Abstract :
This thesis contributes to our understanding of mobile architecture use in emergency response work and how mobile architecture could be designed to provide support in emergency response work. The work domain of operative emergency response has been studied by extensive ethnographic fieldwork at several different fire and rescue services in Karachi. Prototype have been design and used by rescue 15 and NGO’s traumatic rescue team in field experiments in order to probe for potential future use of mobile architecture and to study its consequences.
By using sense making as an analytical lens, new aspects in emergency response work have been identified that influenced the design of mobile architecture support. The results from the extensive fieldwork and the field experiments presented in this thesis suggest a new conceptualization of response work as patterns of practice where the collective efforts of making sense is fundamental for successful response work. The conceptualization makes visible the importance of carefully embedding the use of mobile architecture in the situated time-critical response work.
Based on the patterns of practice, two general design dimensions have been formed, extending our current knowledge of how mobile architecture should be designed for emergency response work. Current mobile architecture has primarily been designed for a formal role or specific task. The results presented in this thesis suggest that the design of mobile architecture should focus on the social interaction among the response actors involved in time-critical response work. In the collective efforts of making sense in emergency response, actors use a range of mobile traces that say something about the ongoing work. Futuristic mobile architecture should be design to make use of such traces of actions in order to improve the visibility of the actors and their actions in ongoing the response work.
By designing for social interactions and designing for traces of actions, new improved features of mobile architecture could be materialized that will make emergency responders better equipped for sense making activities in emergency response work.
By using sense making as an analytical lens, new aspects in emergency response work have been identified that influenced the design of mobile architecture support. The results from the extensive fieldwork and the field experiments presented in this thesis suggest a new conceptualization of response work as patterns of practice where the collective efforts of making sense is fundamental for successful response work. The conceptualization makes visible the importance of carefully embedding the use of mobile architecture in the situated time-critical response work.
Based on the patterns of practice, two general design dimensions have been formed, extending our current knowledge of how mobile architecture should be designed for emergency response work. Current mobile architecture has primarily been designed for a formal role or specific task. The results presented in this thesis suggest that the design of mobile architecture should focus on the social interaction among the response actors involved in time-critical response work. In the collective efforts of making sense in emergency response, actors use a range of mobile traces that say something about the ongoing work. Futuristic mobile architecture should be design to make use of such traces of actions in order to improve the visibility of the actors and their actions in ongoing the response work.
By designing for social interactions and designing for traces of actions, new improved features of mobile architecture could be materialized that will make emergency responders better equipped for sense making activities in emergency response work.
Introduction :
Modern society is vulnerable to disturbance or collapse of critical infrastructure caused by accidents or natural disasters. Efficient responses to such events are not only important in order to limit the consequences in a human dimension but also from environmental, economical and political dimensions.
During the last few years, disaster and emergency response has gained increased attention by architects and urban planners. Major efforts have been made by national and local emergency authorities to design mobile architecture that can support and improve the work on organizational levels, inter-organizational levels, national levels and even global levels in case of emergencies or crises. Independently of the scale of an emergency, mobile architecture use in emergency response organizations aims to provide improved ability to make competent actions in order to intervene and take control over dynamic and unfolding situations. Traditionally, attention has been primary paid to work in command centers as well as on higher-level decision making in the event of emergencies. In the last few years, mobile architecture support has started to become an important tool also for operative emergency response work.
To a long extent, current academic research has not addressed the role of mobile architecture in practices with time-critical characteristics as found in operative emergency response work. There are few empirical studies of operative emergency response work and there is a need to perform such studies to be able to identify general characteristics and form design implications for mobile architecture support. Emergency response work is a time-critical work practice, where periods of relative low-intensity work are rapidly shifted into high intensity work associated with a high degree of ambiguity. Emergency response work is therefore a valuable setting for investing new design of mobile architecture for time-critical work practices.
Modern society is vulnerable to disturbance or collapse of critical infrastructure caused by accidents or natural disasters. Efficient responses to such events are not only important in order to limit the consequences in a human dimension but also from environmental, economical and political dimensions.
During the last few years, disaster and emergency response has gained increased attention by architects and urban planners. Major efforts have been made by national and local emergency authorities to design mobile architecture that can support and improve the work on organizational levels, inter-organizational levels, national levels and even global levels in case of emergencies or crises. Independently of the scale of an emergency, mobile architecture use in emergency response organizations aims to provide improved ability to make competent actions in order to intervene and take control over dynamic and unfolding situations. Traditionally, attention has been primary paid to work in command centers as well as on higher-level decision making in the event of emergencies. In the last few years, mobile architecture support has started to become an important tool also for operative emergency response work.
To a long extent, current academic research has not addressed the role of mobile architecture in practices with time-critical characteristics as found in operative emergency response work. There are few empirical studies of operative emergency response work and there is a need to perform such studies to be able to identify general characteristics and form design implications for mobile architecture support. Emergency response work is a time-critical work practice, where periods of relative low-intensity work are rapidly shifted into high intensity work associated with a high degree of ambiguity. Emergency response work is therefore a valuable setting for investing new design of mobile architecture for time-critical work practices.
Research Aim and Question
My inspiration for this thesis comes from the changing dynamics of the city and its growing needs. Dealing with these challenges I believe that, if we proposed a new architecture that can be associated with existing architecture which utilized the technology in the disastrous condition of the city it will not only touch the lives of the people but also helps to improve time-critical emergency response work. Accordingly, the research question in this thesis is: How can mobile architecture be designed to support emergency response work?
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