Nora Semmoud

A New Examination of Urban Intervention: Social Acceptance of Urban Development

This article provides a partial description of research 1 that has the potential to be the urban studies counterpart of the perspective developed by Jauss (1978) concerning the dialectical, open and flowing relationship between the production of literature and its public reception. Following Jauss' example, my approach is based on the dialectics behind the conditions of production of urban space and its acceptance by the people for whom it is intended. Any transformation of space (or instrumentalisation of the space, according to Lefebvre, 2000), therefore, has an impact on social organisation. This impact can only be explained by shifting the analysis towards the means by which space is appropriated 2 or used. In this process, professionals believe they have designed a space for certain uses but in reality something else has taken place. The reflection is based here on the concept of the instrumentalisation of the space elaborated by Lefebvre (2000), who believed that there is an important distinction between what is happening in the space (what is lived and perceived by the inhabitants) and what is done of the space by the urban planning professionals. The space, considered abstract by the author, is subject to manipulation and serves as an instrument of domination. Here, the representation of space is a specific conceptualisation of the instrumentation of the spatial organisation -a procedure -, through the iconographic tools or the norms, to produce a space that follows the dominant group's interests (Lefebvre, 1970).

By facing any new urban organisation, inhabitants readjust the way they behave in the space. As Lefebvre points out: "[...] the designed space of the scientists, planners, urbanists, technocrats 'carvers' and 'organisers' [...] pushed to confuse the experience and the perceived with the designed" (2000, 48). Inhabitants, therefore, restructure the space according to their representations of it. It must be stressed that the forms of appropriation and acceptance of urban development correspond largely to the very features of urbanism (that is, its nature and social coherence because people relate to it through their past experiences and accumulated knowledge). Taking these aspects into account and as suggested by Lefebvre, it seems that a change in attitude on the part of professionals of urban development and planning is called for: they must necessarily take into account the usages of the inhabitants. This would enable them to see strictly the social impact

of urban projects. The gap between the lived space and the conceived space shed lights on "blind spot" in the operational view of institutional decision-makers that reflects their relative blindness to social organisation and the effects produced of their interventions on space. Lefebvre had already analysed this relationship between institutional decision-makers and social organisation. He shows, through such varied terminology as blind spot, the non-see [le non-voir] and the non-formal knowledge [le non-savoir], that the behaviour of the decision-makers could switch between the refusal to see and to know, and the ignorance and lack of discernment and foresight.

"The blindness, the non-see and non-formal knowledge involve an ideology. The blind spot take place in the re-presentation. There is first the presentation of the facts and the set of facts; the way of perceiving it and putting them together. Then, there is the re-presentation, the interpretation of the facts" (Lefebvre, 1970, 44).

Starting from these assertions and based on an empirical examination of urban planning actions, this article reveals the primary focus of reflection required when assessing the social acceptance of urban planning. First, in order to understand the social logic of an urban planning project, the conditions of production of space are examined through the representations and practices of decision-makers. Attention is then given to the contradictions that may arise between the promoters of a project and the project managers. Examination of relations between decisionmakers and the social requirements expressed by neighbourhood associations, meanwhile, allow a critical analysis of participative approach and their paradoxical manifestations. These sometimes appear as an area of conflict, of conflict/negotiation and learning, or sometimes as an undertaking to legitimise urban planning.

Secondly, the conditions of appropriation of urban space, which reveal the social organisation, are analysed. It is important to recall here the words of Lefebvre, who considers that: "The right to the city [...] as the superior form of rights: the right to freedom, to individuation in the socialisation, to the habitat and to the living. The right to work of art (to activity participating) and the right to appropriation (although distinct from the right to property) are involved in the right to the city" (2009, 125).

The conditions of appropriation enable us to understand the social construction of a district, the specificities of the social groups that live inside and their relationships with one another. They shed light on the interactions between social groups (Goffman, 1974) and the way in which their representations manage in defining their forms of cohabitation and constructing of a neighbourhood community. Above all, they stress the dynamics of 'revision/adaptation' of the urban space by its inhabitants to make it conform to their habitus 3 (Bourdieu, 1972). Apart from the fact that this social reorganisation of space reveals the 'blind spot' with which institutions and professional decision-makers viewed their interventions, it also provides elements that enable someone to re-examine the results of urban organisation.

These statements were based primarily on the case study city of Saint-Étienne 4 , located in the west of the Rhône-Alpes Region of France (Fig. 1). The example is interesting for several reasons: it illustrates the ways in which a city faced up to severe industrial crises; it has lost a considerable proportion of its population; and highlights how a city is fighting against the marginalisation during the current metropolisation process (Saint-Étienne has suffered from the effects of Lyon's metropolisation growth). Cities such as Saint-Etienne are generally confronted with a dilemma: either to pursue a neoliberal 5 (Harvey, 2011, Soja, 2010 and Davis, 2007) perspective, focusing on the extension of economic investment areas without taking into consideration any social exclusion caused by restructuring; or to try to reconcile economic development and social cohesion by protecting populations from the ongoing reorganisation of urban space. In this regard, Lefebvre had already noted that "the city and the urban reality correspond to the value in use. The exchange value, the generalisation of the goods by the industrialisation tend to destroy the city and to subordinate the urban reality" (2009, 4). Lefebvre also observes that "[the exchange value] tends to absorb the use value in the exchange" (2009, 121). My research, based on the analysis of the redevelopment program in the Bellevue district (a former working-class district) of Saint-Étienne, was completed at the end of 2000. Focused mainly on the development of public spaces, the research 6 also consisted of replacing urban wastelands 7 by the Clinic Mutualiste and the Îlot Charcot residential complex. These projects were accompanied by the implementation of tram in its own space 8 , the layout of a square and the establishment of a public transport hub (Fig. 2). There were several reasons for the interest in the project of restructuring the Bellevue district. First, the project concerned a traditional working-class district and questioned the future of its social morphology. Then, unlike radically transforming operations such as renovation 9 , it was carried out in successive phases that were relatively unaggressive. Finally, it was a project that has led to confrontations between various decision-makers, which, ultimately, led to a hard-won consensus, particularly influenced by the District Committee of the South West of Saint-Étienne. Thanks to this committee, which liked to think itself representative of a large number of inhabitants, the project was directed towards the improvement of public space and the provision of amenities for the neighbourhood, thus abandoning a more transforming option.

The conditions for the emergence of the project and its implementation

The concrete effects of the representations on social interaction and territorial process make them essential when examining public policies of urban development. The collective memory 10 and the economic and social crises are the cause of negative and demeaning representations that have affected the Saint-Étienne area. These representations were of concern to the public authorities and so they attempted to reverse them. The representations often reflect the relationships between the dominant and the dominated and can be either shared or divergent, even if their institutionalisation usually ends in consensus. Thus, other representations beyond the strategies of the dominant urban decision-makers have had some effect on influencing public opinion, as shown in local mindsets, particularly for those whose family histories were marked by working-class and mining backgrounds. Aware of the important role that their families had played in the economic development of the metropolitan area, they strongly opposed all forms of socio-spatial marginalisation. Institutional decision-makers 11 , who had thoroughly understood the effectiveness of the representations on the perception of a territory, sought to influence these areas by erasing or promoting images, such "black city" 12 being replaced by "green city" 13 . This manipulation of images would be synchronised with urban transformation programs. Thus, transformation of reality that minimised the nature of social structure, regarded as a handicap 14 , would legitimise the image and urban transformation strategies and policies designed to attract affluent social categories and economic operators.

These diverse perspectives resulted in paradoxical urbanism where development operations were taking place in Bellevue at the same time as largescale operations were starting up at the sites of GIAT 15 and Châteaucreux 16 . The goal was to attract executives and economic operators, and to offer an elitist central location, but this then raised the question of the fate of existing social space. Conflicting ideas of urban projects correspond to a consensus that seeks to combine the desire to attract both the upper classes and economic operators and to maintain the working classes wishing to remain. However, this consensus was characterised by a certain fragility when faced with the entrenched positions of the decision-makers. A number of them called for authoritarian urban development and exclusion aiming to erase the working-class past and opening up the city to new forms of economic investment, and others urging urban programs aimed at distributing services in the city (e.g., public transport, social and cultural facilities) to meet the needs of low-income groups of the population, while at the same time welcoming the upper classes.

The evolution of the Bellevue development project captures perfectly the changes that affect the balance of power between the different decision-makers. In 1992, the first description of the project by the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill, was characterised by densely built-up areas, the monumental design of which produced a crushing effect on the volume of existing buildings. Local residents then set up a neighbourhood association that initially was able to assert itself during the consultation period of the project. Questioned by the elected officials about its representativeness, the association organised a broad survey of the inhabitants, who rejected the logic of radical transformation of the area proposed by the Bofill project. Local councilors then decided to change the logic of the project that was reformulated by the Devillers design office in a less aggressive version. It directed its interventions on the improvement of public space and the provision of services in the neighbourhood, notably the construction of a clinic and a multimodal public transport hub.

