2. The context
2.1 The concept of "social cost" as a
factor that concerns the sustainable production and use of the built space
Every
technical product is characterized by the social cost of its production. Minimization of
the social cost of products that satisfy both the physical and the cultural needs of the
society, as well as the social values, has historically constitute a
"Morphogenetic" factor, i.e. it has determine—with respect to the
historical situation—the production method and consequently the structure and
the form of the product.
It is well
known that under the current historical situation, economic competition results
in expansive production, which multiplies both the products and the consumption
of the resources, while increases both the size and the complexity of the
production firms. Under these conditions the implementation of methods that
reduce the social cost of the production constitute a
social demand, as well as a competitive advantage of the producers willing to
adopt them. Besides, the sustainability of social production depends on such methods,
as it is undermined by the rapid exhaustion of the resources. Factors opposing
to the implementation of cost-reduction methods are the cost of transition from
the established methods to the new ones, the development of parallel commercial
activities on products used as resources in the established methods, and the
high linkage of large production units within a self-sustained system which
also includes political, economic and educational centers.
The
production and the use of both the built space and the urban infrastructure,
constitute an important part of the overall social production. They consume a
large part of production resources (time of human work is included in these
resources), while they also exhaust the environmental resources on which they are
depended. The implementation of sustainable
methods that
concern the particular activities constitutes an important factor of an overall
sustainable social production.
2.2 The established and the "holistic"
approach
The
established paradigm of production and use of the built space is characterized
by the combination of independent activities within centrally controlled
project management. The possibility of central control subjects to complexity limitations. These limitations, in combination with the
independent-in-nature character of the activities to be coordinated, impose the
antagonistic function of these activities which further
enlarge the social cost and the consumption of resources.
Many production activities presuppose others, which results in a serial or even
cyclic production program; this largely increases the production time.
Potential partial failures could cause cascading failures of larger scale,
which have serious consequences on the social cost of a project. The product is inflexible, i.e.
adaptation in different conditions is very expensive in social cost. Further expense derives from the antagonistic relation between the project and the natural
environment, which results in the non-utilization or even the destruction of
environmental resources. This antagonistic relation is a consequence of the
consideration of the project independently from the natural environment, which
is characteristic of central planning.
As opposed to
the established approach, the "holistic" approach considers human
activities in both the production and the use of the built space, as well as
various systems and features of the building project, functioning synergistically within a unified framework, as an "integrated" system. The "holistic" approach
considers also the building project as functionally unified with the natural
environment. The low-cost development and function, as well as the "adaptability", i.e. the possibility to maintain well functionality under different
conditions by low-cost modifications, constitute characteristic properties of an
integrated system. An important factor of the economy of both the production
and the use of the built space is the cost of
information
(this is the part of
the social cost that concerns the production of information:
e.g. the solution of either design or production problems). The cost of information can be reduced through partial solutions
having the property of either spatial or temporal reusability. In addition, the
"holistic"
approach drops the one-way dependence between either productive or functional
activities, consequently these activities can be executed at the same time;
this results in an important reduction of the required time, which also has
beneficial consequences concerning both the economy and the adaptability of the built space.
The
"holistic" approach is closely related to some current tendencies in
"system engineering": e.g. Bar-Yam, 2003.
2.3 The paradigm of the living world and the theoretical framework of the "complex dynamic systems"
The
historical study of both the production and the use methods of the built space
according to the local conditions holding in each time, reveals phenomena that
also characterize both the development and the behavior of living organisms.
Such phenomena, as the formation by evolution, the dynamic adaptation in the local
environment, the morphogenetic functionality of economic usage of available
resources, as well as the spontaneous
development and self-formation has been studied
within the framework of complex dynamic systems, which provides principles
appropriate for the foundation of a holistic approach to both the production
and the use of the built space. Basic principles of this kind are the developmental paradigm, i.e. the creation of the system
through interactions between elementary units, leading to the production of
gradually more complex parts, as well as the development of emergent properties, i.e. properties of the system derived from
interactions between its parts without constituting properties of the parts
themselves considered in isolation. Another basic principle is the possibility
that the interactions are simultaneous; as a consequence, emerging phenomena
could affect differently the dynamics of the system, depending on their
synchronization. This provides both variability and adaptability to the system.
2.4 The "integrated building systems" considered as methods of wide applicability
The concept
of a "building system" describes a general building method, which can
be applied in different conditions and in different times. As a consequence, it
is directly related to information reusability. Generality of potential
applications is an important benchmark for a building system, while it depends
on both the system's variability and adaptability. As an extreme case, a building
system that covers a large part of the social needs concerning the built space,
can be considered as a building paradigm. The sustainability of such a paradigm depends on the degree of the
system's integration, as this degree determines the
resources' consumption necessary to achieve certain qualitative and
quantitative features of the built space.
Often the
term "building systems" refers to various prefabrication systems.
However such systems usually exhibit low variability and adaptability, which limits their application
domain. Most prefabrication systems are not based on the holistic approach;
consequently they have low degree of integration. Besides, their contribution in the
reduction of the of the social cost of the built space is poor, as
system-specialized production units (such as factories) are required.
A building
system designed according to the holistic approach should concentrate specific features; then it can be characterized as an "integrated building
system".
2.5 The "holistic" approach at the
level of producers' organization
The
established production relations are based on both the commercial transaction
between independent production firms and the hierarchical organization of the
personnel within each firm. Both principles tend to an inflexible and poorly integrated production system. Specifically, the purely
commercial character of the production formulates the latter strictly according
to the objective of the direct profit of the producer. As a consequence the
features of the production diverge from both the desired features of the
resultant overall product, i.e. the built space, and the long-term overall
economic benefit of the producers themselves. In addition, the hierarchical
organization results in central management of information relevant to either
the production plan or the usage of the building project. This limits the
potential contribution of many people participating in both procedures in
information processing; consequently limits the variability of the built space, which is
necessary for the satisfaction of various social needs.
The holistic
approach favors forms of producers' organization that diverge from the
framework of the established production relations. These forms tend to peer
contribution in the production of novel products which result in mutual benefit
in the long-term. Peer production is characterized by low cost of organization,
dynamic formation of the relations that compose the production mechanism,
asynchronous activation of the producers, and generalization of the motives,
the relations and the forms of production. The international experience shows
that different forms of integration of the
production
are developed in different production sectors, while they have been considered
as subject of research. On this basis we submit an open proposal concerning
activities related to integrated
building.