Dèrive

Dèrive, best described by French Sociologist, more importantly, Neo-Marxist, Henri Lefebvre, is a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances.
It is essential for architects, or perhaps designers too, to have this psychological awareness or journey in which one goes against the flow of their customary endeavors. For designers, it may be exploiting other cultures, while for architects, its to have a psycho-geographical consciousness of urban scale to the miniscule detail of the awareness of individual's behavior and emotions.

Situational Awareness (not what it's really called)

This is a photograph I took at the Museum of Art at UofC when I attended the 

Open Hand Studio Meet & Match for my CAT internship

I learned recently about Guy Debord, a Situationist rooted in Marxism, who believed that architecture should free itself from traditional patterns and become organic. By organic he meant, ever changing, adaptable. An organized method in which the design can be timeless. As cultures begin to mix, society 'taste' changes, elements will become adaptive. Imagine a conceptual city designed to withstand movements and periods of time and favors frequent change. One in which units are no longer destroyed or remodeled overtime because a new 'style' has erupted.

the city as a unique organism

This concept was a proposition by architect Ron Herron (1960's) of a city that literally never sleeps. It has the ability to roam the world, one day in Paris, next day in Rome.