Some things that we don't know much, about virtue, error and design uncertainty, in the " Total City "

Abstract

Professions are generally recognized as reliable, based on knowledge, but it is debatable how they develop a simple concept - the "sense of care". And what happens when urban design know-how, which is separately available in each of the "areas" of institutionalized knowledge, is not enough to respond to changes in urban phenomena? Approaches of ethics to urban design don't happen before a true reflection illuminates the professional practices: 1. We question disciplinary knowledge about the city, particularly on the fields of design, in its most frequent construction - the paradigmatic models of Utopias and Manifestos - now applied to the expanded city. 2. We develop the theme of city's "software" - communicative public space in its close relationship with users interaction, in the sharing of space, and some of our communicative professional deficits. 3. We raise some urban design ethical issues for today's expanded city, showing how it has a relevance of conviction and responsibility, of altruism and joy.