City of Gravity and Utility
type
Urban Framework
location
Conceptual Project
year
2023
Collaborators
-
City of Gravity and Utility is an urban spatial research project that begins with the question, “Is our city truly flat?” Contemporary cities have largely been designed around efficiency and the shortest possible paths, yet human movement does not always follow the fastest route. People pause, wander, encounter others, and move through the city differently according to their memories, desires, and everyday experiences.
The project understands these seemingly inefficient places as spaces of utility. Third places such as parks, cafes, alleys, and public squares alter movement and attract people, producing forms of gravity and curvature within an otherwise flat urban field. Constructed from layered transparent acrylic and lines, the physical work visualizes these invisible forces and variable paths, presenting the city not as a fixed plane but as a field continuously reshaped by human activity and experience.
City of Gravity and Utility (concpet model)
Mixed midea, Coloring on acrylic / 18.8x9.5x14.2 in / 2023
Is our city truly flat?
Is our urban environment truly a flat plane. Current city planning often prioritizes logistical speed above all else, forcing human interaction into the narrowest possible channels. While natural laws like Fermat’s Principle suggest that the shortest path is the most logical, human life is rarely that simple. A vibrant city is a collection of experiences, not just a series of shortcuts. When we prioritize speed over substance, we risk creating environments that are functionally convenient but spiritually vacant. Can a space that ignores the natural rhythm of human movement actually serve its inhabitants. The limitations of this efficiency-first mindset were exposed during global health crises. Structures built solely for high-speed transit became conduits for issues rather than solutions. This period reinforced the necessity of the social anchor points known as third places. These locations provide true utility by offering communal value rather than just passage. By recognizing these hubs of attraction, we can see that the city is not a flat map of paths, but a vibrant landscape of destination and meaning that exists outside the grid of productivity.
Gravity and Urban Utility Exhibit Sculptural acrylic and mixed media / 18.8x9.5x14.2 in / 2023