Thinking is only one side of things. The other side is action. The purpose of thinking is to choose or design a course of action. Often we assume that action is easy and obvious - that thinking lays out the roads and decides which road to be taken and the action is as simple as walking along the correct road. It is not that easy. So often academic writing mainly concentrates on description and analysis and avoids discussions of how to act. But the real world involves action as well as knowledge.
Accumulating the knowledge that had been gathered in the course of this thesis, we found that generally, architecture is an alteration of enclosed and unenclosed space, creating distinction between inside and outside architecture. However, it is more than that, architecture is a stage for our lives; it stimulates, constrains and imposes limitations on our activities. It establishes the boundaries of place and teaches us the local architectural language as well as the social norms of using buildings.
What is required of the architects is a mainly intellectual process, to give people what they will enjoy, not what the architect would wish them to enjoy because it is what he wants to do. Therefore, based on the research findings from the previous chapters, I would like to recommend ways to improve architectural practices in Tashkent, that would emphasize the importance of the social role of architects, establish architectural performance standards for buildings in order to demonstrate the fact that what people want in architecture is not a solid structure, but the indescribable sense of belonging and place.
The first aspect that we need to recognize before recommending the course of action is the economic and the social context in which architecture is viewed. As Uzbekistan is still reviving from the post Soviet regime, it struggles to adapt to the new realities, reexamine old economic ties and establish new markets and economic mechanisms; these forces have affected the people experiences of architecture. The social class difference became very strong, which means that the majority of people in Tashkent rely heavily on government support and are mainly concerned with satisfying the basic needs (physiological needs) and consequently have a feeling of oppression by social situation and architecture.
To achieve the desired result in architecture of Tashkent, people need a certain level of consciousness, to be able to appreciate and change the way they look at their lives. Furthermore, in Tashkent, the architects exist in a higher social realm on the class ladder, which means their state of social preparedness to affect change is higher then of the other average people. To introduce local architects to the science of place making, rather than architecture only, observations of everyday life, presented in the previous chapters of this thesis would encourage awareness of the social impact of architecture and the potentials of the architectural discipline.
As one of the primary objectives of this thesis was to emphasize that design is a culturally sensitive process, suggestions and improvements that are going to be presented, will take into consideration the social and religious aspects of the culture in Uzbekistan, and help to develop a unique education structure to suit the existing situation, rather than adopt the complete Western Teaching Style.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
There are 4 sets of recommendations that I am presenting here. They are: Reflective Practice, Double - Loop Learning, Preserving and Protecting and Psychogeographical Research. The following recommendations are interdependent and need to be implemented simultaneously, because the reflective practice involves double �loop learning, and encourages observations of human tactics and tacit tactical knowledges of the city 'psychogeographic research', which then explains the importance of preservation of architecture as it is part of Uzbek history and culture.
Power of change in the individual - Reflective Practice
Reflective practice comes from respect and understanding for the culture, therefore allows making more conscious decisions to influence change and the way people respond to architecture. There are 2 distinct aspects of reflection that we need to be stressed here. Firstly the reflective practice is a way of living that:
- Values the mutual and abiding dialogue between what we think, what we believe in, and what we do;
- Points to the common and historical nature of human experience, leading us to see living as common work, rather than simply my personal project;
- Understand that for things to change - first I must change;
- Accept the tensions and dynamics of our existence as a source of imagination and hope rather than a sign that we just haven't got things under control yet.
As it was identified in the beginning of this thesis, Uzbek culture and traditions are based on the spirituality and religious beliefs, which construct the core of the national identity. This suggests that the country already has a strong ground on which to develop. The formation of public consciousness may be established through the mass media. It will attempt to resolve the issues of hostility towards Soviet regime and Russian architecture and through architecture provide the means for stability, belonging, esteem and self-actualization. That would influence and educate the new generation in the Uzbek society who has revived or not lost their spiritual and social links with their rural background, which is part of their heritage. The growing influence of the younger section of society, emphasizing the support of religion and traditional rituals would lead to developing an architectural education system that will teach people to become highly skilled and culturally sensitive specialists.
Secondly, offered by Donald Schon, the more academic interpretation of reflective practice involves looking to our experiences, connecting with our feelings, and attending to our theories-in-use. It entails building new understandings to inform our actions in the situation that is unfolding. (infed.org)
The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation, which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings, which have been implicit in his behavior. He carries out an experiment, which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation. (Sch�n 1983: 68)
It could be argued that Donald Schon's generation of the formal theory of reflective practice provided an exploration of the methodology that may reveal some significant tactical techniques. For example, these elements of surprise, puzzlement and confusion are the techniques of tactical appropriation, and, as it was mentioned in the previous chapter, when a tactic is brought to our attention it becomes a strategy.
