Re-proposal

Henri Lefebvre writes in The Production of Space that
           "A social space cannot be adequately accounted for either by nature (climate, site) or by its previous history.... Mediations, and mediators, have to be taken into consideration: the acts of groups, factors within knowledge, within ideology, or within the domain of representations."

The design of public space at the urban scale requires one to address these 'mediators' as they act within space and upon each other (the objects and their relationships in Lefebvre's terms), resulting in a multiplicity of issues: spatial, functional, aesthetic, historical, social, economic, identity. I define this last element as a unique spatiotemporal object that conflates elements of the natural and social, with the potential to exert a specific guiding force on the creation of future public spaces. Identity is an agglomeration of these other contributing factors yet it can also act of its own accord- to make a somewhat simplistic analogy, a palazzo may be a wonderful addition to the public realm on paper, yet it is much more likely to be successful in a Mediterranean city than in Los Angeles. Conversely, it is possible to adjust or even reforge identity with new combinations of its contributing factors, to good or ill effect- for example, Pittsburgh's change in eliminating industrial infrastructure and creating Point Park.

Coming at my initial thesis from a broader angle, I propose to investigate the development of public space within Doha as it relates to its specific socio-cultural issues, such as the relationship between the car and the pedestrian, its climate, and recent local trends in urban development.  This will inevitably lead back to my initial interest in architecture as potential agent of social change, albeit from a wider and more comprehensive perspective as it pertains more directly to architecture rather than sociology, i.e., architecture as a potential influencer rather than as a means to enact social change.

Building upon precedent studies that emphasize particular qualities of Doha's identity such as Souq Waqif (socioeconomic), Al Bidda Park (environmental), and the current Musheireb development (social, environmental, urban), and taking into account the social directives the current leadership is taking to make Doha a more sustainable and accessible global city, I will develop my own design (or re-design) of a public space in Doha in response to my understanding of Doha's developing identity that reacts to or enters into a dialogue with Doha's environmental, architectural, and social contexts.

My initial thinking as of this moment is the redevelopment of Al Bidda Park to (correctly) utilize environmental conditions to create a usable public outdoor space on Doha's prime Corniche area, while entering into a dialogue with nearby Souq Waqif over their respective inclusion and exclusion of the migrant labor class. Obviously this is subject to revision if not outright change.