attainable realities unattainable fantasies

ATTAIN

REALITIES

UN

FANTASIES

ABLE

Attainable realities,unattainable fantasiesKatarzyna Lukasik

TABLE OF CONTENT

Abstract................................................................................................... 2

Introduction.............................................................................................. 3-6

Chapter 1.Planning on a Social Scale........................................................... 8-23

Chapter 2.Psychology of Future Oriented Thinking................................. 24-27

Chapter 3.Rational Planning......................................................................... 283.1: Making Silly Putty: Plan........................................................ 28-313.2: Scenario Planning as a Method to Make Silly Putty............ 323.3: Planned Day and Unplanned Day......................................... 33-353.4: Productivity and Efficiency in the Planned Day................... 36-373.5: Self-control and Ego-depletion............................................ 38-40

Chapter 4: Planning in Social Interactions.................................................... 424.1: Scripted Conversations........................................................ 43-47

Chapter 5:Unattainable Fantasies................................................................ 48-49Materializing Fantasies................................................................ 50-56

Conclusion................................................................................................ 58-60

Bibliography.............................................................................................. 62-68

List Of Illustrations................................................................................... 69-70

This context report explores the phenomenon

of planning from different angles. The report

examines how various types of planning were

or are used in social, economic and urban structures of

society, such as dealing with possible hazards, creating

economical models and urban planning. The report,

also explains the psychological processes and methods

behind the action of planning, which could be described

in other words as projecting ourselves into the future by

applying our past experiences to consider possible future

outcomes.

In using the design process as a tool of investigation,

I aim to dissect my own inclination towards planning

and define the purpose it has in my life. Through

psychological experiments and observations, I explore a

rational approach to planning, as well as planning in social

scenarios. Looking at planning in a bigger social spectrum,

together with a smaller personal scale, I endeavour to

gain a deeper understanding as to what extent planning

impacts the society and my personal life in both positive

and negative ways. Additionally, I aim to investigate the

difference between the master plan, the execution of

it and the reality of the outcome. Finally, I will attempt

to investigate the area of unattainable fantasies as an

extension of planning, where design acts as a mechanism

of tangible visualisation and materialization.

3

This context report aims to present the

importance of planning in our society,

as well as introduce my personal

relation with the act of planning.

‘Thinking about the future’ and planning ‘is one of

the many human cognitive abilities that distinguish

us from other species.’(1) We tend to use this

ability within our everyday life on different scales,

from the socio-economic, to urban planning or on a

more personal scale, for instance planning our daily

activities or future holidays. Moreover, the ability to

plan in various dimensions hugely influences both

development and stagnation on a social scale, as

well as in one’s life. Despite the fact that planning

helps us prevent an unwanted future, in its core, it

is a mechanism we use to deal with the impossibility

of envisaging the future. It is beyond the bounds of

possibility to fully know, understand or even control

the time to come. The future has not yet happened,

thus we desperately try to uncover and forecast

the achievable future sequences of events, whereas

Albert Einstein said: “I never think of the future.

It comes soon enough”.(2) Nevertheless, the fear

from the unknown impacts us so far that, we create

economical models to try to predict the progress

of the economy. We follow the weather podcasts

in order to know what we are going to wear in the

next few days. We insure our homes, cars, laptops

and even lives to protect ourselves from possible

hazards, even though such plans do not have any

control over future events. Thus, we

4 5

+ 56%

£ 1.450,00

+17%

£ 8,000

-15%

£ 1.225,00

+ 47%

£ 1.300,00

deceive ourselves by creating a fake impression that

we have tackled the irrational task of predicting

and controlling the future. Therefore we as users,

are situated in a system that acts as an attempt to

accomplish our initial plan and create the future we

wished for, nevertheless, the difference between the

planned and the reality always occurs within the act

of planning. Through both this report and my studio

practice I seek to investigate how far planning can be

a factor for progress to happen, as well as influence

our behaviour when undesirable outcomes take

place.

“Design is not a discipline but a PROCESS which

humans use to materialize thought”(3), thus design

within my practice does not act as a solution to

create and execute the perfect plan. I endeavour to

use design as a tool to both understand and illustrate

my own inclination towards planning. In addition, by

looking at the phenomenon of planning I attempt

to understand the difference between the plan and

the reality, giving an example of how throughout

history plans have succeeded yet failed in their

purpose. Rather than draw out a critical statement

on the correct ways of planning, my report examines

planning from a social spectrum as well as through

presenting my own experiments.

6 7

Figure 1: Redevelopm

ent of Norrm

lan

In my context report I will explore planning

on a social scale, presenting planning as a tool of

anticipation for possible hazards. I will discuss an

attempt of controlling the economical progress by

designing economical models, as well as presenting

failure and success in urban planning. I will further

discuss my rational approach to planning, by

presenting my investigations and experiments, that

attempt to create different alternatives to a master

plan in order to diminish elements of surprise. In

addition, I will illustrate how far planning impacts

my life and well being. I will also examine planning in

social interactions. Finally, I will proceed to describe

planning in the context of unattainable fantasies.

