Image: “Repairing the levee at New Orleans at the expense of the of the United States Government, sketched by an occasional correspondent.” Source: http://www.sonofthesouth.net/
Known Unknowns: Architecture’s Ecological Consciousness Spring 2012 Architecture A6160 Time: Thursday, 4:00pm‐6:00pm, Location: 200 Buell Hall Instructor: Janette Kim,
[email protected] Kim,
[email protected]
[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is that is to say we know there know there are some things we do not know. not know. But there But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know don't know we we don't know. don't know. —Former United States Secretary of Defense of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, at a February 12, 2002 press briefing regarding weapons of destruction of destruction in Iraq.
This seminar will investigate architecture’s agency in the political ecology of climate of climate change. The potential hazards of a of a warming planet—parched fields, swelling oceans, and dwindling species counts, among others—confirm that contemporary life is bound in a risk society. Ecology has shown that organisms and environments are linked through an economy of resources. of resources. In turn, risk expands this study to an atmospheric scale: the wide‐spread collateral damages of modern of modern marvels define new, greater collectives of shared of shared interest. For architecture and urbanism, impending hazards call for risk management strategies: the design of tropical of tropical tourist destinations, aging power grids, and carbon‐free cities can mitigate climate disasters while generating new ones. In this course, we will ask how architecture’s response to climate risk imagines new collectives. We will begin by reading major texts outlining theories of risk of risk and their registration in contemporary insurance markets and land use practices. We will then examine a series of ecological of ecological models that have emerged in architecture and urbanism over the past century, and evaluate their recycled role in contemporary practice. From ‘Urban Ecology’ to ‘Spaceship Earth,’ we will inquire about the ethical assertions of each of each model to test their political implications against risk theories. We will study projects to identify architectural design strategies and analytic techniques associated with each model, and to evaluate their implications for contemporary risk management. Students will author ‘An Atlas of Climate of Climate Risk’, a book to be created by the seminar as a collective project. Each entry is to combine text, documentation, and diagrams in a way that best communicates the risks, rewards, collective interests, architectural strategies, and techniques of analysis. of analysis. Students are encouraged to experiment with the format and methods in their work.
Part One: Introduction to Risk and Climate Change In Part One we will examine theories of risk of risk society to ask how they frame the political implications of climate change.
Seminars in Part One will involve reading discussions and one pin‐up for the Atlas project (a preview of Part Three). Each week, students are expected to submit for each required article one manifesto statement summarizing the author’s argument from his or her perspective, and one counter‐manifesto statement summarizing any opposing perspective. All written responses are to be submitted via email by 1pm each Thursday. Note: Required readings are listed in black, additional reading references in gray. All required readings are available via courseworks or eBooks, and whenever possible readings will be shelved on Avery Library Hold Shelf #349. Shelf #349. 1: January 19 Seminar Introduction 2: January 26 Political Ecology Readings: Giddens, Anthony, The Politics of Climate of Climate Change (Cambridge ; Malden, MA : Polity, 2009). (1‐ 34, 49‐72, 162‐181). [courseworks] Shellenberger, Michael and Nordhaus, Ted, Break Break Through: Through: From the Death of of Environmentalism Environmentalism to the Politics of of Possibility Possibility (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2007). 3: February 2 Risk Society Readings: Beck, Ulrich, Risk Society: Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, New Modernity, (London ; Newbury Park, Calif. : Sage Publications, 1992) (20‐84). [CLIO eBook] Latour, Bruno, Politics of of Nature: Nature: How How to to Bring the Sciences into Democracy (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2004). [e‐book] Luke, Timothy, Capitalism, Democracy, and and Ecology: Ecology: Departing Departing from from Marx (Urbana : University of Illinois of Illinois Press, c1999). 4: February 9 Tracking Risk Readings: Greeley, Brendan, “The God Clause and the Reinsurance Industry” Bloomberg Businessweek , (Sep 21, 2011) (1‐9) [courseworks] Davis, Mike, Ecology of Ecology of Fear: Fear: Los Angeles Los Angeles and the and the Imagination of Disaster of Disaster (New York : Vintage Books, 1999) (95‐147) [courseworks] Sloterdijk, Peter, ““Foam City,” Log 9 (Winter–Spring 2007): 63–76. [courseworks] Sloterdijk, Peter, “Cell Block, Egospheres, Self ‐Container,” Log 10 (Summer–Fall 2007): 89–108. Sloterdijk, Peter “Foams.” Harvard Design Magazine 29 (Fall–Winter 2008–9): 38–52. Levy, Jonathan, “The Ways of of Providence: Providence: Capitalism, Risk and Freedom in America” (ProQuest, 2008) [courseworks] Ackerman, Frank and Heinzerling, Lisa, Priceless: On Knowing the Price of of Everything Everything and and the the Value of of Nothing Nothing (New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2004) (61‐90) [courseworks] Revesz, Richard and Livermore, Michael, Retaking Rationality: How How Cost Cost ‐Benefit Analysis Analysis Can Better Protect Better Protect the the Environment Environment and and Our Our Health Health (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008).
