It seems, at the end, I chickened out and produced a pat conclusion. I need to keep the writing 'boiling,' not to bring it down to any kind of conclusion about 'how to think x.' If I am trying to write against causality, the paper needs to remain open - and this means seeing it as an open structure, a mechanism, not an ornament. I have to go through this again. My ideas right now are about bringing this all back to the metaphor of construction - that this is at one and the same time a 'brick' or a piece of a 'ruin.' I'm grateful to my reviewers who have provided useful points for refining the argument - but what is really valid is the fact of their contribution.

Now, do I rewrite, perfect, refine and produce a 'complete' textual artefact, relegating all comments to my 'research file' - something secondary, annotations in the margin? Or, in the spirit of the Disrupted Journal, keep the paper in its annotated form and put it forward for publication as-is? Thoughts on a post-card please! (with acknowledgements to Derrida!)

There is a huge architectural metaphor I have yet to make the most of - if later I draw on the caricature of contemporary attitudes to research as the accumulation of factual 'bricks' (Bernard Forscher (1962) quoted in Gary Rolfe, see references) and oppose it to Bill Readings' notion that the University is in ruins, and that this is something that can be seen as productive, against attempts to aestheticize these ruins. Which is something the CGI University definitely attempts to do! He writes about 'the University as a space for a ... structurally incomplete practice of thought... (I)t is imperative to accept that the University cannot be understood as the natural or historically necessary receptacle for such activities, that we need to recognize the University as a ruined institution, one that has lost its historical raison d'etre. At the same time, the University has, in its modern form, shared modernity's paradoxical attraction to the idea of the ruin, which means that considerable vigilance is required in disentangling this ruined status from a tradition of metaphysics that seeks to re-unify those ruins, either practically or aesthetically.' (Readings, p. 19) CGI as the continuation of metaphysics by other means? Much to do here...

Vote for UniverCity!

I've proposed a workshop to the Future Architecture platform, organised by the Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana. The idea is that the ideas arising from the UniverCity forum can be worked through in discussion about the possibility of a future form of architectural visualisation not tied down to images of completed buildings. Renderings of unpredictability, of occupation, of diverse public knowledges. Vote online: and browse the other projects too.

Postoccupant took part in a workshop organised by UCL Urban Lab and Centre for Critical Heritage Studies, exploring the impact of University development projects in Newham (London) and Gothenburg (Sweden). 2 days of discussion, and a great series of presentations on subjects as diverse as activist histories of East London, the agonistic politics of university expansion here and overseas, territorial complexity and public space, workshopping architecture for communities in Bangladesh and London, and the V and A's approach to community engagement. Many more, and the conversations ranged far and wide.<br> See the post on UniverCity here... http://journal.disruptivemedia.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=209

Just been invited by Clare Melhuish from UCL Urban Laboratory to participate in a symposium this November. Title: 'Co-curating the city: universities and urban heritage past and future.' We'll be looking at UCL East and the University of Gothenburg in the context of University developments in urban contexts. The forum will feed into this.

UniverCity on Twitter #univercity @postoccupant

Just posting here to share this content about academia and Twitter... some good links to further discussion of digital academia...

'Digital platforms, from Twitter and personal blogs to e-journals and iterative monographs, are creating new ways to publish and new publishing opportunities. In this new model of academic publishing, Twitter interactions exist on the same spectrum of activity as peer-review and scholarly editing. But more importantly, new models for scholarly publication are creating new ways to engage in public scholarship beyond traditional publication, fundamentally blurring the boundaries between publication, conversation, and community.'

http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/beyond-academic-twitter/