The contradictions between the politico-administrative objectives and their awareness of the expressed social demands were reflected in the contrasted evolution of the project and made the decision-makers' work more complex. In addition, the process of enlargement/fragmentation of decision-making was common to urban areas and related to the large number of decision-makers and partnerships. Thus it has inevitably led to a struggle for position by the decisionmakers on the new local power scene, while it made necessary the construction of a consensus. The large number of decision-makers and the divergent interests that they represented revealed their contradictions and therefore directly aided the action of the neighbourhood association. Despite a consensus on the unaggressive approach to the overall project, disagreements between promoters were reactivated by the project managers at the time of construction. They worked in a disorganised manner and individualised their work thus diverging from the coherence of the overall project. The space thus produced is more like a puzzle that testifies to the division of the designers by their field of expertise: the clinic is an architectural structure that does not fit into its urban surroundings; the multimodal public transporta hub, designed according to the rules of transporta engineering, does not take into account the practices of the users; and the garden designed by landscape artists is more concerned with geometrics and aesthetics than its use by the public (Fig. 3). After examining the condition of the realisation project, in the next section, I propose to analyse its social effects.

The effects of development on social organisation

The social reorganisation of space is a collection of processes that ultimately reflects the effects produced by the urban planning process. First, there are those that affect the social organisation of the neighbourhood and reveal changes, mainly in the representations that the inhabitants make of their renovated residential area. Second, these effects correspond with the dynamics of adjustment/revision of the new spatial layout that are set in motion by the users to make the space comply with their habitus (Bourdieu, 1972). This will be discussed in greater detail in the next section. Thanks to the development of the Bellevue district, new families with on higher incomes than the former, generally working-class population have made their appearance. They are composed of employees, technicians or managers, many of whom are descendants of workers. These changes in the settlement of the district have participated in the evolution of the representations and the sociability of the residents, who are working towards creating a new collective identity.

The labour past of the former residents, and the significant events in its local history, remain a symbolic reality determining much of everyday behaviour. When one belongs to a district where one's membership in a specific social group is approved, this becomes a mark that reinforces the process of identification with that specific group (de Certeau et al., 2003). This process is all the more important in the working-class district of Bellevue, where the new amenities partly concern the children of workers who in terms of education have been able to rise socially and attain a higher social status than their parents. For this latter group, they belong to what is generally considered the reference group (Boudon, 2004). For many executives with their roots in other social strata who chose to settle in this neighbourhood, the working class represents a group whose values are mythologised. These executives may have the impression that the neighbourhood is friendly, and they associate this with the legacy of its working-class past and its work ethic of sacrifice and solidarity: "if there is a hard blow, we are not alone. We can help each other even if we haven't frequent relations […]. We keep the relations with the unemployed persons, don't let them down, it's tradition" 17 . In this case, what is important is not the numerical superiority 18 of the working-class social group, but rather its influence on the relationships between inhabitants. It imprints the image of the place, the lifestyle and, sometimes, the processes of populating.

The gentrification following the arrival of a new population in the district has had consequences for the social interaction between old and new residents. It is understood that the forms of sociability between individuals gives the district its social value. The interactions between the old and new inhabitants accelerate the transformation of the neighbourhood. When recomposing a traditional workingclass district, there is in fact evidence of the disappearance of a system of sociability characteristics of working-class communities 19 . One of the negative consequences of the intensity of social relations in the district is often overwhelming social control (Bacqué, Sintomer, 2002). Its replacement by a system including other social groups diversifies its forms of social bonds, enlarges its territoriality and frees individuals from community constraints. This diversification of the forms of sociability also depends on the social category, gender and age of the individual, and concerns several scales (e.g., residence, district, city, urban centre). All of these forms of sociability participate, each in its own way, in the construction of the social capital (Bourdieu, 1980) of the district.

The analysis of the forms of cohabitation between old and new residents overlaps with other work, representing reflections on the present day mechanisms of urban social aggregation, and highlights two important ideas. First, the reconfiguration of formerly working-class neighbourhoods occurs through changes in the representations that people make of themselves, others and their neighbourhood. Social cohabitation and the relationships that are progressively introduced are built from the representations of interdependence between individuals of each social category. From the symbolic capital of the district, which pre-existed but were reactivated by them, new residents have been able to build positions for themselves in the local social space more rapidly and more easily than they could have done in another type of district, such as a wealthier neighbourhood. At the same time, they have taken advantage of the feelings of security offered by the working class, with its potential for solidarity. In this form of cohabitation, long-time residents may be able to get out of a chronic process of confinement in poverty or to free themselves from a path that condemns them to social stagnation. In any case, they benefit from the added value that this cohabitation offers.

The representations, fundamental to this collective identity, are fed by a real dynamic of diverse forms of exchange between long-time residents and new arrivals, such as child minding, rooms for rent, do-it-yourself and tutoring. In the end, the collective identity is built on a sort of interdependence where each one needs everyone else; an idea that can be expressed as: "you consider me worthwhile, I'll give you security; you give me security, I'll consider you worthwhile". This is indicated by the following remarks: "there are good people in the neighbourhood, executives, rich and they do not look down upon others" (Retired worker); "they are very supportive, honest among themselves [...] they give us lessons" (retired bank manager). The elements of identity are made up of a set of attributes that each individual assumes in imaginary fashion or that others assign to them (Bonetti, 1994). This is what Augé (1992) defined as anthropological domain.

Secondly, the above research underlines that the results of the reconfiguration of working-class districts according to the features of social diversity is dependent on the nature of the urban development undertaken. When they were spared by brutal transformation of the urban morphology to maintain the social fabric while encouraging the arrival of new populations, they gave the district "territorial means of conviviality" 20 (Raymond, 1988, 4) or in any case, the spatial arrangements for promoting this social cohabitation and a development of the idea of being together 21 . Differences in the forms of reconfiguration of traditional working-class districts and the new features that they produce are undoubtedly associated with the political and social conditions of the transformation of these areas.

The Bellevue district, spared by these brutal transformations, found itself in a central location characterised by easy access to public transport, and a large number of retail outlets and amenities. These are, along with the moderate cost of real estate, undoubtedly the fundamental reasons for the middle-class population's housing choice in the district. There are other less evident reasons that emerged from the discussions and highlighted their search for the village 22 and the workingclass culture as an urban norm. Furthermore, the notion of territorial valence (Raulin, 1999), which in my case goes back to the idea of added value, emphasises the relationship that city dwellers make between the spatial characteristics of their district and the social life that it offers. They willingly consider, therefore, the composite character of the district (diversity of habitat and activities), centrality location (e.g., amenities, accessibility, dynamism) and the quality of the spaces as vectors of social life and conviviality. However, if the process had not aimed to transform the social morphology, the fact remains that the land and real estate processes that it produced could, in the end, have caused Bellevue to evolve towards gentrification. Indeed, the measures used to regulate the property market. This begs the following question: is the choice to let the real estate markets taking over and creating social change in Bellevue deliberate? Social effects are inevitably accompanied by changes in population behaviour in space, as shown in the next section.

Processes of adjustment/adaptation of developed space

The appropriation of space is a three-dimensional matrix: first that of uses (e.g. patronage, travel, avoidance); the representations and significances that individuals associate with a space; and, lastly, the imaginary and symbolic projections that they bring into play. Furthermore, according to Dosdas et al. (1999), the psychology of space distinguishes three levels of perception of space by individuals, which are: the real, the imaginary and the symbolic. This enabled us to sort the information gathered from discussions with the residents. The real corresponds with the description of the physical characteristics of the space and with its spatial properties: "there are not enough trees providing shade in the formal garden" 23 . The imaginary, while disregarding the real, feeds on it to create a dream: "the garden fence is cold. We get the feeling we will be locked in" 24 . The symbolic attaches the significance to the meaning of words: "the neighbourhood is a village" 25 . Beyond the convenience they present so as to demonstrate the distinction between the real, the imaginary and the symbolic, these levels appear to be strongly interlinked with the appropriation of space. According to the psychology of space, the properties of the perception of space by man are thought to be determined by impulses, motivations, attraction and repulsion in a 'space', which is sometimes imaginary, sometimes real.

The users' appropriation of the developed space is complex and includes the processes of adjustment/adaptation/revision, the significances, the imaginary, the symbolic and ends with the reconfiguration of a new sort of topography, reinterpreting the spatial arrangements produced by the development project. Specifying this form of 'reinterpretation' reveals both the spaces and the constraints that oppose appropriation by users: spaces that do not initially appear to have the capacity to be appropriated socially and, in contrast, those that will be overvalued and rapidly appropriated by users. The distinction, designation and the organisation into a hierarchy of these spaces by users, and the representations of the inhabitants, correspond to a large extent with the purpose for which they were designed, and reveal the obvious differences between spatial organisation and the conditions of use of the area. This is the case in situations that hinder the conformity of the space with the habitus, notably the spatial arrangements that make conditions of appropriation difficult.