For a musician a repertoire is a stock of songs, plays, operas, readings, or other pieces which a company or a person has rehearsed and is prepared to perform. Another definition of the repertoire is: the entire range of skills, special accomplishments, aptitudes, or devices of a particular person or group, used in a particular field or occupation. (Macquire Dictionary)
The notion of the repertoire insists on a conscious learning, recording and recollection of these learned skills and knowledge, which are strategic actions that are performed by an individual or a group, therefore the repertoire, although central to the reflective thought of Schon would not be appropriate for the architectural practices in Tashkent.
However, he also makes a valuable argument on tacitness, saying that we need to extract our inner experiences and knowledges to the surface. Practical, tacit knowledge or �know-how� is one of the characteristics of craft, that Islamic architecture is based upon, therefore to revive this tacit tradition in contemporary architectural practice would strongly defend the culture in architecture of Tashkent.
Furthermore, it needs to be done on the intuitive level, conforming to the spiritual model of learning (my definition), rather than the practical direction towards the transformation, presented by Donald Schon. The spiritual model of learning, that I refer to here, is based on religious education first, which has already been given a priority in Tashkent, Islamic teachings not of violence but of kindness, generosity and creativity.I believe it would also establish a sense of readiness, spiritual preparedness to confront and accept change, which involves changing the way people look at architecture in the city.
Double - Loop Learning
Reflecting on the process, evaluating the design variables and taking a critical attitude, rather than changing the method of operation only Uzbek architects need to look at the bigger picture, trying to justify the cultural and social significance for their actions. The purpose of this is to eliminate the signs of oppression from architecture and achieve a deeper associative level of existence of people that can accommodate their multiple, overlapping "subjective" and "objective" realities in architecture. This brings the realization that the initial modernist design components that were the force of creating Tashkent were misleading and in order to restore the true purpose of buildings we need to look in a completely different direction, which means discarding the old values and substituting it with the a new value system. In this situation both the design variables and the strategy, method to reach the result will change.
Preserving and Protecting
Architecture plays the important role in the construction of Tashkent's unique sense identity and the creation of its sense of place, therefore we need to realize that we are not offering a radical alternative to the existing Tashkent�s architecture, but the way to make it better, to question the status quo of the Modernist aesthetic in order to achieve freedom for the individuals to be themselves and feel comfortable within the place.
Understand the essence of Islamic architecture will allow modern building technology to be a tool in the expression of this essence. Architects working today can take advantage of opportunities that new materials and mass production techniques offer. They have an opportunity to explore and transform the possibilities of the machine age for the enrichment of architecture in the same way that craftsmen explored the nature of geometrical and arabesque patterns... (Martin - NEED PROPER REFERENCE) Architects need to realize the potential and reintroduce Islamic decorative elements, which will reinforce the national cultural heritage of Uzbekistan. The architectural forms that would evolve from such approach would have a regional identity, a stylistic evolution and a relevance to the eternal principles of Islam.
Psycho-geographical Research
The reflective professionalism is the way to enrich the experience of architecture and eradicate the Soviet modernist monotony, with its rectangular repellent style. As it argued in this thesis, architecture in the city of Tashkent is about people, more than material architectural style. Therefore observations of people's techniques of appropriating the city should become an important research method to complete the architect's education, for them to impact on change in architectural practices in Tashkent. Architects need to move over to the other side to get involved into the study of architecture as a phenomenon: its value to society, its ecological, social and philosophical implications, rather than pure architectural practice.
People learn from observing other people in a social setting. The lessons drawn from derives, in the previous chapter, enable us to draw up the first surveys of the psycho-geographical articulations of a modern Tashkent. Psychogeography studies the specific effects of the geographical environment on the emotions and behavior of individuals. The adjective psycho-geographical, retaining a rather pleasing vagueness, can thus be applied ... to their influence on human feelings and even more generally to any situation or conduct that seems to reflect the same spirit of discovery. (Knabb, 1981, p. 5)
Taking into consideration the social aspects of architecture in Tashkent, and people's experiences overlaid onto the city would raise the standard of the architectural profession in Uzbekistan. Local architects would assert the value of good design, caring about architecture and making environmental issues matter in thinking and writing not only about technical aspects of building architecture, but also the experiences of it.
If the recommendation provided below are to be applied in Architectural Education in Tashkent, the view of architecture changes.
This is the way of life for human beings and our responsibility is to safeguard for our children the right to change things...
Architects in Tashkent must believe in architecture and contribute it to the society in which they work. They need to learn the lessons of the past and understand that the future is full of change. They also need to allow architecture to empower the people to establish their own sense of place. By feeling comfortable in it, Therefore the overall impact on Tashkent will be that people could �realize the best of themselves in any circumstances, live the present, create situations around themselves, See beauty of everyday life and value of 'ordinary' places, which is beneficial to each individual to the society. These are the spiritual, but non-religious developments that can only be achieved through education. Education will increase the level of consciousness, open new horizons and initiate a search for self-actualization and rediscover a new sense of religion, culture, etc. which are beneficial to each individual to the Tashkent society as well as, if these are realized and gain a collective response it will lead to the improvement of the social situation in the city and relatively the country.