Koolhaas and Kwinter

In the Koolhaas essay for Week 4, the Dutch designer sets out the failures of past forms of Urban design, suggesting that there is too much of a solidity of conclusion when making Urban-scale interventions.  The ideas he sets out, fall in to the bracket of 'Soft Urbanism', which constitutes a more pastoral approach to Urban design and management, lessening the importance of 'one-answer' to Urban problems.  The theme of coercion in design as opposed to determinism is repeated with Koolhaas, as he sees designers as managers of the City rather than Modernist or Post Modernist architectural dictators.  Koolhaas suggests that the very idea of an ability to 'control' Urban development is flawed due to the exponential quickening of Urban expansion, creating constantly altering fields of influence, requiring more fluid solutions to the problems of Urban culture and society.