Those making the decision to develop, and particularly the designers, 26 do not shrink from using the idea that the space always ends up being socially appropriated, in order to argue in favour of their architectural and urban plans. For designers, this idea exonerates them from the separation they create, on the one hand, between the space of architectural and urban creation and real estate promotion, and, on the other hand, the practices and representations of the recipients in relation to their projects. A limited view of the appropriation of space does not realise the symbolic violence 27 (Bourdieu, 2002) that the population can undergo (via these projects). It does not take into account the adjustment process of the population in its spatial arrangements that do not allow a sufficient compromise. In this case, the conditions are ripe for social upheaval and processes for demanding of rights.

" […] when a gap forms between the social and spatial organisation, individuals attempt to manage this contradiction dialectically, with greater or lesser success, by adapting the space to their practices and by adjusting their practices to the space. The work of continual adjustment aims to reduce the tensions between these two levels by trying to re-establish certain coherence between them […] with the compromises that are made for each one never being satisfactory. They end in processes where rights are asserted or in reactions that can provoke social uprisings" (Bonetti, 1974, 197).

The 'revisions' made by the inhabitants produce reconfigurations where various uses increasingly leave their mark on the space as the frequency in its use intensifies. In this way, practices such as patronage, travel and avoidance will 'reconfigure' the space in proportion to the use that is made of them. The various uses of space by individuals appear in several aspects of social life and those that recur most frequently in their statements will be cited. There are uses associated with meetings and social relationships, such as discussions and appointments, drinks with acquaintances or having a chat. For example, an elderly person will go to market, the grocer's or the butcher's as much to speak with the shop owner and with other customers as to shop. A youngster will arrange to meet up with his friends by the footbridge or the tram stop. There are uses associated with observing other people and what they enable someone to learn: "I sit on a bench and watch people go by, see the way they dress and speak… I like watching people. Some I like a lot and others not so much" (former miner). Some uses are for leisure and recreation, such as walking around the square to relax, going regularly to the park or to a cafe for a drink. There are uses whose implicit goal is ostentation and representation, as demonstrated in the comments by Mrs M.L. (a retired French teacher): "I don't just wear anything when I go out in the neighbourhood, especially when I go to the market […]. The vendors notice your new shoes or the brand, and are more than ready to tell anyone who will listen". A young person confessed: "I drive around the square several times and I'm parking in front of the bar to make my friends green with envy" (25-year-old welder). Lastly, there are uses that are strictly utilitarian: e.g., shopping, travelling to work, or a doctor's appointment. All of these activities are evidently specific to the way of life of each individual and differ according to sex and age. For example, there are the people with jobs who walk across the square quickly, and elderly people who stop and chat several times. The favourite places for each use also differ depending on age, gender and social status. Conversely, the spatial properties of various places taken into consideration when choosing what a place will be used for.

Since it is difficult to distinguish the uses from the social and symbolic significances that are associated with places, I will direct my analysis to the words of individuals, trying to understand the subtle relationships between the practices of individuals and the symbolic, imaginary and emotional registers associated with them. First, the projection of subjectivity and affectivity on a spatial framework presented highlights the valuation/'cancellation 28 of spaces. With this, the high places of social life are highlighted and give substance to the centrality. Second, the appropriation of space testifies to the lifestyles and the differences in the control of urban space, thereby expressing the specificities of each social group. Third, the modalities of appropriation indicate potential areas and define the shape of the district as it relates to its social makeup. The reconfigurations that I seek to establish should reflect both the aptitude of the space to be appropriated by the inhabitants and their skills to circumvent the constraints to this appropriation. In other words, if the appropriation is confronted with direct or indirect constraints from the urban environment, such as a greater or lesser degree of inflexibility in urban planning, then inhabitants will use their skills to bypass, redirect or overthrow these constraints. Conversely, when the spatial properties are permissive, an exuberance of imaginary and symbolic projections can be observed. In this case, the spatial properties reveal a 'potential space', in the way that Bonetti (1994) uses this idea for habitat. Bonetti emphasises the impact of the architectural value of the space on the potential for symbolic enhancement:

"Each space is filled with virtual possibilities of use and significances which are more or less rich, the attainment of which reflects its conditions of production and modalities of use but does not necessarily depend on it. This is why we put forward the notion of 'potential space' to define this paradoxical process by which a given habitat can both lend itself to a wide variety of interpretations and uses, and possess specific capabilities" (Bonetti, 1994, 37).

There is no doubt that the connecting structure between physical space and social space is shaped through a complex process that I have barely begun to penetrate. Lefebvre indicates in this regard that "the needs are not in the 'reality' than described the market research [...] this means therefore to substitute social planning [...] at the economic planning" (2009, 115). Consequently, when all is said and done, the 'topographical' expression of this structure only reveals the tip of the iceberg. I can also consider a multitude of reconfigurations, each with variants of social specificities --e.g., symbols attached to places, the imaginary. For example, the appropriation of a space reflects the social characteristics of individuals and reveals the differences in their lifestyles and urbanity. Thus, as Frey demonstrated for the city of Creusot, urbanity reflects the differences in control of urban space and the lifestyles of people in relation to their degree of integration in urban income levels. In other words, urbanity reflects the duration of urban socialisation.

"A person can, in fact, consider urban areas as a set of properties to be appropriated, and the differences in appropriation as the result of the process of capitalisation through different economic, social and cultural means that are the primary distinction between different categories of employees" (Frey, 1986, 180).

Thus, in the case described in the current paper, there are many examples of appropriation that demonstrate the social characteristics of individuals, their differences in urbanity and the representations they make of each other. The number of people shopping at the market varies, for instance, depending on whether it sells second-hand clothes or not; goods sold at the neighbourhood's Casino supermarkets define which customers shop there; and the choice of the hypermarket Auchan or Casino indicates different modes of consumption. Thus, each concept mobilised by the process of appropriation could lead to a line of research, and, in the spirit of this section, to specific reconfigurations. In the next section, I try to translate the new behaviour of the population in space, through a specific mapping that I have named "Topography".

New configurations, new topographies

Taking into account previous considerations and the difficulty to transcribing to Euclidean space the markings of the appropriation, I propose to focus on common characteristics of the majority of individuals. The practices of residents are most evident when they are making synchronously the "cancellation" 29 of some places and over-valuation of others. Different reconfigurations appear as a sort of 'negative' where strong contrasts appear between certain spaces that are more or less 'opaque' and where there is the 'superimposition' of others. In any case, each site that is assigned of sense is then recorded in a hierarchy and plays a specific role in the daily life of individuals. In other words, the hierarchy represents a scale of emotional ties whose expression ranges from eclipse to excessive possession of the spaces.

"Either they crossed the opacity of the places -mandatory mediation but forgotten-

[…] or they tied their common existence to the very urban substance. Or else the decor had fashioned them somehow and made them similar in some respects, through an indirect relationship" (Sansot, 1999, 257) 30 .

It is clear that when places are considered to be real "headlight" of social life and, as a result, benefit from being over-valued by individuals, they become a focal point or point of centrality. This is not surprising since centrality crystallises the positive values attached to a district and, as it is part of its history, it is the primary vector of integration and improvement. Nevertheless, when mapping out the many routes taken by individuals across the square, in particular for those with no specific goal, we are reminded of the dramatisation of daily life in public spaces as suggested by Sansot:

"We are surprised to see the same people leave the square by one street and return by another, multiplying false exits and false entrances to the theatre. The city then has ceased to exist outside of the square. It becomes a kind of decor in which we pretend to believe, to which we grant, by convention, an appearance of depth." (Sansot, 1999, 260) I see in this process of over-valuing or "cancellation" of space an irony of fate: in appropriating urban space, individuals render "invisible" the places they do not like, as an implicit response to the blindness of the designers.

