Governance
The writing of Foucault’s association to discipline in using the plaque as a view of panopticism to purify a community and condemn the diseased is an intriguing starting point in reflecting upon governance .1 This controlling of subjective bodies via constant examination of abnormal health showcases power and authority as a utopia, of a perfectly governed city. In agreement with Bentham’s vision of the panopticon the supervising of individuals – whether that is of prisoners, school children or factory workers – is a realisation that has only just became possible from 20th century surveillance technologies, integrating itself to be a poignant part of humanity. The body of the population is then seen to be incorporated into this rule; subjectivity we have this capacity of self governance, when we view ourselves to be observed in society defining what is public to private. This is interesting to consider in relation to the panopticon as it does not matter who the observer is behind the tower or surveillance camera, as this is not relevant – it could be a child or it could be no one – yet principally it generates the potential sense of observation in our minds.
Architecturally as a tool it can be witnessed as order and discipline when we view the economic status of society in regards to derelicts and how we respond to these issues. We can be observed to treat outcasts such as homeless people as these ‘plague victims’ that Foucault acknowledges in the way we design architectures in correspondence to the documents shared by Liam Ross, ‘Design our Crime’2, street designs are influenced in such a way to stop these outcasts from sleeping in specific areas of the city. This highlights that we make a picture of order as a collective, whereby subjectivities have been agreed upon and inscribed on to the build environment.
Pantopicon Plan & Section
1 Michael Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the birth of the prison ( London, 1991) 198-199
2.Liam Ross, Governance (4th November 2015) Slide 27