8 9

This chapter discusses planning on

the social scale, in different areas of

anticipation of possible hazards, such as

Risk theory and prevention of potential pandemic,

creating economical models as well as urban

planning. Using these examples I aim to show how

far planning can have both a positive and negative

impact on our society. Additionally, I will examine

these examples and demonstrate the difference

between the initial plan and the reality of the

outcome.

“Risk is not the same as catastrophe, but the

anticipation of the catastrophe[…]”(4) Ulrich Beck

in his book ‘World at risk’ draws out a picture about

modern society facing numerous risks, such as global

warming, terrorist attacks and economical crises.

In addition, he presents a political use of risk, which

hugely impacts our everyday lives. However, I would

like to focus on one particular interesting issue in

the chapter ‘ Staging Global Risk’; Beck uses several

examples, where anticipation of catastrophe effects

society, thus determining that we do not object to

the enforcement of control on our freedom of living.

He presents an example of an attempted terrorist

attack during the summer of 2006. Even though, the

terrorist attack did not occur, the EU realised a new

law regulation, restricting the transport of liquids on

airplanes.(5) Beck communicates, “The passengers,

in whose minds the terrorist thread has become

lodged, accepted such restrictions on their

liberties without a demur.”(6) This example clearly

shows how our fear of the unknown helps create law

regulations, new systems or even organizations, that

in theory would help us control or perceive future

hazards. We try to tackle non-existing, non-tangible

threat by constructing a concrete system around

these issues. In this specific case, aiming to control

the future negatively influences society; it only gives

us a fake impression that we are prevented from a

thread of the possible terrorist attack.

On the other hand, planning to prevent possible

hazards for welfare can serve a positive purpose.

In 2009, the French government created a national

plan to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus. Since

April 30th, INPES began an information campaign to

raise a hygiene awareness on the transmission of the

virus, additionally, in July that year, France ordered

94 millions of vaccines against H1N1.(7) However,

the information campaign was so well executed that

the spread of the virus was initially estimated to be

extremely low. The miscalculation cost the French

government 400 million euros,(8) “ France bought

94 million doses- almost one and a half for every

member of the population- but so far only five million

people are recorded as having been vaccinated since

the programme was launched.”(9) This example

shows that even though the state lost money,

the precautions taken resulted in a successful

anticipation of the possible risk. The safety measures

taken by the government had a very high possibility

10 11

of saving thousands of lives.

In the same way as the state attempts to

anticipate possible hazards, economists try to create

economical models to serve a similar purpose of

preventing an economical crisis happening. The

economy at its basics relies on different business

interactions driven by human nature, which

create three main forces that drive the economy:

productivity growth, short term debt cycle, long

term debt cycle.(10) To understand the complex net

of business transaction and in order to forecast its

progress, the economists design various models. One

of the models uses the laws of Ceteris Paribus, which

is Latin for “all other things being equal”.(11) In other

words, the model isolates the effect of one particular

variable on the rest of the economy. For instance, if

the economist uses the laws of Ceteris Paribus and

would like to predict the amount of the ice-cream

one could sell, while respecting the increasing and

decreasing price, it would require to hold other

factors constant.(12) Therefore, this economical

model simplifies a complicated net of business

exchange. Although, it seems reasonable to do so,

predicting every single change in the economy is in

fact nearly impossible, and is often unsuccessful. As,

“Similarly, a market participant […] might become so

dominant in certain markets that the ceteris paribus

assumption becomes unrealistic.”(13) In addition, the

economy is such an unforeseeable mechanism, that

simplifying its development while considering

different factors stable, is ultimately implausible.

Thus, “The implicit view behind standard models is

that markets and economies are inherently stable

and that they only temporarily get off track.”(14)

Even though models are created to aid progress

as well as predict failure in some areas of economy,

they often tend to be impractical. In the following

example, the difference between the plan,

prediction and the unwanted reality is clearly visible.

Throughout the 20th century we suffered numerous

economic crises, “[…] economic crises as old as the

markets themselves”(15), we kept continuing to

try to forecast the next one. Thus in 2008 we faced

yet another one when the stock market collapsed,

impacting economy on the global scale. In this

particular case, inventing models is not as negative

as blindly believing in one. The models themselves

might help us forecast the future, yet we should

remember that they are not an ultimate solution.

12 13

Figure 2: Rene B

urri, Brasilia, 1960

Creating models is not only used as tool within

economy, but in urban planning as well. I will discuss

how far it aids the success of an architectural project

to happen, as well as when it fails.

The architects of modernism strongly believed

that they could reform people through architecture

and that rational design could make rational

societies.(16) Holston states, “Rather its design and

construction were intended as a means to create

it by transforming Brazilian society”.(17) Despite

that, the realisation of the dream became a disaster.

