Lexicon

Abject
Accretion
Actant
Aeration
Aerobic
Algae-boosted
Animal
Anthropomorphism
Anti-Continuous Construction
Apocalypse
Aquaculture
Aquanaut
Ark
Artificial Intelligence
Autopoiesis
Assemblages
Asymmetry
Atrophy
Attraction
Autarchy
Automata
Automation
Autosymbiosis
Bambassador
Bathyscaphe
Bioconurbation
Biomedia
Bionics
Biosphere
Biotechnique
By-product
Capacity
Actant
Coisolation
Composting
Conservative Surgery
Consumer Envelope
Consumption
Continuous Construction
Conurbation
Correalism
Cultural_Memory
Cybernetics
Cybertecture
Cyborg
Dispositif
Diving Saucer
Dross
Earthship
Ecocatastrophe
Effluvium
Egosphere
End-use
Entanglement
Eutopia
Feedback
Foam
Folk
Gadget
Garbage House
Green Cyborg
Heuristic
Hoard
Holism
Homogenization of Desire
Hostile
Human Affect
Hybridized Folk
Hydroponic
Hyper-Materialism
Information Economy
Inner Space
Interama
Intra-Uterine
Maque
Megalopolis
Min-use
Mobility
Monorail
Multi-Hinge
Non-Design
Oceanaut
Oppositional Consciousness
Organic
Ouroboros
Panarchy
Parasite
Perceived Continuation
Permanence
Place
Prototype
Post-Animal
Reclamation
RI: Data Farms
RI: Garbage and Animals
RI:Shipbreaking
RI: Toxic Sublime
Sampling
Scale
Sensing Structure
Simulacrum
Simulation
Soft Energy
Spaceship Earth
Submersible
Superwindow
Symbiosis
Synthetic Environment
Technocratic
Technological Heredity
Technological Sublime
Telechirics
The Sublime
Thermal Panel
Actant
Thing-Power
Thinking Machines
Tool
Toxic Withdrawal
Turbulence
UV-Transparent Film
Vibrant Matter
Waste
Work

Turbulence

Turbulence is used to describe a type of dynamic urban evolution in the West that is characterized through both self-stimulating and self-organizing processes1. Used originally by Braudel, turbulence is used by Manuel De Landa to investigate Western urban dynamics2. While many non-Western cities have a linear growth, De Landa distinguishes Western cities through their turbulence. De Landa states that the term can be used synonymously with auto-catalytic, a word borrowed from chemistry to describe positive feedback loops and self-reinforcing systems. Auto-catalytic and turbulent systems tend to result in a nonlinearity that leads to the spontaneous generation of order, a subject adopted by De Landa in The Non-linear Development of Cities, where he uses this idea of spontaneous order to understand the self-organization of Western urbanism. An instance of turbulence could be seen through Jane Jacob's theory of volatile trade, in which positive feedback loops support an economic process of replacing imports with domestic production3. This import substitution takes place in the shipbreaking industry of Bangladesh, where raw materials are dismantled from the carcasses of dead ships and a production market for metal is created rather than importing the raw material directly4. It is a turbulent system where the dumping of toxic ships on the Bangladesh coast is reinforced by economic stimulus and the acquisition of resources. Despite the adverse effects of the industry, such a turbulent process has made a planned, controlled, and desired economy for both Bangladesh and Western countries disposing of waste ships. The understanding of a city as a feedback loop has been visited continuously in contemporary architectural theory, specifically the understanding of the city as a self-sufficient system.

Citations
De Landa, Manuel. The Non-linear Development of Cities. 1999, Eco-Tec: the Architecture of the In-Between. Princeton Architectural Press
De Landa, Manuel. The Non-linear Development of Cities. 1999, Eco-Tec: the Architecture of the In-Between. Princeton Architectural Press
Jacobs, Jane. Cities and the Wealth of Nations: principles of economic life. 1984, Random House
NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Why Ships are Toxic. 2014, Retrieved from http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/problems-and-solutions/why-ships-are-toxic/