Lemke, 2001). The rationale behind this proposition was that being the small units they are, families are easier to manage that the complex state. Because the people who run state affairs belong to and are drawn from families, the implication is that if families are functional, the state too is more likely to be functional. Unfortunately, when it comes to architecture, households may not set the pace for the authorities. Rather, it is the authorities that define architectural standards with which households are required to comply. In this respect, architecture can help enhance both entities by providing professional advice. Thus, for a household building a residential home, the architect advises on the suitable architecture given the prevailing climatic, regulatory and other factors. The problem with architecture playing the advisory role arises when the client and the regulator is one and the same person. Taking the case of Abuja, Nigeria, the federal government either regulates urban development or it has delegated the same to the States. Yet there is reason to suspect that in designing Abuja’s government buildings, the federal government side-lined local architects in favour of foreign architects, just as the new capital was planned by an American planning firm(Immerwahr, 2007). The result is building that are unsuited to the country’s climate, at least from the viewpoint of local architects. Conclusion Bio-politics is a field that attempts to apply biological concepts to politics. At the centre of bio-politics is the idea that just as living organisms are made up of billions of cells that in turn make up organs that function together as a unit, so is society(Lemke, 2001). The difference is that society is simplified to have to components, bios (or state) and zoe (or family). These two are interdependent and influence each other. Because architecture and politics are intertwined some of the ideas of bio-politics could, though highly philosophical and abstract, could be applied to architecture. Foucault stressed the need to enhance the way families are managed (Turda, 2010). He believed that as the basic units of society and foundations of the state, functional families go a long way toward promoting a functional state. Architecture can play a role in enabling both the state and households make better architectural decisions by providing professional advice. References Cope, R. (n.d.). Housing a Legislature: When Architecture and Politics Meet. Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the Societies of Control. JSTOR, 593-7. Immerwahr, D. (2007). The Politics of Architecture and Urbanism in Postcolonial Lagos, 1960–1986. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 19.21-25. Lemke, t. (2001). ‘The birth of bio-politics: Michel Foucaults lecture at the Collège de France on neo-liberal governmentality. Economy and Society, 30.2190-207. Turda, M. (2010). Modernism and Eugenics. Palgrave: Macmillan. Read More