Architecture Domination And Autonomy

In this peripatetic course, we will take a critical look at the built environment to discover to what extent people are prevented by it from really living, and where the promise for autonomous and cooperative life may be most richly found. We will look into the presuppositions about power, command, obedience, authority, oppression, and domination that are inherent in architectural practices and in the resulting built environment. We will begin to develop a catalog of alternatives to conventional processes and forms. We will also interrogate some historical anarchist and utopian conceptions of the city.

Course readings include selections from the works of Chris Alexander, the teacher's own research into communal architectures (New Urbanism, Co-housing, Community Land Trusts), Paul Goodman, Lewis Mumford, Randolph Hester, and others as time allows and interest dictates.

Proposed by Eric Buck

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