Frank Withford wrote that: “’Modern’ architecture,

according to some has let society down, and the

arrogance of too many architects who put dogma

above utility and believe they know better than

their clients how their clients should live”.(18) For

instance, Brasilia a city designed by Lucio Costa and

Oscar Niemeyer, and built entirely from the ground-

up following their original plan Pilot Plan (Plano

Piloto) is an example of a failed architectural plan.

Nowadays less than 10% live in the Pilot Plan area,

demonstrating how unsuccessful the architectural

design was.(19)

14 15

Figure 4: Construção de B

rasilia

Figure 3: Oscar N

iemeyer: classic and unpublished

16 17

Figure 5: Pruitt Igoe

Figure 6: Implosion of Pruitt-Igoe in 1972

The most significant indicator of the end of the

modern architecture was the demolition of social

housing blocks, starting by the destruction of the

Pruitt-Igoe estate in St. Louis Missouri, designed by

Minoru Yamasaki.(20) He himself stated: “ It’s a job I

wish I hadn’t done”.(21)

There is an ongoing debate about the reason why

modern architecture has failed, it has its supporters

and opponents, both in architects as well as in

residents of some of the modern buildings. However,

I would like to use this example as another evidence

where meticulous planning has failed to follow

through with its initial goal.

18 19

Figure 7: Com

misionesrs’ Proposla for M

anhattan Grid, 1811

Although, I have mentioned failed architectural

plans, there are also some that have succeeded

and still stand today such as the Manhattan Grid

System. In 1811, the Commissioners (Gouverneur

Morris, Simeon DeWitt, John Rutherford) presented

the first plan, which would enable to transform the

Island of Manhattan into a grid system.(22) Rapid

increase in the city’s population and living conditions

were among one of the reasons why the plan was

implemented, “The protection of public health and

safety, […] reason for proposing that the city develop

a network of board, straight streets.”(23) The

Commissioners Plan intended to apply “a

physical representation of the Cartesian coordinate

system”(24) onto a landscape. However, the plan had

to transform Manhattan’s landscape dramatically,

Reuben Skye Rose-Redwood in her study states,

“[…] the grid plan sought to convert this diverse

Manhattan landscape into a tabula rasa […]”(25) In

the same respect as previously mentioned Modernist

Architecture, the Manhattan Grid System has as

many enthusiasts as opponents. Rem Koolhass,

expresses, “The Grid’s two-dimensional discipline

also creates […] freedom for three-dimensional

anarchy […] a metropolis of rigid chaos.”(26)

He also criticises its artificiality and states that,

20 21

Figure 9: Manhattan A

rchitecturte, 2005

Figure 8: Old N

ew Y

ork

“Central Park is a synthetic Arcadian Carpet”.(27)

Imposing a physical grid onto a landscape resulted

in changing its natural environment into “one of the

most humanized environments on the face of the

Earth”.(28) After 200 years of its existence it still

remains both “political and economical functionality”.

(29) Sarah Henry the deputy of the Museum of the

City of New York stated, “The grid has shaped this

vibrant city, imposing an order and controlling its

chaos.”(30) The example of the Manhattan Grid

System shows that urban planning can be both

effective and contribute to the development of the

city.

22 23

Figure 10: Plan of the City of N

ew Y

ork, 1807

To conclude, the anticipation of possible hazards

in respect to planning can act as a tool to impose

control over people’s freedom of life. On the other

hand, governmental involvement in preventing

possible problems can result in saving people’s lives.

The state should use planning in an intelligent way as

a mechanism to diminish potential threats in order

to protect society from endangerment. Economical

models attempt to understand future consequences

of economic growth, even though these models are

intelligent and have power to work. Relying on just

one is dangerous because throughout time it might

need to be rethought. The same goes for architects

trying to plan the perfect city, this might result in

controlling but not fulfilling its purpose. Although

urban planning can contribute to the economic and

social growth of the city, it has its price. In all these

examples, it is clear that planning can have both a

positive and negative impact on social structure,

progress of the economy or urban planning. Bearing

in mind that the difference between the original plan

and its purpose are significant in both successful and

failed plans.

24 25

temporal-spatial relations among these events.”(34)

The second one is explained as our knowledge

about the world, “It is a mental thesaurus, organized

knowledge a person possesses about words and

other verbal symbols,[...]”.(35)

It is crucial to distinguish the difference between

‘knowing’ and ‘remembering’, for instance using

semantic memory enables us to know the name of

the restaurant we went to with our friends. On the

other hand, episodic memory allows us to remember

the unpleasant conversation we had with the waiter.

In favor of projecting the self in the future, we use

both of the above mentioned types of memories for

the episodic future thinking to emerge. The semantic

and episodic memory act as an informative method

for us to envision ourselves in different future

scenarios. We use the episodic future thinking as

a tool to imagine a time to come, whether it is for

‘social cognition’ or ‘decision making’.(36)

In this chapter I will discuss psychological studies

about planning and future oriented thinking.