The proposed 'topographies' 31 (Fig. 4) reveal differences in the control of urban space depending on the age of the individuals 32 . Young people between the ages of 15 and 20 reveal two important areas on the perimeter of the square: Rue Robespierre and the area made up by the tram stop and the footbridge that links the district to the secondary schools. For them, the rest of the square is more or less obscured to the point of disappearing altogether. It should be remembered that these 'topographies' identify the preferential places and rank them. The concentration of young people between the tram stop and the footbridge is striking, even outside of school hours. This supports youth sentiment about this place, which is connected in their discourse despite being separated by the tramline, swarms of people and excitement that characterise the place remind the young people the "entrances of concerts or nightclubs, it is where everything is decided and it is there that one can to trying pick up someone without being seen" (student, 16 years old). It is significant to note that many young people eat their sandwiches while sitting on the footbridge, when they are only a few meters from the Jardin des Utopies gardens. Respondents mentioned that the cafes of the Rue Robespierre are particularly appreciated by young people. They can spend the afternoon there by chillaxing (chilling and relaxing), talking or sharing information. It is not surprising, therefore, that they are the only ones who refer to a lack of cafes in the square. Without Rue Robespierre and the square formed by the tram stop and the footbridge, the young people ignore the other spaces or they assign them to other inhabitants: the market for elderly people and the parks for children and mothers. Young people are the only ones who resort to this kind of assigning, which resembles territorial division, creating a distance with others and oppressive social 33 control. In short, the few places favoured by young people, as well as those they use for avoidance, represent a very limited space, symptomatic of their lack of freedom in the district. Undoubtedly, they are compensating for this by their appropriation of the city centre and other places in the city to which they devote considerable space in their discourse.

The market, Rue Robespierre and Amouroux Square are first on the list of places favoured by the 'topography' 34 of seniors 35 . The paradoxical relationship between seniors and the clinic takes second place. On the one hand, the park, the public transport hub, the car park and Rue Gabriel Péri are more or less shrouded in darkness. In the end, the 'topography' of seniors includes their traditional or customary spaces and rules out the newly created ones. As for the intermediary age group 36 , it combines virtually both of the two previous 'topographies', using the places of young people as well as those preferred by seniors. On the other hand, the clinical and, to a lesser extent the garden, are affected of opacity by the population. Individuals in this age bracket, have undeniably more space in their 'topography', which reflects a greater freedom of appropriation.

If the configuration of 'topographies' seemed relatively clear to us in individuals' discourses, then the limits fixed in the district are quite variable. The very notion of limit is questioned in the variable geometry of the district and its different meanings. Everything happens as if by a process of excluding or including places. The individual carves out the district and adds on outgrowths, without necessarily defining a perimeter. Exclusion and inclusion correspond respectively to the 'cancellation' and the valuing of certain spaces that have or do not have the capacity to become a part of the district. This concept of certain places belonging or not belonging to the district supplants the idea of fixing boundaries by a perimeter. For example, Mrs. P., who was questioned specifically about the limits of the district, cited the square, Rue Robespierre, the market and the tram stop. In this case, the clinic, the park and the hub were excluded from the district. There is a sort of tacit refusal by the inhabitants to define a geometric perimeter because it would require the inclusion of the cancelled spaces. Geometrically, discussion of limits defines lines, points and areas which may either be articulated or split up. It designates sites full of meaning, located at Solaure 37 , Jomayère or Rue du Mont, which form outgrowths in relation to the official limits of the district. These limits are strongly contested by those who, as a result, feel "excluded from their Bellevue" 38 . The reluctance of individuals to discuss the limits of the district reflects their caution with regard to an arbitrary institutional process of symbolic exclusion from the territories to which they belong. In this way, the 'topographies' of the inhabitants give substance to the place and explode the triangle of official projects. They designate places and itineraries near the square, as well as those that are clearly separated from it. For example, certain 'topographies' may extend from the district of Centre II, to Rue Guizay and Solaure. Thus, the district gains in substance "[…] whenever subjectivities intertwine with the required mediation of a set of streets, walls and public places." (Sansot, 1999, 256) To finish the analysis of the dialectical movement that characterises the production of space and its appropriation by individuals, the way in which the social reorganisation of the space can, in return, allow urban development should be questioned. When individuals proceed with the 'cancellation' or the overvaluing of certain places, they refer us back to the logic of their design. For example, the 'cancellation' of the transport hub and gardens is associated with the inclusion of the former in an architectural design of travel focusing primarily on the functionality of transport and the latter in geometrics and aesthetics. These two types of spatial organisation limit appropriation, while the development of the market bolstered the conviviality that was characteristic of this place. Furthermore, the forms of reception described in this article reflect an unaggressive form of urban development that differs from radical, authoritarian urban planning. The unaggressive quality of the development of Bellevue reflects the dialogue which accompanied the project, making it coincide to some degree with the social demand for the modification of the district while maintaining its population.

Conclusion

By identifying the places neglected by the population and the potential spaces, the 'topographies' established also serve to indicate the elements that Lefebvre (2000) calls a "counter-space". For this author, the confrontation between the "concrete space" (social space) and the "abstract space" of the designers, produces ultimately the "counter-space". It actually expresses the social reorganisation of a space subsequent to a development project, where the process of appropriation superimposes on a space designed by overlays, inversions, conversions and cancellations. Adjustment processes to (and from) the space were designed to express the confrontation between the practices of users and the practices of urban planners, and were related to the representations of politico-administrative decision-makers and professionals. This confrontation corresponds to the notion of "test space" 39 defined by Lefebvre (2000, 478) where all practices (in a complex interplay on themselves) -those of politics and of the social groups -confront each other in space. The practices are undergoing the test of space, which is where they win or lose their difference. The space becomes a mediator, an instrument. This verdict on the designed space by the inhabitants testifies to the forms of social acceptance of the development. When urban development takes place according to the logic of consideration and development, the social organisation, particularly of the former working-class suburbs, escapes the risks of a breakdown inherent in authoritarian actions and options for radical transformation. In these circumstances, the social representations of the district are in a position to build a mode of social aggregation and assert a kind of conviviality, for which the new spatial arrangements have the material means.

In this context, participation, which is itself paradoxical, can either provide the necessary flexibility so that the representatives of the users shift the program towards the social demand, or exclude them. In the first case, the conviction of individuals to have influenced, even slightly, the destiny of their district, gives them the impression of succeeding a satisfactory compromise. Participation, therefore, contributes to the determination of conditions of acceptance of urban development. In any case, while not constructing a collective identity the collective experience of their participation contributes, at least, to restoring individuals inside the group. Bevort (2002), in this regard, offers a sensible assessment as he considers participative democracy as a political ideal and a successful model.

Finally, for urban planning professionals, the goal should be less to predict future uses of their projects or their acceptance by the public, than to situate their approach in a process of democratisation, and nourish it with knowledge from the social sciences. These two conditions assume the choice of co-production of the space with the users concerned and representatives from the required fields of discipline. It is a perspective that is even more plausible when the project managers have certain autonomy, and even power, which in this case becomes the power of mediation.

In conclusion, through my research I have tried to play the role of a mediator between town planning professionals and the social sciences. Undoubtedly, this motivation is linked to my dual position of expert and researcher. The approach of researchers such as Marié (1989) who, in the course of his career, always tried to be a mediator between town planning professionals and the social sciences, between development and circumspection, is a most valid one. Despite the discomfort, this mediation is fundamental to understanding urban environments and to working in them.

Notes

1 This research paper was written for my accreditation to become a Director of Research, and it was defended in June 2005 at the University of Paris 12. This French diploma is required to become a professor. 2 The concept of appropriation is sharply opposed to that of property.

