Book urbanism

Laurent Bolli & Frédéric Kaplan

frederic.kaplan@bookapp.com Twitter : @frederickaplanlaurent.bolli@bookapp.com Twitter: @lobollo

Developing books like cities

http://bookapp.com

One can think of many metaphors for reading.

Linking

Reading

Linking

ReadingReading

e.g. Swimming

In this workshop we will think of books as cities.

Book projects as urban projectsBook sequences as travel routesBook development as urbanization processesBook economics as urban economicsBook reading as urban experiencesBook problems as urban problems...

Books Cities

Our hypothesis is that working in the cities space will give us ideas in the book’s space.

This is what you will do in this workshop.

Books Cities

Construction of the metaphor.

Dimension 1

A text is like a unidirectional path.Reading a text is like walking the path.Reading fast is like running.

Dimension 2

Pages are like closed surfaces with indicated entrances and exits and associated circulation rules.

Talmud, Isaac Alfasi1380-1400

“Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard”Stéphane Mallarmé, 1914

Zic et Puce aux IndesAlain Saint-Ogan

Dimension 3

A book is like a city, a 3D organization of closed spaces with complex circulation rules.

Entrance

Saline Royale d’Arc et Senan

Saline Royale d’Arc et Senan

Entering a book: pages de garde, page de faux titre, page de grand titre, page de copyright, page de départ.

Circulation patterns

Linear

The reader has no other choice than to move forward.

Chinese wall

Linear

The reader can leave the main road to explore complementary circuits.

Divina Commedia + glose

Treaty on Aristote’s “soul”, with Averroès comments, beginning of XIVe century, BNF

Vézeley (France). A processional path to a Benedictine abbey with a church famous as the resting place of the remains of Mary Magdalen.

City of Bern with three main streets

The reader can switch sideways.

Parallel lines

Samuel R. Delany’s “On the Unspeakable”.

Translation

The reader can switch sideways.

Book in two languages at the same time Rosetta stone

Grids

Italo Calvino, “The Castle of Crossed destinies”

Georges Perec, “La Vie mode d’emploi”, book map and organisation

Map of New-York, 1755

Star-Shaped

Palmanova (Italy) created in 1593-1623Closed - Clear districts - 3 gates

Annual Report, Nestlé 2010Why the Net Matters, iPad-only book by David Eagleman

Labyrinths

Gamebooks (livre dont vous êtes le héros)

Aigues-Mortes (France) 1240s

Souk Future city of Masdran

Growth patterns

A huge collection of authors (architects) writes formatted texts (paths) and makes links between them (connected paths). The resulting city grows organically and demonstrates a modern form of book-urbanization.

Its growth is semi-planned as some patterns and editorial rules are imposed to maintain regular structures throughout the development of the project.

Wikipedia

Chris Harrison, 2007. One representation of Wikipedia

Los Angeles

Wikipedia is the !rst apparently sustainable megabook.

It attracts constantly new constructions. It su"ers from the same problems as big cities (vandalism, orientation and signage systems, cleaning, etc.)

Many others have fails (Geocities, etc.)It is crucial to understand wellthe rules of successful social growth.

Exercise :What kind of megabook is Facebook ?

Suburbs

Other kinds of growth patterns

Annotations

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F. Kaplan, “La Métamorphose des objets”, FYP

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F. Kaplan, “La Métamorphose des objets”, FYP

bookstrapping.com

Now your turn

Books Cities

Warming up.What kind of book models correspond to thesecities pictures?

Shopping spaces

(1) A company hires professional builders to construct a shopping district. Entrance is free but visitors will be encouraged to buy other goods or services from the company. Alternatively, (2) a company gets specialized in designing/building shopping districts and sells shopping spaces to companies of type 1.

This is the business model of - brochures (1)- catalogues (2).

Shopping districts > Catalogues, Brochures

Advertising spaces

Like the shopping area, entrance is cheap and some spaces are rented for advertising. What counts is attracting visitors.

This is the business model of many magazines, newspapers and websites.

Time square, Shinjuku > magazine

Campus, Museum, Gardens > sponsored books

Sponsored spaces

A sponsor/the state gives money to an architect and a building company to produce a space with special sponsored content/services. It does this essentially to get recognition in a chosen area.

This is the business model of sponsored books.

Model: Co-created settlements

In Favelas, inhabitants co-create their own services and infrastructures.

This is the model of plateforms facilitating the co-creation of content. The role of authors and readers tend to merge.

Organic self-organized settlement, Favelas, Mutualized urban systems

> Co-created content (print and digital)

Model 7: Science-!ction cities

Science-!ction provides many interesting city models. (cities than can change shapes, cities controlled by computers, etc.). Can they give us idea for new models for books ?

- Dark City, Matrix, Minority report- Book-machine

Time to work.Let’s imagine we are in charge of the great country of book-cities.

5 Ministries to set the foundation for a new period of development.

Ministry of Post

Mission: How to create a universal address system that can designate precisely any content in any book-city.

Deliverable : A concrete solution working for all the book-cities of our country.

Ministry of Tourism

Mission: How to encourage visitors to come to the book-cities of our country with attractive o"ers (organized tours, subscriptions), well-designed material (brochures, postcards)

Deliverable: Ex. of actions and campaigns

Ministry of Commerce

Mission: How to create economically sustainable book-cities in which commercial actors may want to settle and invest.

Deliverable: Innovative business models

Ministry of Population

Mission: How to encourage readers to settle in book-cities and engage collectively in their development (private/public spaces, co-construction, platforms).

Deliverable: Concrete solutions and o"ers

Ministry of Connectivity and Circulation

Mission: How to create new kinds of connectivity inside and in between our book-cities. How to optimise circulation of resources and information.

Deliverable: Connectivity & circulation maps.

Process: • 30’ brainstorm• 5’ minutes presentation per ministry• debate