Deliberating about these studies helps me to

understand the ability of human cognition, previously

mentioned in the introduction. Each of us consciously

or unconsciously plan or think about the future. It

is psychologically proven that every human being

who has not had a frontal lobe lesion is capable

of imagining future scenarios.(31) I would like to

briefly describe the mechanisms, which stand behind

self-projection and episodic future thinking, both

responsible for envisioning the future. Although

these psychological studies did not directly inform

my studio practice experiments, I have gained a

better understanding about my behavior and action

of planning when it comes to thinking about the

future.

Self-projection is the ability of ‘shifting

perspectives from the immediate present’, informed

by ‘past memories’ and our ‘present situation’, to

try to predict upcoming scenarios by projecting

ourselves into the future.(32) According to

psychologist Endel Tulving, our memory consists

of two separate structures: episodic and semantic.

The episodic memory differs from the semantic

memory, the first one enables us to remember

personal events or situations from the past as well

as re-experience them.(33) Tulving writes: “ Episodic

memory receives and stores information about

temporally dated episodes or events, and

26 27

Figure 11: Design Process

To conclude, there is a clear evidence that we

have an ability for future orientated thinking and

planning, as it acts as a very useful tool to apply

in our everyday lives. This capacity enables us to

predict or prepare ourselves for possible future

situations or outcomes. Hence, I have gained a better

understanding of the different processes occurring in

my brain, and how they influence my decisions and

planning. I am also looking at my planning behavior

as a way to deal with unknown future scenarios,

rather than thinking of it as an unhealthy obsession.

28 29

MAKING SILLY PUTTY: THE PLAN3.1

In this chapter I will present a personal investigation

which, helped me comprehend to what extent

planning influences my life and overall well being.

It also illustrates the disparity between the expected

result and the reality. I have designed three different

experiments which depict the reasoning behind

planning, where in my personal case the plan serves

as wanting to be more efficient and productive.

I would now like to describe a rational approach to

planning, which reflects upon the activity I undertook

in the material research brief. I chose to make Silly

Putty as a material related to my project because of

that fact that it has a flexible and runny consistency

but once snapped it quickly falls into chunks.

Through this specific phenomenon I found a link

between planning and being ready when something

does not go according to plan. In addition, designing a

way to source all the ingredients I needed to make it

with, resulted in creating a rational plan.

After doing some research I found three different

instructions on how to make Silly Putty, then I listed

all the components and the essential equipment. I

first assumed that purchasing some of the

ingredients might not be easy, and the possibility of

me going to different locations to obtain these was

high. With that in mind, I made different sourcing

plans for each of the recipes. I had one variation

for each of the three plans, yet as I went along I

developed more than one option for some of the

recipes, assuming that the first attempt to source

the ingredient might not work. Additionally, the plan

intended to help me be as efficient as I could. As a

result, I created three different plans (A, B, C,) with

different alternatives to some of them, yet in the end

it took six different attempts to make the Silly Putty.

By listing every single location I needed to go

to, every ingredient I had to buy and every single

piece of equipment I needed to use, I collected a fair

amount of data as physical evidence. I concluded

that unlike planning daily activities, I had designed

different plans for different occurrence in events,

excluding the element surprise and disappointment

when the first plan would not work. I examine this

activity further in the next paragraph.

30 31

( (+( (=3 tbl spoons of

glue2 tbl spoons of

liquid starchSilly Putty

( (+( (=2 tbl spoons of

glue2 tbl spoons of

laundry detergentSilly Putty

( (+ =1 tbl spoons of

glue2 tbl spoons of

BoraxSilly Putty

Tesco

Home

University

Figure 12: Planning for Silly Putty

PLAN_A

PLAN_A_2 PLAN_A_3

University

Tesco

Sainsbury’s

Home

DIY Shop

University

Tesco

Sainsbury’s

Home

University

Tesco

Sainsbury’s

Home

University

Home

University

Tesco

Home

Homebase

PLAN_C_2

PLAN_B PLAN_C

( (

32 33

SENARIO PLANNING AS A METHOD TO MAKE SILLY PUTTY

PLANNED DAY ANDUNPLANNED DAY3.2 3.3

I will now analyze my putty planning activity. I

thought about every single step of the plan: potential

consequences of each action, as well as solutions

if a particular attempt did not succeed. Therefore

I define my method as ‘Scenario Planning’. Paul

J.H.Schoemaker in his article states that “scenario

planning is a disciplined method for imagining

possible futures”(37). He also explains Scenario

Planning as an attempt to capture, “the richness and

range of possibilities, stimulating decision makers

to consider changes they would otherwise ignore.”

(38) As a result, although I assumed that making Silly

Putty would take one day, in reality it took me three

days, in which case I observed the discrepancies

between my initial plan the reality. However, it takes

directly experiencing it to realize how difficult it is to

fulfill plans to the most minute detail. By designing

a plan that foresaw any possible obstacles, I was

attempting to diminish the element of surprise and

frustration from a plan that would go array. However,

given it is practically impossible to plan for every

problem, my plan did not go as expected.