3 "The habitus is understood to be a system of sustainable and transferable provisions incorporating all previous experiences which functions continuously as a matrix of perceptions, appraisals and actions" (Bourdieu, 1972, 118). 4 The Saint-Étienne metropolitan area today has 400,000 inhabitants. The city of Saint-Étienne, with nearly 180,000 inhabitants lost approximately 20,000 people between 1990 and 1999. 5 American authors such as Harvey, Davis and Soja were among the first to revive the social and political critic of urbanism. Harvey, in particular, resurrected Lefebvre's thought on urban which had been obscured in France. These authors point out the dominant neoliberal logic in the management of cities. This management is characterised by the disengagement of the State from any serious regulation of the land and property markets, the financialisation and the privatisation of urbanism: "the urban quality, as well as the city itself, is now a commodity (in French marchandise) reserved for the wealthy, in a world where consumerism, tourism, cultural industries and knowledge have become key aspects of the economy urban policy" (Harvey, 2011, 21). 6 Field work combines several tools: a corpus of 29 semi-structured in-depth interviews with residents in their homes, shopkeepers, and association and politico-administrative actors, as well as 21 informative interviews carried out in public places. This resulted in nearly 50 exchanges carried out with residents interviewed during the consultation and the public enquiry. The surveys were realised in the second semester of 2004 in Bellevue. 7 STAS depot, abandoned building and factory of L'îlot Charcot. 8 In French: site propre, it runs on a lane not shared with cars. 9 Demolition and reconstruction. 12 This image refers to the representations of the ugly and dirty city, which sprang up in the 19 th century, when the coal and steel areas were active and employers used this territory without worrying about the miners' and workers' living conditions. 13 The image comes from the success of the local football team "The Greens" and the proximity of the city of Saint-Étienne to the wooded area of Pilat. 14 The percentage of workers and employees in Saint-Étienne (26%), is considered high compared with those of Lyon and Grenoble, estimated at 23% and 22% respectively. But most institutional experts deplore the low percentage of managers and intermediate occupations, estimated at 13% versus 20% in Lyon and 19% in Grenoble. This social structure is reflected in the income of Saint-Étienne's households, whose taxable income is €11,000, compared with €14,000 in Lyon and €12,000 in Grenoble (1999 Census). 15 The site comprised armament industries that were displaced, freeing 42 hectares. It now hosts an "optical and vision" research centre, a design centre, an institute of advanced technologies and a business development centre. 16 This site, organised around the TGV (high-speed train) station and the headquarters of Casino, was partially abandoned. It has undergone a total restructuring, accommodating the new headquarters of Casino, many offices and dwellings around the multimodal public transport hub, giving structure to the interaction with the second tramline. 17 Skilled worker, 32 years old. 18 According to the INSEE in 1999, the workers represented 15% and managers 4% of economically active population, that is to say 2762 inhabitants (49% of the total district population: 5635 inhabitants) 19 Research directed by Magri and Topalov (1989) clearly describing these forms of working-class sociability through which geographic proximity is the basis for solidarity that acts as a safety net against the risks of existence, according to Castel (1995). 20 In French: "Les moyens territoriaux de la convivialité". 21 "Being together" is understood here as the attitude of exchange and interaction (Goffman) that individuals develop in encounters and co-existence. These practices are evidently driven by the representations of the residents. 22 A recurring term expressed by those interviewed that reflects an assumed conviviality. 23 Excerpt from an interview with Mrs. M.G. (66 years old, former owner of a haberdasher's). 24 Excerpt from an interview with Mr. D.M. (52 years old, engineer, whose origins are working class). 25 Except from an interview with Mr. W. (35 years old, English teacher). 26 This idea has often been a subject of opposition by designers in regard to the councillors of Saint-Étienne. They have taken the risk of questioning the uses of the projects presented to the CQA (Conseil Qualité Architecturale; the Council for Architectural Quality). This is an organisation where the members, assisted by a consulting architect, negotiate the redesign of projects that are controversial in the eyes of the population.

27 "[…] the space is a place where power makes itself known and is exercised, and undoubtedly in the most subtle forms, that of symbolic violence as unperceived violence: the architectural spaces, whose silent injunctions address themselves directly to the body, obtaining from it, as surely as the etiquette of the court, the reverence and respect born of distance, or better, being distanced, are kept at a respectful distance, and are undoubtedly the most important components, for the very reason that they are invisible […], from the symbolism of power and the real effects coming from symbolic power" (Bourdieu 1993, 256). 28 to the spaces absent of the residents' speech or strongly criticised. 29 Spaces ignored and denied, because they are not loved. 30 In French: "Ou bien ils traversaient l'opacité des lieux -médiation nécessaire mais oubliée -[…] Ou bien ils nouaient leurs existences communes à même la pâte urbaine. Ou encore et cette fois la relation se fait indirecte, le décor les avait polis d'une certaine façon et rendus semblables par quelques côtés". (Sansot, 1999, 257). 31 The approach inspired by that of Lynch (1971). 32 The suggested age groups result from the analysis. They correspond with the thresholds where differences were seen.

33 "[…] if you smoke, they devour you with their eyes"; "they look at you as if you are going to jump on their dosh." 34 It is an attempt to translate the modes of appropriation by the drawing. 35 Over 55. 36 From 21 to 55 years old. 37 The District Centre and the parish of Solaure. 38 Sentiment (feeling?) expressed by several interviewees who do not agree with the official boundaries of the district. 39 In French: "L'épreuve de l'espace".

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. Localisation in France.

Fig. 2 .

 2 Fig. 2. Le Projet Devillers.

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. Main Places.

Fig. 4

 4 Fig. 4. Topographies.

  10 Saint-Étienne had to face a brutal restructuring in the 1970s and 1980s following the crisis in the steel industry and the decline of the mining industry. This included: the closure of the mine shaft and dismantling of steel companies and large enterprises (Manufacture, GIAT…) [in French: Après la crise de la sidérurgie et le déclin de l'industrie minière, SE a dû faire face à une restructuration brutale dans les années 1970 et 1980: fermeture des puits de mine et démantèlement des aciéries et des grandes compagnies]. 11 Elected officials of the municipality and members of the urban area community.


Laurent Lacomme
email: laurent.lacomme@imag.fr

Yves Demazeau
email: yves.demazeau@imag.fr

Julie Dugdale
email: julie.dugdale@imag.fr

CLIC: an agent-based interactive and autonomous piece of art

This work consists of integrating programming paradigms such as multi-agent systems and rule-based reasoning into a multimedia creation and display platform for interactive artistic creation. It has been developed in order to allow artists to build dynamic and interactive exhibitions based on pictures and sounds and featuring self-evolving and autonomous configurations.

Introduction

The project we present here is part of the biennial event called "Rencontres-i", organized by the Grenoble theatre Hexagone about art and science collaboration. Inspired by the behavior of social insects, the theme of this year's event is gathering and swarming. The event involves the participation of the MAGMA multi-agent systems team and a group of artists named Coincoin Production (www.collectifcoin.com) that has jointly coproduced the work. This collaborative project aims at using scientific work to produce a piece of art, matching the theme of the event, which represents the artists' views. This paper describes the scientific aspect of it.

The artistic idea for this work consists of presenting, reorganizing and developing the images and sounds that can be found on a place that is well-known to the visitors: the university campus. The result was a dynamic and interactive exhibition named CLIC -Conception d'un Logiciel Interactif Collaboratif (Conception of a collaborative and interactive software), which was shown to the public for three weeks. Thus, the computer science part of the work was to design and develop a software system, on top of the Max/MSP/Jitter media platform that is used by the artists, in order to design and build a multimedia exhibition. The goal was not only to build a system that can be used for this specific project, but to design a flexible and easy-to-use software that can be used by different artists to construct other multimedia exhibitions. This software has taken the form of a multi-agent system, where agents linked to media interact in several environments to produce commands for the multimedia platform.

In the following section we firstly discuss the related works and the specificity of the project. The theoretical analysis of the artistic challenge and the design of a solution are presented in section three. Section four covers the practical problems that have appeared during the development as well as the solutions we have found. Section five describes the final software and the exhibition. Finally, we conclude with an evaluation of the work and draw some perspectives.

Related works

Several works have already been achieved concerning the collaboration between art and artificial intelligence. From the beginning of AI, and the first expert systems, projects have been exploring the relation between artistic creation and the possibilities given by AI systems. One of the first projects was AARON [START_REF] Cohen | How to draw three people in a botanical garden[END_REF], an expert system painter, which was able to create original drawings that represented scenes that were understandable and appreciated by humans. Although this project involved a creative artificial intelligence, the goal was to make it autonomously create finalized pieces of art. The project we are concerned with consists, on the contrary, in creating a dynamicthus never completedexhibition.

Projects that use AI paradigms such as cognitive reasoning and multi-agent systems for developing dynamic and interactive media production already exist. One of the most significant works is a series of dynamic self-evolving paintings named "Le Jardin des Hasards" [START_REF] Hutzler | Le Jardin Des Hasards: peinture abstraite et Intelligence Artificielle Distribuée réactive[END_REF], whose paintings are composed of several agent elements, which evolve with regard to the public activity and meteorological data, in a biological-inspired manner. Another significant work is a project named "M@trice @ctive" [START_REF] Gufflet | Applying the PACO paradigm to a three-dimensional artistic creation[END_REF], which consisted of representing a painting from Kandinsky as a 3D environment in which shape-elements evolve and move according to initial conditions and interaction laws inspired from the painter's description of his own work; the visitor can navigate in this environment to discover new points of view on the painting.

Our project is different from these ones in the sense that it does not consist of modeling specific relationships between elements. Instead, it aims at providing a flexible, reusable platform for artists to create several dynamic and interactive exhibitions. It has also the goal of being easy to use by artists, without any help from computer scientists, whereas the above projects needed to be directly configured by computer scientists.

Theoretical analysis

The artists wanted to build an exhibition that would be autonomous and dynamic. It means that the exhibition, controlled by a computer, was going to evolve by itself through time, without any direct action from the artists. Hence the main goal was to provide a self-evolving, autonomous and dynamic software component, whose behavior and evolution should be both scripted and unpredictable. Thus, the artists had to be able to set a global behavior for their exhibition, in order to express their creative views, but the precise evolution of the exhibition, such as the choice of one picture or another, or the display for a particular effect, should be determined by the software over time.