“Risk” Panel discussion, The Underdome Sessions. [courseworks]
Research Project Draft Presentation (v1) Identify one or more potential hazard that could be created by climate change. Design a graphic method to communicate to a public audience: (1) what this hazard is, (2) its likelihood to occur, and (3) the potential magnitude of of its its impact. Present this information using data, diagrams, images, text, and any other graphic tools of of communication communication on a 24”x24” poster. Examples include: tides, floods, rainfall, hurricanes, temperatures, cooling loads, pollen counts, air quality, species change, biodiversity, water quality, fuel source, national security, profit loss, insurance rates, water quality, food supply, population migration, real estate values, human health, et. al. Regarding graphic communication, consider: How can this information be conveyed in a way that can best speak to the public? Regarding risk, consider: How do we perceive risk and abstract quantities? What are the contexts, or conditions of of this this risk? How, if if at at all, is this risk related to other ones? Under what circumstances might these hazards occur? Regarding data analysis, consider: How certain is this data, and where is it coming from? How do quantitative and qualitative data relate? Reference text: Intercontinental Intercontinental Panel Panel on on Climate Change. Part Two: Models in Architecture’s Ecological Consciousness In Part Two we will study ecological models that have emerged in architecture and urbanism over the past century. Our goal is to examine the ethical and moral attitudes of each of each approach towards nature, ecology and publics; and ultimately, to think critically about their implications for climate risk management.
Each seminar session will involve a lecture on a project and reading discussions. We will ask how each model conceives of nature, of nature, collective interest, and ethical responsibility; and examine the techniques of design (e.g. curtain walls, land stabilization techniques, land use law, ecological engineering) and representation (e.g. demographics, heat mapping, photography) employed. Each week, students are expected to submit manifesto statements as detailed in Part One above. Each student is also responsible to make a 10‐15 minute presentation on a contemporary example(s) from architecture and urbanism that revisits and/or transforms the ecological model in some way. 5: February 16: Preservation Project: The National Park Service Readings: Worster, Donald, Nature's Economy (New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1994) (339‐420). [courseworks] Cronon, William. “The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature,” in Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1995), (69‐90). Oelschlaeger, Max. The Idea of of Wilderness: Wilderness: From Prehistory Prehistory to to the the Age Age of of Ecology Ecology (New Haven : Yale University Press, c1991) Carr, Ethan, Wilderness by by Design: Design: Landscape Landscape Architecture Architecture and and the the National National Park Park Service Service (Lincoln, Neb. : University of of Nebraska Nebraska Press, 1998) 6: February 23: Urban Ecology Project: The City (Burgess) City (Burgess) Readings:
Burgess, Ernest W. “The Growth of the of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project” in Urban Ecology: An Ecology: An International Perspective International Perspective on the Interaction Between Humans and Nature and Nature, Marzluff, John ed (SpringerLink ebooks ‐ Earth and Environmental Science. 2008). (71‐78) [CLIO eBook] Ross, Andrew. Chicago Gangster Theory Gangster Theory of of Life Life (London ; New York : Verso, 1994) (99‐158) [courseworks] Mumford, Lewis, “Cities and the Crisis of of Civilization,” Civilization,” The Sustainable Urban Development Reader (Routledge Urban Reader Series) (15‐19). The City , by Robert E. Park, Ernest W. Burgess, Roderick D. McKenzie; with a bibliography by Louis Wirth. (Chicago, Ill., The University of of Chicago Chicago press, c1925)