The goal of my next experiment was to contrast

my sense of personal achievement between a

Planned and Unplanned Day. Through both collecting

and visualising the data, I was able to see where the

plan failed or succeeded.

Planning a day ahead of time, and drawing out

the goals I wanted to achieve at the end of that day, I

tried to execute every single step from my list. Most

of the goals revolved around my university life and

some of the daily activities. After performing the

experiment I felt like I had had quite a successful day,

as I managed to tick off all items from my list except

for one. Use the data from the experiment I created

a graph of my activities and compared what had

provoked feeling of content and guilt. On completing

the graph I found that nearly 95% of the time I felt

content, thus the closer I get to feeling very content

the more I fulfilled my goal. As a result, I’ve assumed

that in my own case, planning becomes a tool for

progress, enabling me to become a better version of

myself and keep me motivated. Similarly to my

34 35

Silly Putty experiments, there was an occurrence

of unexpected events, in this case the fact that the

swimming pool was closed which influenced my

goals list. Again this particular event shows the

difference between my plan and outside factors,

which impacted my day. In order to challenge my

behavioural pattern towards planning, I decided to

spend a non-planned day.

The second experiment, a non-planned day, was

much harder for me to execute. Leaving my house,

I took a route which I barely ever do, and not having

any pre-set goals greatly influenced my day and

the course of events dramatically. Furthermore,

wandering around with not aim made me feel

uncomfortable and constantly looking for places

where I could occupy myself with something to do,

such as entering an unknown coffee shop to read a

newspaper. Throughout the day I managed to reach

the point of ‘content’, mainly because I knew that

I was doing an investigation, which would help my

project. Finally, I returned home to procrastinate for

the rest of the day, which made me feel guilty. Thus,

as opposed to the first experiment, the lack of goals

made the non-planned day revolve around random

actions which were a trigger for the ‘non plan’ to

carry on.

To conclude, comparing these three examples

demonstrates how in my own case, a plan serves a

motivational purpose to increase my productivity,

ambition, and contentedness. As a result, the rational

planning approach to schedule my activities has a

very positive impact on my personal development

and well-being. The other activity left me with a

feeling of being lost and not-knowing what to do

next. For that reason, the example of the non-

planned day clearly illustrates how this activity has

a negative influence on my daily life. Therefore, I

will now analyze the productivity and efficiency in a

Planned Day, as I consider it as a positive aspect of

planning.

36 37

11.00

12.00

13.00

14.00

15.00

16.00

17.00

18.00

19.00

20.00

21.00

22.00

23.00

Very Content

Medium Content

Content

Guilty

Medium Guilty

Very Guilty

38 39

Very Content

Medium Content

Content

Guilty

Medium Guilty

Very Guilty

10.00

11.00

12.00

13.00

14.00

15.00

16.00

40 41

03.45 h

02.00 h

02.25 h

01.45 h

00.30 h

01.15 h

01.45 h

01.45 h

Figure: 14 Planned Day Time

In this paragraph, I would like to take a closer look

at my goal achievements, in order to get an insight

of how productive I was during the planned day. As

stated earlier, I had felt like I achieved what I wanted,

however when I added up the time I had spent on

different activities, I was surprised to see that during

a 14 hour active day, I spent only 3:45 hours studying

and 1:45 hours developing my skills. I came to

observe the time certain activities, which constitute

my day take, such as smoking which totals to 1:45

hours. Moreover, my daily routine activities add up

to 5 hours, such activities not contributing to my

personal development.

PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY IN THE PLANNED DAY3.4

42 43

To gain a better understanding of how to plan

in an effective way as well as to execute a plan,

I undertook research in the field of psychology.

Setting goals and taking action to fulfill them are two

different things, which are often confused. Lisa G.

Aspinawall states that “[...] research suggests that

simply thinking about desired future outcomes is not

enough to promote the thoughts and actions required

to attain those outcomes.”(39) This quote illustrates

how my fantasizing about my goal achievement is

simply not enough to keep me being persistent while

trying to attain them, reflecting upon the productivity

during my planned day activity. Another factor,

which is significant when fulfilling goals is self-

control, it is among the deciding factors when trying

to attain the desired outcome. Hence self-control is a

limited resource which easily be used up. Brandon J.

Schmeichel, Kathleen D. Vohs and Roy F. Baumeister

write in their article, “ [...] active self-control can

be costly in the sense that it depletes some inner

resources, akin to energy or strength […] when this

resource is depleted the self’s performance of its

functions is often impaired.”(40) Therefore, being

mentally productive has its limit. We can reach a

state when we are not able to perform well on a

particular task because we have reached the limit of

our mental capacity. Schmeichel, Vohs and

Baumeister in the same article mentioned above,

describe three experiments to prove that self-

control is a finite resource which can be depleted.