A good way to achieve this was to incorporate some artificial intelligence capabilities, so that the system can handle different situations and adapt its behavior, following goals or rules that reflect the artists' expectations. That would guarantee both variabilitybecause of the non-algorithmic aspect in the software designand stabilitybecause of the ability of the software behavior to be matched to artists' wishes. That solution would also ensure another important property of the software: interactivity. Indeed, as the behavior of the exhibition is computed in real-time by the program, we aimed to provide the public with some feedback methods that could directly influence the exhibition's evolution. The main purpose of this is to catch the visitors' attention and to give them the feeling of being involved in the work's evolution.

Another difficulty has been to ensure that the program could also be easy to use for the artists, who are usually mostly unfamiliar with computer sciences. As the artists often have a precise idea of what their production should look like, they need to be able to understand a priori which global behavior would result from how they configure the system, at least to a certain extent. Hence, we had to link a media control system with a way for artists to express their preferences over the system behavior which should be easy to understand. The system should also be able to run in real-time, thus it should have a low computational complexity.

An agent-based solution

The main problem was to link media control and artists' wishes. We needed a system which could handle a complex network of media elements linked with one another and work autonomously with it. These requisites and the participative design of the exhibition between artists and scientists have led to the choice of a solution that has already been used in artistic works [START_REF] Gufflet | Applying the PACO paradigm to a three-dimensional artistic creation[END_REF][START_REF] Hutzler | Le Jardin Des Hasards: peinture abstraite et Intelligence Artificielle Distribuée réactive[END_REF]: a multi-agent system. Multi-agent systems offer the possibility of maintaining a structured organization through time, referring to laws and rules for their behavior while giving varying results, depending on environmental events and internal configurations. Unlike other AI paradigms, multi-agent systems allow the user to configure locally the agents' behavior, which is simple and efficient, without having to specify the overall system's behavior. Moreover, the agents' autonomy and their evolving organization allow the system to have a coherent behavior through time -as agents' behavior is specifiedwhile never returning to the exact same configuration.

The first question when designing a multi-agent system concerns identifying the agents. The solution we adopted was taken for its simplicity and its understan-dability for the artists more than for methodological reasons. It consists of associating each mediaimages, sounds or videoswith a single agent. This solution provides a way to distribute the control on the resulting work over local rules specific to sets of agents. Other solutions obviously exist, such as building a different agent for each simple behavior of the system, e.g. drawing, blinking, playing and looping. However, the chosen solution has the advantage of being easily understood by artists, who could manipulate sounds or images instead of unknown abstract entities.

VOWELS methodology

As the system design is based on agents and their interactions, and as we have already defined what the agents should be, the VOWELS methodology [START_REF] Demazeau | From Cognitive Interactions to Collective Behaviour in Agent-Based Systems[END_REF] is a useful approach for designing the system. Following this methodology, we have analyzed the problem in terms of Agents, Environments, Interaction and Organizations. For each of these terms, we can specify the considered entities, methods, the expected behaviors and the imposed implementation restrictions.

Since agents are associated with media, their attributes must include their type (sound or image), a name or reference to their associated media and their duration when applicable. For their behavior to be adaptable, they require some memory. We have chosen a simple form of memory as a table of associated keys and values (e.g. "active" = "yes"). In addition to being simple to manage it is expressively powerful. Since the agents' behaviors must be understandable and computationally simple, reactive agents are used. They allow complex emergent behaviors with low computational load and less complex inputs than cognitive agentsas some of the inputs should come from the artists, they need to be kept simple.

As agents were associated to media, environments were logically associated to displays (screens and speakers). Each environment represents a set of displays of various types, in which the agents' interactions occur. When interacting, an agent can play its media on the displays included in its current environment that correspond to the type of its media (i.e. screens for an image, speakers for a sound).

An interaction between two or more agents can only occur within an environment if all these agents are situated in this environment. We limit the interactions to take place inside environments because of the conceptual idea of proximity: situated agents can only interact when they perceive each other, meaning here that they are located in the same environment. Interactions may change the agents' memory, make them move, stop or resume some action. Interactions also trigger outputs, which take the form of user-defined strings, for the system to command the media application. We define an interaction pattern as a model of interactions that consists of triggering conditions and effects of the interaction. Each interaction is then an instantiation of an interaction pattern. Finally, the system's organization is defined by two elements: the agents' repartition in the environments and the interaction patterns that are defined and ap-plied. The important point is that organization is the only element that the userseither the artists or the public through interactioncan modify in the system. To do this, users must then be able to move agents from one environment to another, to activate or to deactivate them, and also to control which interaction patterns each agent will use. This control is applicable both for the initial situation, and then in real-time, in order to provide a sort of control script to the system or to modify the system's evolution through interaction with the public.

AGR interpretation

Another helpful approach for the system's design is the Agent-Group-Role paradigm [START_REF] Ferber | From Agents to Organizations: an Organizational View of Multi-Agent Systems[END_REF], as it is a good complimentary approach to the VOWELS methodology.

Following this method, we describe the system's organization along three dimensions: agents that compose the system; groups, which are sets of interacting agents; roles, which are functions' templates agents can adopt in the system. Firstly, agents are defined as media elements representatives. Since agents can only interact inside environments, we can associate the notion of groups to sets of agents that are in the same environment. Then, defining roles consists in linking agents to functions in the system, which should be semantically understandable for the artists. For more simplicity, we assume that agents have fixed roles at their creation and cannot change their roles during their existence. If we need a media to be linked successively to two or more incompatible roles, we create two agents for the same media and link each one with a different role. Hence, role definition can be done by associating a set of tagssimple user-defined strings such as "slideshow image", "brief sound", "blue image", etc.with each agent. These tags are then used in interaction patterns' formulation.

Software development: problems and solutions

Since the multi-agent system was to be part of a multimedia creation platform, Max/MSP/Jitter, there were many technical constraints. Firstly, the software had to be linked to an external API written in C, hence it had to be developed in C/C++ and then compiled as a dynamic library. Secondly, the software had to be usable on both Windows and Mac OS systems, because the software environment used by the artist was undefined at the time of development, and Max/MSP/Jitter exists on both operating systems. For that reason, the software had to be linked only with libraries that were available for both operating systems. Thirdly, only a few of all the possible agents would act at the same time, so we wanted to base their code on semaphores and monitors to minimize the computational load of the system; hence, we chose asynchronous agents.

Another problem has been the management of asynchronous inputscommands given to the multi-agent systemand outputsinstructions passed from the system to Max/MSP/Jitter platform. Semaphores and monitors were sufficient to manage the distribution of inputs to appropriate agents or environments. Nevertheless, to give the system coherent ordersnot passing a command to the platform and a contradictory one a split second laterwe had to synchronize agents at two levels: environments and system. In each environment, agents must wait for every active one to propose an interaction before one is selected by highest priority. At the system level, commands to pass to the platform are added to a queue and sent out with a minimum delay in order not to saturate the platform capacity. This prevents the system from undertaking useless interactions (that occur but cannot produce a media output because the displays are already used by another interaction) and unnecessary computation. It is actually more efficient than a simple filter on the outputs because it requires less computation and because the delay it imposes on agents before they interact (waiting for others to compute their possible interactions) has no impact on the display, as it is only a few milliseconds long.

Another requirement is that the software configuration (entities and interactions' patterns) must be easy to define and to understand even for non-scientist digital artists, as it is the basis for all the exhibition's scripting. Hence, the system is initialized through two XML configuration files: one for agents, resources and environments and one for interactions' patterns. XML has been chosen because it is easily read and written by users. For scripting possibilities, users can move, activate and deactivate agents, and add or remove interactions' patterns to each agent in real-time, as defined earlier in the organizational description of the system.

Displays

Script they take the needed resources for a given time, send commands to Max/MSP/Jitter platform and apply effects that are internal to the multi-agent system; then they release resources and resume checking for other applicable rules. A rule could be described by a sentence such as "WHEN (memory state "active" = "yes") and (a partner with tag "image" is present) THEN (set memory state "active" to "no") and (play sound for 5ms) and (display partner's image for 5ms)".

Rules are defined as a composition of: a set of conditions, a set of required resources, a set of effects to apply to agents in the system and a set of commands to pass to the media platform. Conditions are defined relative to the presence of a type (particular tag, meaning particular role) of agent or the value associated to a particular key in the agent's memory, which can be combined through Boolean operators. Effects (moving, activating, deactivating or changing memory values), and commands (user-defined character strings with wild-cards) can be delayed for a value between zero, meaning immediate, and the interaction's duration.

In order to compensate for the situations when rule-based reasoning could not provide the agents with the way to behave as expected (e.g. if an interaction through two random agents should occur only once in each environment, or only in one environment at a time), we have added the possibility of defining agents that are not linked to media. These agents are just considered as triggers for particular events, and can act as such when given the appropriate behavior rules.

