The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space

Part II: Filtering Tactics
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Sandy McCreery
13.5 | Rust in Peace, Claremont Road.
to live a more playful, exploratory, expressive, imaginative, and humorous
social existence.
The activists of Claremont Road described their playful, nonviolent
approach as “fluffy,” and their literature and surroundings were filled with
reminders of the need to “stay fluffy,” no matter how trying circumstances
might become. And tactically it worked. The police, anxious to avoid inflaming
passions further, avoided surprises. The activists almost always received
a tip-off before an eviction (there were also numerous hoaxes), and the
authorities would rely solely on their weight of numbers. These authorities
were deliberate and methodical in their actions, an approach that tended to
exaggerate the cultural contrasts between themselves and the Claremont
Roaders. The two groups became almost self-parodies of their respective
character roles: one uninspired and conformist, the other inventive and independent.
The whole procedure began to resemble an elaborate staged performance,
and one that was particularly long-running and financially
extravagant. In the annals of road protest, Claremont Road was a triumph.
But for anyone with an awareness of 1950s and 1960s experimental
architecture, possibly the most striking thing about Claremont Road
was the extent to which it physically resembled the situationist projects of
Constant and Yona Friedman. 4 The scaffolding towers, rope net planes, and
elevated “benders” particularly recalled Friedman’s “Space City” proposals.
And the antiroad activists’ actions were remarkably consistent with those
advocated by the Situationists and by Henri Lefebvre. Admittedly, many of