I will focus on the first, where they confirmed that

ego-depletion can only negatively affect cognitive

performance. Participants of the experiment were

divided into two groups, all of them watching the

same video of a women being interviewed. The first

group was presented with a video where unrelated

words would flash at the bottom of the screen;

the participants were asked to ignore the words.

After the interview all the participants took the

GRE test, which measures general cognitive ability.

The results showed that participants from the

first group achieved lower scores in the GRE test,

confirming that using self-regulatory processes

influenced their performance on the test. Watching

the interview and trying not to pay attention to

the flashing words contributed to reaching the

stage of ego-depletion.(41) This study helped

me understand that by using self-control during

the day, I might reach the stage when I am not

physically tired but I am mentally unable to motivate

myself to continue with the desired performance.

Reaching the point of ego-depletion can effect me

executing a plan, when instead of carrying on with

an activity such as reading or studying, I decide to

take a cigarette break. The effect of reaching the

level of ego-depletion not only can, but also impairs

my desired performance, which again links it back

SELF-CONTROL AND EGO-DEPLETION3.5

44 45

to wished performance and the actual execution

of the plan. Bearing this in mind, I could gain a

better understanding of my undesired behaviour,

and instead of looking at my cigarette break as a

negative behaviour, I can start to comprehend that in

fact it will help me to be more productive throughout

the day.

46 47

SCRIPTED CONVERSATIONS4.1In this chapter I would like to introduce a

different observation, which I made so as

to understand both my planning process

and my plan failure in situations where I create a

social scenario such as scripted conversations. As

opposed to previously run experiments, introducing

a script in the act of a social scenario takes other

peoples’s involvement into consideration. Therefore,

my approach to planning is vastly different as my

conversationalist responses are just as significant as

my script. In order to investigate both the execution

of the script as well as the difference between the

planned dialogue and the actual one, I have designed

an experiment.

I could honestly call myself a conversation

rehearser, I pre-write conversations in my head all

the time and then run them through and practice

them before I perform them in real life. After

talking to other people I have found that they often

behave in a very similar way. They plan a variety of

conversations, from chitchats with friends and family

to longer and more complex ones, such as preparing

for a tutorial or having an argument with their

partner. However, the aspect that I find the most

interesting in this habit is the fact that we all often

fail to either say everything we want or to execute a

particular conversation in the manner we wished for.

Therefore, through my experiment I was able

to observe when the script of a conversation

changes direction. I have written down a very short

conversation with my friend in which I wanted

to persuade him to come to my place. I wrote

down the exact phrases I would say to him with

both the answer I assumed I would get and the

answer I thought I would not get. According to the

experiment, I would stick to the script no matter

what his answer would be. In addition to convincing

my friend to come and visit me I planned to use

another argument, in this particular case that I

would cook the dinner, as a trigger for him to come. I

assumed that my friend’s answer would be

48 49

negative as he lives far away and he does not like

to drive in the traffic, however I did not expect for

him to agree to come, yet in this case I would still

continue with my script acting as if he had said no.

To my surprise, he agreed to my offer, in which case I

continued acting out the script I had prepared in case

he refused.

The reason, why I found this experiment

interesting was because of the difference between

my assumption and the real outcome of the

conversation. We all script conversations, we plan

a perfect argument with our boss or our partner,

sometimes however, it only takes a slightly different

response from the other person for the conversation

not to go according to our expectations. What I

personally find most intriguing is the moment,

the snap point, when our plan goes astray and we

fail to execute the talk which we had prepared

so thoroughly. In the processes behind the act of

planning I sense a constant discrepancies between

our expectations, fantasies and the undesired

realities.

Hi, do you want to come over to mine?

No, I’m tired, and I’m working tomorrow.

What I thought would happen.

But, I really want you to come. I’ll make a dinner.

No. you live so far. I don’t want to drive in a traffic.

50 51


I don’t know really. I’m quiet tired.

What actually happened.


Dinner, you saying. I think I might come.

Figure 15: Scripted Conversations


Yes, sure.

What I thought would not happen.


I just said, that I will come.

52 53

‘In both analysis and life, we perceive reality through

a veil of unconscious infantile fantasy. Nothing

we say or do or think is ever puerly ‘rational’ or

‘irrational’, puerly ‘real’ or ‘transferential’.’

Janet Malcolm (42)

In the previous chapter I have described several

of my experiments; all of them are linked to daily

planning and planning for the near future, despite

the difference between them. However, in real life I

‘fantasize’ about the future outcome of my decisions,

activities or conversations. The ‘fantasy’ in this

context is called ‘planning’, because I am planning

for an ‘attainable future’. Although the plan does not

always go according to my wishes, it still deals with

activities or scenarios in a daily life.

On the other hand, ‘fantasizing’ about the future

through a planning process, makes the future

‘tangible’, and therefore it becomes a reality.