Resulting software and exhibition

For the exhibition, the artists used three kinds of media: photographs of the campus, photographs of visitors to the exhibition, and sounds they had created. The hardware installation was composed of 3 computers, running the multi-agent system and controlling the displays, a buzzer and a keyboard for visitors' interaction, a camera to take photographs of the visitors when they entered the room, a miniprinter, 4 speakers and 6 LCD screens, one of them displaying a view of interactions taking place in the system and the others displaying the media. Due to the number of screens available for media display, the software settings involved 5 environments, each corresponding to a screen and sharing all the speakers. The configuration also involved more than 500 agents, mostly linked to photographs, but with a few sounds and triggers. Only a maximum of 250 agents were activated simultaneously in the artists' script because of artistic needs.

About 30 different rules were defined in this configuration and used during the 4 steps of the script written by the artists. Approximately 30 different tags were used to describe the roles. During the first step, two agents (among about 40) representing groups of images interacted with a trigger to be selected. Then, image agents from the groups they represent interacted in pairs on each screen to be displayed simultaneously by applying some textural transformations on the images. During the second step, triggered by a timer, sounds interacted with images to display quickly the images on a screen while playing the sound, in order to give the feeling of an accelerating explosion of sounds and images. During the third step, also started by a timer, agents representing groups of images interact to trigger slideshows displays on each screen. Then, during the last step, triggered when anyone from the public presses the buzzer, an image agent, from a selection of about 200, interacts with a trigger to display an image. A member of the public has to enter a title for the image before it fades to its mean color, and a slideshow involving all titled images is displayed together with a representation of the set of all titles. Then the displayed single-colored picture and its associated keyword are printed as a summary of the visit (to the artists' point of view) and some rules are applied to the agents to reset some step-specific memory for another cycle.

Evaluation

As a result of the exhibition, we were able to evaluate if the software met its objectives or not. First of all, the system was able to run correctly in real-time on a dual core computer with a configuration of more than 200 agents acting at the same time. Whereas the system has not been tested with more than 500 agents, it seems that, on a reasonably powerful computera 3GHz quad-corethe program runs smoothly; so we can assert that the system is able to be used with enough agents for most artists' needs on a common computer.

Other evaluations resulted from questioning and interviewing the artists and the public (amongst were which other digital artists, able to evaluate more accurately the artistic work). Firstly, as far as we could see, the agent paradigm was to understand because of the association between agents and media, and the tagging system to define roles was also very simple for artists. However, devising the rules, and especially defining priorities and conditions was something theoretically hard to understand, and the loss of control over precise behavior of the system induced by its autonomy was something difficult to accept in the first place by artists. Manipulation of XML was not a major difficulty though, given a few sample files and explanation, even for non-specialist artists.

Additionally, we observed that the public found it difficult to understand the meaning of the interactions and the role of the multi-agent system despite the artists emphasizing the agent paradigm by displaying interactions on a separate screen and by giving the public a small written explanation of the project prior to the visit. Nevertheless, the exhibition generated good feedback from the public as well as the theatre representatives. Amongst the good points that were mentioned was interactivity. People saw themselves as part of the exhibition because it incorporated photographs of them and because they were invited to buzz at some time and enter words on the keyboard. Another mentioned good point was the nonrepetitive displays due to the agents never having exactly the same configuration.

Conclusions and perspectives

For this project, we have constructed a software component based on the multiagent paradigm and integrated it into a media creation and control platform. This system allows artists, given a few explanations on how to construct rules, to easily build and script a dynamic exhibition based on sound and video display. Once constructed, this exhibition can be left on its own to evolve autonomously through time and react interactively to public presence or actions.

From the artists' and public's feedbacks, we can determine that the software component has been useful for artists. We can see that it allows them to create interesting possibilities of interaction and autonomy, which is something that the public would notice and appreciate. However, we can also see that, despite given explanations, the scientific part of the project is hard to understand for the public. A first possible improvement concerns the positioning of agents. Currently there is no definition of a position for agents in the environments. That means that the only location we define for an agent is the actual environment in which it is situated. Adding some coordinates and maybe an environment topology could be a good way to improve the display abilities.

Another way to improve the system, regarding its interactivity, would be to change the way the public is considered. Currently, the public has the same abilities as the artists, i.e. they can add and remove agents and rules. However, they are limited by the interactions means, especially in this exhibition, where they could only interact by triggering portions of scripts that had been designed by the artists (i.e. they did not actually choose the modifications they wanted to apply to the system but only triggered those that have been coded by the artists). A powerful improvement would be to consider the public as one or more agents so they can interact with other agents by triggering rules, as agents interact with each other.

Finally, this work may be extended by integrating it into a larger piece of software concerned with assisting creativity [START_REF] Lösch | Requirements for Supporting Individual Human Creativity in the Design Domain[END_REF]. The use of XML in the system makes this possibility easier, because it allows the software to smoothly interact with any potential creativity assistant (which could just manipulate the XML configuration files). This could allow artists to use intelligent assistants to help them defining their agents, the tags and the rules to obtain the configuration that fit their views the most.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. System schemaAnother major issue was to decide which behavior model should be chosen for the agents. The model has to be both simple to understand and efficient. It also needs to have the best expressive power possible, to allow more flexibility for the artists to choose the agents' behaviors. The agents have thus been given a rule-based reasoning capability[START_REF] Mcdermott | R1: A Rule-Based Configurer of Computer Systems[END_REF]. This allows artists to easily understand the behaviors since the interaction patterns are coded by explicit rules. When agents interact,

Fig. 2 .

 2 Fig. 2.a and 2.b The exhibition setup

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3.a and 3.b Representation of the MAS's interactions and picture of the exhibition

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge for their participation in the project the Grenoble theatre Hexagone, in particular Cécile Gauthier; the "Service Culturel de Grenoble Universités", specifically Bertrand Vignon; the members of Coincoin Production: Julien Castet, Mélanie Cornillac, Emilie Darroux and Maxime Houot; and of course Antoine Lefebvre, the engineering computer science student at ENSIMAG who programmed the multi-agent system.


Uta Lösch
email: uta.loesch@aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de

Julie Dugdale
email: julie.dugdale@imag.fr

Yves Demazeau
email: yves.demazeau@imag.fr

Requirements for Supporting Individual Human Creativity in the Design Domain

Creativity is an important activity in many professional and leisure domains. This article presents a first step towards a system which will provide a set of tools for enhancing the individual creative abilities of the user in a design task. We have identified aspects which are characterise individual creativity: motivation, domain knowledge, externalization, inspiration and analogies, and requirements handling. Based on these aspects we have defined requirements and suggest associated system functionalities.

Introduction

In both our personal and professional lives creativity plays an important role. Some domains, such as art, are more closely associated with creativity than others. Nevertheless, finding creative solutions to problems is a common activity in many work situations. One domain that requires a creative approach is design, for example the design of physical objects, such as mobile devices, or less tangible objects such as web sites.

Previous work on using computers for supporting creativity has largely focused on either supporting group creativity ( [START_REF] Farooq | Supporting creativity in distributed scientific communities[END_REF], [START_REF] Hermann | Design Issues for Supporting Collaborative Creativity[END_REF], [START_REF] Pinho | Similarity-based agents for design[END_REF]) or has attempted to build systems that are inherently creative themselves ( [START_REF] Lirong | A multi-agent system supporting creativity in conceptual design[END_REF], [START_REF] Oliveira | Tra-la-lyrics: An Approach to Generate Text Based On Rhythm[END_REF], [START_REF] Strapparava | Automatizing two creative functions for advertising[END_REF]). Unfortunately, there has been little work on supporting an individual's creativity for professional tasks. Misue and Tanaka [START_REF] Misue | A Handwriting Tool to Support Creative Activities[END_REF] focus on the early stage of the creative process and have developed a pen and paper device that allows users to express their ideas and reconfigure sketches and concepts. Kules [START_REF] Kules | Supporting Creativity with Search Tools[END_REF] examines how search engines can be used to support creativity. Pachet [START_REF] Pachet | Enhancing Individual Creativity with Interactive Musical Reflective Systems[END_REF] proposes Interactive Musical Reflective Systems to support creativity. In these systems users explore their own musical style by teaching it to the system.

Despite these attempts tools for supporting individual creativity in the task of design are rare. The ultimate goal of our work is to develop a system to support individual human creativity. In this paper we define requirements for such a system. Section 2 describes the core aspects that characterise individual creativity. Section 3 addresses the specific task of design. Section 4 discusses the desired functionalities of a support tool. Section 5 concludes with a discussion.

Creativity is an abstract notion that is hard to define. In this section we describe aspects that have been identified as being necessary preconditions for creativity.

Motivation

Motivation is a crucial aspect of creativity. It describes both the intrinsic and extrinsic reasons that lead to the engagement of the individual in a task. Intrinsic motivation occurs when an individual engages in an activity without an obvious external incentive, whereas extrinsic motivation is linked to some external incentive, such as money. Intrinsic motivation, in particular, has been shown to encourage creativity. It leads to curiosity and the readiness to take risks in deriving the solution [START_REF] Hewett | Creativity Support Tool Evaluation Methods and Metrics[END_REF]. Both of these factors increase the probability of creative results.

