This document discusses the history of urban botany and how people have experienced and engaged with cities over time. It mentions philosophers like Charles Baudelaire who wrote about observing wonders in cities without noticing them. Later, situations like the derive and psychogeography involved drifting through cities guided by aesthetic instinct. Theories from Henri Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau analyzed how space is socially constructed and everyday culture is reappropriated in urban situations. Debates emerged around rational urban planning versus more organic approaches that allow for complexity, as seen in the differing views of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs.

1. Kimi Spencer www.kimispencer.com An Anecdotal History of Urban Botany Rest of You, Research Project| 8 November 2011

2. “ The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do not notice it .” Charles Baudelarie

3. “ A botanist of the street”

4. Le Flâneur From the French “ to stroll ”, “ to saunter ”, and “ to loiter ”. “ A person who walks the city to experience it .” Urban phenomena and modernity .

5. Georg Simmel The city was transforming humans. Changed notions of freedom and being .

6. The Situationist Derive (“t0 drift”) the spontaneous exploration of urban landscapes guided by aesthetic instinct . Unitary urbanism, city seen as point of departure for a new type of activity, such as free play . Lived experience over the spectacle .

7. Guy Debord and Asger Jorn

8. Psychogeography

9. Constant Nieuwenhuys

10. The Society of the Spectacle

11. Henri Lefebvre Space is a social product . Complex social construction affect spatial practices and perceptions .

13. Michel de Certeau “ The Practice of Everyday Life .” Individualization of mass culture , altering things (from utilitarian objects to street plans, etc). Need for a formal means to examine the ways people re-appropriate culture into everyday situations .

15. Impact on Urban Planning “ The Master Builder.” Rationalist urban planning ( urban renewal and separation of use ). Vs. Layered complexity ( mixed uses, short blocks, various ages and states of repair , and density ).

16. Robert Moses

17. Jane Jacobs

18. Washington Sq. Park

19. City as an Interface

20. The Situationist by Benrik

21. City as a playground

22. Participatory design of the city