‘fantasize’ in this context means to plan for attainable future

‘fantasize’ in this context means to plan for unattainable future

However, I often find myself ‘fantasizing’ about more

distinctive future situations, such as the design of

my wedding dress, or wining an Oscar award. As a

result, such ‘fantasizing’ differs greatly from planning

for ‘attainable futures’, and these ‘fantasies’ are in

contrast ‘unattainable’. My process included starting

from a social spectrum, thus taking a personal angle

led me to an exploration of planning for ‘unattainable

fantasies’. In the next paragraph I would like to

elaborate on this new area of investigation.

54 55

MATERIALIZING FANTASIES winning an Oscar

being a Super-hero

saving someone else’s life

fighting for my country in the war

getting a Nobel prize in quantum physics

being a world known hacker

living in each country of the World for one year

be able to not to sleep and never be tired

speaking 30 languages

having my own charity organization

never face a death of my close realtives

for my parents to not face my death

being able to fly

being able to breath under the water like a fish

being the best rock climber in the world

being half Thai half Indian

I fantasize about...

5.1 In this paragraph I would like to describe a process

standing behind materializing one of my fantasy as

well as some research questions that were a result

of my exploration.

I fantasize about various things, especially about

having a new appearance; these differ from being

a Super-hero, to imagining my wedding dress and

winning an Oscar. When questioning other people, I

found that fantasizing is quite common. I was told

of various unattainable scenarios, whether it be

something they always wanted to do, a person they

wanted to be, or a good they wanted to possess.

Therefore, I decided to start materializing some of

my fantasies in order to gain a better understanding

of this phenomenon. As a result, I was motivated

to attempt to materialize one of my own fantasies,

as well as explore further the idea of planning for

unattainable fantasies.

Figure 16: I fantasize about...

56 57

They fantasize about...

playing in the NBA

getting a small letter every evening (I’d be surprised

by it every time), which tells me that time around me

stops for two hours and I can use it freely (the only

condition is that whatever I do in that time does not

have a deadline)

having my own chocolate factory

shopping without looking at the prices

being billionaire and a famous singer

and cure world hunger

Having my own stables with lots of ponies

and horses and a few dogs and 100’s of

farm cats

traveling through time, climbing Kilimanjaro

that one day I will walk down the red

carpet in a fabiolous dress, and everyone

will know me

being able to see through deep water the

same as I can see through air

being a chemist, performing at the

circus, understanding quantum

physics

Figure 17: They fantasize about...

58 59

The fantasy that I have most ruminated over is

my wedding. I have already designed most of the

details: wedding dress, shoes, hairstyle, makeup and

the venue. I have run through small details of the

wedding reception, thought about the shade of the

white fabric I am going to choose, even though I do

not plan to marry anyone in particular or anytime

soon. I have decided to materialize the dress, the

most iconic part of the wedding. As part of my

project I designed the dress I have always dreamt

of, I chose the fabric and I began to sew. While I have

always loved imagining this event, my family and

friends have ridiculed me for it. Yet my fantasizing

is not that far-fetched, as there exists a company

in Kyoto, Japan, that offers the service of a ‘Solo

Wedding’. It is a two-day excursion where a woman

without any partner can experience among others a

dress fitting and a full wedding photo shoot. (43) It

most interestingly points to a market that specializes

in making fantasies real.

Through the process of sewing the dress, I actually

realized that planning my wedding is not a fantasy.

Looking up its definition, I came across the following

definition, “the faculty or activity of imagining or

improbable things”.(44) There is a higher chance of

me one day getting married rather than becoming

an imagined Super-hero. Therefore, envisioning a

wedding in my head remains an act of planning, and

it thus becomes for a far future. As a result, it took Figure 18: Making of The Wedding Dress

60 61

PRESENT DIFFERENCEREALITY FANTASY

PLANNING/ EXECUTION

PRESENT DIFFERENCEREALITY FANTASY

PLANNING/ EXECUTION

FANTASY

directly experiencing it through the making process

to come to this conclusion.

The arising questions which will lead the rest of

my project are the following: what is the purpose

of imagining myself being a Super-hero or getting

a Nobel Prize in “scientific advance” in quantum

physics? Futhermore, does imagining an ‘unattainable

fantasy’ influence me, or others in any manner in real

life? By materializing the ‘unattainable fantasy’ would

the fantasy evolve into a different level/ direction,

would it become an ‘attainable’ or a ‘unattainable’

reality? If so, would the ‘distance’ between the

‘unattainable fantasy’ and the reality always be the

same? I attempt to answer these questions through

the process of visualizing and materializing some of

my ‘unattainable fantasies’. Moreover, I would like

design to act as more than solely physical evidence

of my investigation, I hope that it can also provide

the answers to these questions. Hence, in building

up research questions I have attempted and attempt

to build a platform, which can act as the possible

ground for my project to evolve.

