Department of Urban Planning, Luskin School of Public Affairs
Course Description
This course historicizes typologies and urban fragments from the American built environment to examine the material and immaterial stories behind particular urban forms. The course seeks to unpack the forces behind the making of these different built spaces to better understand how culture, finance, politics, law and design coalesce to create the environment in which we live. As we propose a reading of the built environment as the solidification of culture, politics and design positions into material spaces, this course explores how a range of actors, both humans and things, shape the very territory that in turn reshapes us.