Intrinsic motivation is a precursor to the "flow experience" which is a mental state where a person is fully immersed in an activity and has a feeling of success in the process of that activity [START_REF] Csikszentmihalyi | Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention[END_REF]. The flow experience is essential to the creative process and is characterised by four points: at each moment the goal of the individual engaged in the activity is clear; each action results in an immediate reaction; the difficulty of the task and the skills of the individual are balanced; focus on the task excluding all external distractions.

Domain knowledge

Knowledge of the domain is needed during the three main phases of the creative process: the preparation phase, the idea generation phase, and the validation phase. An understanding of the problem is constructed during the preparation phase where a sound knowledge of the domain and associated skills are crucial to creativity ( [START_REF] Bonnardel | Créativité et conception[END_REF], [START_REF] Warr | Understanding Design as a Social Creative Process[END_REF]). The idea generation phase is characterised by the occurrence of insights. An insight is the recognition of a new relationship or re-organization of knowledge and leads to new ideas regarding the problem solution. The occurrence of insights is impossible without domain knowledge [START_REF] Hewett | Creativity Support Tool Evaluation Methods and Metrics[END_REF]. The validation phase concerns judging the appropriateness of the creative solution in terms of its novelty and adaptability to a situation. This requires knowledge of what already exists in the domain and the intended environment [START_REF] Bonnardel | Créativité et conception[END_REF].

Externalisation

Externalisation is the expression of thoughts or ideas in a form outside the physical boundary of the mind, e.g., by making notes or sketches. Externalisation is a way to extend the cognitive functions of the brain [START_REF] Hewett | Creativity Support Tool Evaluation Methods and Metrics[END_REF]. It helps to understand the problem and to produce new ideas by constructing or changing the mental representation of the problem. Externalisation also helps to organise and integrate information [START_REF] Misue | A Handwriting Tool to Support Creative Activities[END_REF] and identify missing data. In the preparation phase externalisations are the first step towards a concrete representation of the problem [START_REF] Fischer | Symmetry of Ignorance, Social Creativity, and Meta-Design[END_REF]. In the idea generation phase, possible solutions are externalised in order to produce new insights or to elaborate ideas.

Creativity Support in Design

Design concerns defining the characteristics of an object or procedure so that it is adapted to a set of constraints [START_REF] Bonnardel | Créativité et conception[END_REF]. Gero describes three types of design [START_REF] Gero | Computational Models of Creative Designing Based on Situated Cognition[END_REF]. Routine designs are a small subset of the design solution space and are found by applying "good design practice" to define further constraints. Innovative designs are obtained if some variables in the design have unusual values. Creative designs lie outside the original search space. Boden's notions of p-creativity (psychological creativity) and h-creativity (historical creativity) can be translated into this model [START_REF] Boden | The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms[END_REF]. A result involves p-creativity if it is novel to the person who created the object, whereas hcreativity results in something that is novel to society. A p-creative design lies outside of one particular designer's design space whereas a h-creative design lies outside of all designers' design spaces. Finally, s-creativity (situated creativity) occurs when the result of a creative process contains unexpected ideas and the design lies outside of the initial design space of the problem [START_REF] Gero | Computational Models of Creative Designing Based on Situated Cognition[END_REF].

Inspiration and Analogies

Obtaining inspiration and making analogies are valuables processes in creative design [START_REF] Bonnardel | Créativité et conception[END_REF]. Sources of inspiration give us a better understanding of the problem and can introduce additional problem constraints. Presenting sources of inspiration appears to stimulate the search for analogies. Designers who have been confronted with possible analogies during the preparation phase tend to evoke more and a greater variety of sources than designers who have not been faced with possible sources of inspiration.

Requirements Handling

Requirements define the properties that a design solution must possess. Defining additional requirements reduces the space of possible design solutions and makes the solution more precise.

There are four kinds of requirements in the design domain [START_REF] Bonnardel | Créativité et conception[END_REF]. Explicit requirements are directly derived from the problem description and are expressed in the specification. Constructed requirements are the expression of domain knowledge. Deduced requirements are obtained by analysing current requirements in order to deduce new ones. Induced requirements are those which are introduced by the designer from his or her understanding of the problem. The difference between constructed and induced requirements is that the former are not directly related to the specification but are the expression of the designer's knowledge, whereas induced requirements have their origin in the designer's interpretation of the specification. Some requirements are more important than others. Explicit requirements must be satisfied for each potential solution whereas preference requirements, such as colour may be less important.

Requirements for Creativity Support

This section suggests some functionality for a creativity support system based on the above factors.

Functionalities to support motivation

A system may motivate the users by addressing the four points concerning flow experience (section 2): The definition of goals and the users' awareness of them can be supported by structuring projects and defining sub-tasks. A basic way of providing immediate reactions to the users' actions is by using a WYSIWYG interface. However, more elaborate system reactions, such as having the system check if the user's input is coherent with previously defined design constraints, could be envisaged. To achieve a balance between the difficulty of the creative task and the skills of the user, users should be supported according to their level of expertise. To help users focus on their task, users should not have to deal with unrelated side activities and they should not be distracted. The system may support the first aspect by taking over routine tasks from the user, e.g. by providing templates of common designs. The second aspect is more difficult to support and could involve blocking the use of certain programs like e-mail. However, this is problematic since they may be used productively to support the design work.

Incentives or rewards provide a strong motivation for users. Different types of rewards already exist in certain systems, e.g. computer games. However, the same types of reward are not appropriate for professional systems. The issue of providing a suitable kind of reward remains an open question for us. Finally, the system should be able to detect, resolve or prevent breakdowns when the user is stuck on a problem. This concerns the problems the user has with the creative aspect, rather than the use of the system. For example, a system could suggest appropriate design patterns to help the user overcome a breakdown.

Functionalities for providing domain knowledge

Domain knowledge is used in the three main phases of the creative process. In the problem understanding phase implicit requirements and constraints that are not included in the specification must be identified. These implicit requirements often concern design principles, such as accessibility. A creativity support tool should offer possibilities of finding information concerning the specific design domain, e.g. providing a domain manual or links to interesting sources.

The idea generation phase deals with the actual design. Here, design rules that exist in the domain have to be applied. Design rules are known solutions to frequently occurring problems. The support system should be able to detect situations where the application of design rules is possible and desirable.

In the evaluation phase the applicability of the solution is judged. This is judged in terms of the requirements that have been specified. A support tool could check whether the design conforms to the pre-specified requirements.

Another issue concerns the presentation of domain knowledge. Other modes besides text, such as images, animation or sound should be considered.

Functionalities to support externalizations

Two aspects that are important to externalizations are the expression of ideas anywhere and anytime and interaction protocols (i.e. the way users interact with the support tool).

Since ideas can occur unexpectedly a ubiquitious note-taking functionality is very useful. A related problem is how users later find their notes.

How the user interacts with the system will greatly influence the solutions created. The user should be able: to manipulate the design object as directly as possible; to interpret the representation created in the system in different ways (these reinterpretations will help the user to be creative); to be able to annotate the design [START_REF] Yamamoto | Interaction Design of Tools for Fostering Creativity in the Early Stages of Information Design[END_REF].

The support system should record a history of events. This addresses the idea that design solutions are progressively developed. A designer may investigate different design solutions in parallel, or return to a previous partial solution and continue work.

Functionalities related to providing inspiration and analogies

Humans find it difficult to make analogies (i.e. transfer the properties from a source to a current solution) if the source of inspiration and the object to which the property is transferred have no common properties. A creativity support tool should allow users to access a set of solutions from the same and other domains in order to provide possible sources of inspiration and realize analogies. These solutions could be organized as a dynamic graphical library which may be searched based on an ontological description of their most relevant properties. The tool should also be able to identify interesting sources of inspiration based on the currently defined requirements and the current state of the solution.

Functionalities related to requirements handling

A design specification is used to derive an initial set of requirements. The creativity support tool could help in translating a specification to a set of requirements and with modifying the requirements during the design process. The support tool could also check whether the requirements are fulfilled by the proposed solution, detect any incoherencies in the set of requirements and make suggestions concerning their solution. Requirements may be interlinked, i.e. the modification of one requirement leads to the modification of other requirements. The system could be able to detect these links and to take them into account when searching for solutions to incoherencies. Since some requirements are more important than others the tool could label potential design solutions by their severity in breaking certain requirements.

Conclusions and future work

This article has discussed issues related to creativity and requirements for a tool to support individual human creativity in the domain of design. We currently develop a multi-agent system architecture that realizes the identified requirements. In the future, we will explore how the system may be personalized for different users.