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24/7 Temporality and Post-Industrial Chronobiology
Abstract and Figures
The new post-industrial cities incubate a 24/7 lifestyle which creates a great disconnect with our body’s circadian pacemaker that controls many physiological and metabolic functions, including sleep. The lifestyle of service sector jobs, increasingly including overnight-shift work combined with the ability and desire to be in constant communication between different time zones across the globe, places a great strain on human body’s natural inclination to maintain its circadian rhythm. Efforts on massive scales in cities such as Songdo International Business District (SIBD)2 in South Korea and Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city3 in China to make the greenest possible cities through integration of open green spaces, bike lanes, and recycling programs fail to consider their residents’ chronobiology. In a work environment that operates across time zones, the temporality of our built environment is no longer in sync with the solar cycle as those of the farmers and factory workers in the pre-Edison era; in new open cities, chronobiology of the cities is guided by the human sleep cycle that is under constant attack by our 24/7 culture.
This paper explores the uncertainties and contradictions found in relationships between contemporary cities and their inhabitant’s sleep patterns through considering light. I examine the recent finding in medicine on the impact of electric and natural light on human circadian rhythms along with the historical development of electric light in industrial cities. I then reflect upon the 24/7 non-stop activities that fuel the post-industrial cities and their sleepless phenomena. Finally, I will speculate how new theories of human health along with advancements in lighting technology could shape an architectural response to the problem. How could the design of buildings and cities actively protect their inhabitants’ sleep and well-being?
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In 2010, a startling 18 young migrant workers attempted suicide at Foxconn Technology Group production facilities in China. This article looks into the development of the Foxconn Corporation to understand the advent of capital expansion and its impact on frontline workers’ lives in China. It also provides an account of how the state facilitates Foxconn’s production expansion as a form of monopoly capital. Foxconn stands out as a new phenomenon of capital expansion because of the incomparable speed and scale of its capital accumulation in all regions of China. This article explores how the workers at Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, have been subjected to work pressure and desperation that might lead to suicides on the one hand but also open up daily and collective resistance on the other hand.
Ecologists have long studied the critical role of natural light in regulating species interactions, but, with limited exceptions, have not investigated the consequences of artificial night lighting. In the past century,the extent and intensity of artificial night lighting has increased such that it has substantial effects on the biology and ecology of species in the wild. We distinguish “astronomical light pollution”, which obscures the view of the night sky, from “ecological light pollution”, which alters natural light regimes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Some of the catastrophic consequences of light for certain taxonomic groups are well known, such as the deaths of migratory birds around tall lighted structures, and those of hatchling sea turtles disoriented by lights on their natal beaches. The more subtle influences of artificial night lighting on the behavior and community ecology of species are less well recognized, and constitute a new focus for research in ecology and a pressing conservation challenge.
Sleep: A Very Short Introduction addresses the biological and psychological aspects of sleep. What is sleep? Why do we need it? How much is enough? What is the impact of modern society on sleep? We spend about a third of our lives asleep. References to sleep abound in literature and art, sleep has been recognized as fundamental to the human condition. Over the past century, our knowledge of sleep has developed hugely. The impact of poor sleep on our quality of life is gaining recognition and the prevalence of sleep disorders in the population is increasing as we live ever stressful lives.
Their provocative manifestos and outrageous performances earned the Italian Futurists international fame but, surprisingly, very little recognition outside of Italy for their actual achievements. The few English and American critics who have studied the movement in any depth have focused on the first phase, which spanned the years 1909-15 and was centred in Milan, Rome, and Florence. By contrast, the second phase covered a much longer period and represented a pan-Italian phenomenon. Despite the wealth of material available about this later part of the movement, there has been little attempt to survey Futurist activity outside of the major geographical centres in any detail or to relate it to the Futurist mainstream. In The Other Futurism, Willard Bohn seeks to remedy this oversight by examining the work of Futurists in Venice, Padua, and Verona from 1909 to 1944. He considers these local artists and writers both in terms of their relationship with F.T. Marinetti, who remained the major theorist and organizer of Futurist activities, and of their own specific adaptations and appropriations of Futurist theory. Conceived as a combination literary history and critical study, The Other Futurism looks at particular examples of literature, visual arts, and the performing arts and, using a series of rare documents, sheds new light on the complex cultural and political issues at the heart of this neglected chapter in Italy’s history.
The use of electric lights at night is disrupting the sleep of more and
more people, says Charles Czeisler.