The MacGuffin

Many film thrillers employ the Hitchcock device of a MacGuffin. That’s to say some plot element which provides an excuse for the narrative to take place and propels the action forward. Think of ‘The Maltese Falcon’ or ‘North by Northwest’.

The important thing about a MacGuffin is that it doesn’t necessarily need to be that important – or even real. What it does is provide a context for exploring more important things like values and relationships.

Sometimes design plays the same role – it creates a safe place to challenge issues, an excuse to challenge deeply held precepts. Indeed, the most significant impact of design can be its role as a plot device to explore and realise new narratives. The best outcome is not always a building.

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The General Theory

Discussions on how to plan for the future often reveal a hunger for theories and models which can provide us with all the answers. There seems to be an overwhelming need to wrap up observations, experiences, and anecdotes into neat packages of elegant thought.

John Maynard Keynes wrote ‘The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money’ in 1935, and a lifetime later it remains an important and influential work. Keynes had a profound impact on the way in which governments approach economic problems. Even those who disagree with him find that his work defines the framework for their dissent.

However, even Keynes embraced doubt. In his preface he wrote:

‘The writer of a book such as this, treading along unfamiliar paths, is extremely dependent on criticism and conversation if he is to avoid an undue proportion of mistakes. It is astonishing what foolish things one can temporarily believe . . ‘

Such doubt and conversations deserve to underpin all of our work.

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Ash

When risk management fails us we tend to resort to ‘acts of God’ as a get out clause. When we are grounded by events we could not have dreamed of, we inevitably become fatalistic about consequences.

Where we choose to focus our investment in buildings is also a reflection of our perceptions of risk. Implicitly or otherwise we balance unlikely consequences against likely disruption. We also need to balance outcomes against opportunity cost – what else could we have spend this money on and would it have produced a better, safer solution for more people.

This is easier said than done in the regulatory and litigious environment in which we all have to make difficult decisions. Protecting lives from danger is not an alternative to changing lives for the better – but it sometimes seems that way.

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