Blog Post 1 - Waterloo Tech as a Projective City


Mallon brought up great points about the Waterloo Region that mimic the definition of what a “Projective City” is. To define it, it is a term that is derived from a company structure of running by projects. Big firms and companies these days operate through a project-basis work structure. All these projects individual contribute to the overall goals and metrics an organization want to improve on. I can see this in my workplace right now - I am simply part of a project to build something that supports a function of the bank. The core reason why projects are how companies work is because it allows individuals to go beyond work requirements and potentially over deliver. The key thing to also note is the idea that these managing bodies of an organization has confidence in the working ability of it’s employees and the risks that they take in a “projective city” like organization.

In terms of the the Waterloo region being a projective city who’s running a pace of “learning the equivalent of a master’s degree every 10 years to keep pace with changing knowledge demands” (Pedro, 2019). Change in technology in this region is vast. There’s so many things that it is like different clusters of tech is a different cluster of technology blooming as different projects. In a sense - the Waterloo Region Tech Sector and the different tech startups being built are projects in the “company”. Each having an important role to grow through continuous collaboration and innovation together, “the principle in accordance with which acts, things and persons are judged in a given city... is measured by - is activity" (Boltanski & Chapello, pg. 108-109). It is the collective activity of the Waterloo Region Tech Sector and its confidence on the different risks internal projects (the startups) are doing that will help it grow. Without the trait of micro-management, these “projects” are able to make sound decisions on that propels the symbiotic growth of the region.

To make things happen such as to growth the region, one must have the right set of power. Power, in Castell’s typology of network power, is defined as “the relational capacity that enables a social actor to influence asymmetrically the decisions of other social actors” (Castell, pg. 10). The type of power bracket in contemporary information capitalism is network-making power. It is the ability in which to create such valued networks and strategic alliances between different actors through similar connections. To build up from Nicole’s post, it gives people the opportunity to build these network of connections - but, there is still a possibility that they can fall behind due to the rapid advancement of technology. These network-making power enables the growth where it similar to the Darwin theory of evolution (Natural Selection), but in a more collaborative and encouraging sense because each project in the region is indirectly rooting for each other’s growth in the Waterloo Region Tech Sector.

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