FANTASY

Figure 19: Research Questions

62 63

The aim of this context report,

supported with the studio practice

project, was to explore the

influences in the act of planning and

the effect it has on one’s life, as well

as in society. In addition, it endeavoured to observe

the difference between the initial plan and the real

outcome. More than anything, it is an investigation

of previously applied and executed plans, along with

more recent ones, as well as my own experiments

with planning. I have demonstrated that as a society

as well as an individuals we intensely try to design

for a time to come, no matter the outcome: if it

is successful or not. By looking at the anticipation

of possible hazards, such as creating economical

models and urban planning, I have showed that

in most cases planning can have both positive

and negative influences within a social spectrum.

However, its intention is usually to act as a tool

that deals with unknown and predicted potential

disruptions. Despite this, the difference between

the initial plan and its aim is that reality always

occurs. By looking at the psychology of future

oriented thinking, I gave clear evidence of how self-

projection and envisioning the future are very useful

abilities we possess. Looking at my own inclination

towards planning, I designed and executed a series

of experiments, and each of them clearly illustrated

what purpose the planning served for me, as well as

how far it influenced my behaviour. In all the design

attempts, I established that I use planning

as a mechanism to make me more ambitious and

productive. However, like in all above mentioned

examples, it was impossible for me to execute any of

those plans in the way that I had set myself out to.

As a result, my design process acted as a

tool of examination within the area of planning.

The act of planning however, became a tool for

making the future ‘tangible’, or attainable. The

aim of the project thus shifted towards planning

for ‘unattainable fantasies’, proving that we hold

certain hopes for our future even though they may

not be possible to accomplish. At this stage of the

project, the line between the ‘attainable realities’

and ‘unattainable fantasies’ is still thin and blurry.

I could argue that all examples of planning in this

context report cross over with fantasizing in some

way. Yet, the difference between the initial plan

and the reality always occurred even within the

act of planning. Are we not always able to plan for

‘unattainable realities’, or is it while executing the

master plan that the reality becomes ‘attainable’?

James Holston said, “[...] the project of modernist

planning is to transform an unwanted present by

means of imagined future.”(45) I seek to investigate

to what extent we can draw a clear line within our

imagination and divide thinking about the future into

‘attainable’ and ‘unattainable’. As well as examine

why it is that only when the plan fails, that we finally

call it utopian and ‘unattainable’. I will build upon a

series of research questions that I endeavour to use

64 65

as a ‘steering wheel’ in order to both build and

navigate the further development of this project.

I see design as a core mechanism which helps

me deeply explore this intriguing area, through

the process of materialization and visualization.

Despite my aim for the design to act not only as a

representation of tangible objects, but also as an

intervention, I can not state that it is ‘attainable’.

66 67

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1 : Redevelopment of Norrmlan http://

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/

Hoghus_1-5_1963.jpg

Figure 2: Rene Burri- Brasilia, 1960 https://s-

media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b6/d8/f6/

b6d8f6622a0bc969aa1cd62b15f75907.jpg

Figure 3: Oscar Niemeyer: classic and unpublished

http://casacultminas.com.br/uploads/postagens/

ccm_oscar_niemeyer.png

Figure 4: Construção de Brasilia http://4

bp.blogspot.com/_3ViThmFph7g/TM_73f5BypI/

AAAAAAAABaA/WvxOpv8wCwM/

s1600/010DFCA21008.jpg

Figure 5: Pruitt-Igoe wikipedia/commons/0/09/

Pruitt-Igoe_1968March03.jpgMyth_02.jpg

Figure 6: Implosion of Pruitt-Igoe in 1972 http://

www.archpaper.com/uploads/Pruitt_Igoe_http://

upload.wikimedia.org/

43. Cowen, T., ‘Kyoto markets in everything the

culture that is Japan’, http://marginalrevolution.

com/marginalrevolution/2014/11/kyoto-markets-in-

everything-the-culture-that-is-japan.html, 2014,

(accessed 10 January 2015)

44.“fantasy”. Oxford Dictionaries. http://

www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/

fantasy(accessed 13 January, 2015).

45. Lin, J., and Mele. C , The Urban Sociology Reader, New York, Routledge, 2013, p. 424.

All Figures all rights reserved by Katarzyna Lukasik

apart from:

74 75

Figure 7: Commisionesrs’ Proposla for Manhattan

Grid, 1811 Koolhaas ,R., Delirious New York, London,

Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1978

Figure 8: Old New York

http://designsuperstars.net/wp-content/

uploads/2012/05/2.-old-new-york-photo.jpg

Figure 9: Manhattan Architecture, 2005

http://static.wixstatic.com/media/574081_

cdfd8b564ed54ab8e8bbaee0b139f103.jpg

Figure 10: Plan of the City of New York,1807

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/

commons/thumb/d/d9/1807_Bridges_Map_

of_New_York_City_%281871_reissue%29_-_

Geographicus_-_NewYork-bridges-1871.

jpg/1047px-1807_Bridges_Map_of_New_York_

City_%281871_reissue%29_-_Geographicus_-_

NewYork-bridges-1871.jpg

attainable realities unattainable fantasies

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