7: March 1: Civic Utility Project: New York City water system Readings: Gandy, Matthew, “Water, Space and Power,” Concrete and Clay and Clay (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2002) (19‐76) [courseworks] 8: March 8: Well Tempered Environment Project: Environment‐Bubble Readings: Banham, Reyner. “The Well‐Tempered Home,” “Concealed Power,” “A Breath of Intelligence,” of Intelligence,” The Architecture The Architecture of the of the Well ‐Tempered Environment Tempered Environment (93 (93‐121, 195‐233, 290‐312) [courseworks] Osman, Michael, “Banham’s Historical Ecology,” Neo‐Avant‐Garde and Postmodern: Postwar Architecture in Britain and Beyond, ed. Mark Crinson and Claire Zimmerman, (231‐251). [courseworks] 8.5 March 15 Spring Break 9: March 22: Research Project Draft Presentation (v2) Look at examples of of research research projects/ Atlas projects: bring in draft format of of our our atlas. Reference texts: An Atlas An Atlas of of Radical Radical Cartography, Cartography, Ed. Lize Mogel Mogel and and Alexis Alexis Bhagat hompson, Nato, et. al., Experimental T hompson, Experimental Geography: Geography: Radical Approaches Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and and Urbanism Urbanism 10: March 29: Spaceship Earth Project: Biosphere 2 Readings: Massey, Jonathan, “The Sumptuary Ecology of Buckminster of Buckminster Fuller’s Designs,” A Keener Perception : Ecocritical studies Ecocritical studies in American in American Art Art History History / ed Alan C. Braddock and Christoph Irmscher (Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama of Alabama Press, c2009) (189‐212). [courseworks] Lovins, Amory, “The Road Not Taken,” Foreign Affairs (October 1976). (6‐15) [courseworks] Anker, Peder, “The Ecological Colonization of Space,” of Space,” Environmental History Environmental History (April (April 2005) 2005) (239‐ 268). [courseworks] Scott, Felicity, “Revolutionaries or or Dropouts,” Dropouts,” and and “Acid “Acid Visions” Visions” Architecture Architecture or or Techno Techno ‐Utopia: Politics After Politics After Modernism Modernism (151‐184, 185‐208) Hawken, Paul, “Natural “Natural Capitalism,” Capitalism,” The The Sustainable Urban Development Development Reader Reader (Routledge Urban Reader Series) (162‐170).
Sorry, Out Out of of Gas: Gas: Architecture's Architecture's Response to the 1973 Oil Oil Crisis Crisis, Edited by Giovanna Borasi and Mirko Zardini.
11: April 5: Landscape Urbanism Project: Fresh Kills Park Readings: Botkin, Discordant Harmonies: Discordant Harmonies: A A New Ecology New Ecology for the for the Twenty ‐First Century First Century , (New York : Oxford University Press, 1990) (15‐49, 193‐201) [courseworks] Corner, James, “Terra Fluxus,” Landscape Urbanism Reader, Ed. Charles Waldheim. (New York : Princeton Architectural Press, c2006 ) (22‐33) [eBooks] Ian McHarg, Design with Nature McKee, Yates, “Haunted Housing: Eco‐Vanguardism and Eviction in New Orleans,” The Question of of New New Orleans Orleans, Ed. Spatial Information Design Lab. May, John, “Bringing Back a Fresh Kill;Notes on a Dream of of Territorial Territorial Resuscitation,” Verb: Crisis. Irene Hwang and Mario Ballesteros, eds. (Barcelona: Actar, 2008). 12: April 12: The Neo‐Liberal City Project: TBD Readings: Florida, Richard, “Cities and the and the Creative Class,” City Class,” City & & Community (2:1 Community (2:1 March 2003) (1‐17) Calthorpe, Peter, “The Next American Metropolis,” The Sustainable Urban Development Reader Development Reader (Routledge Urban Reader Series) (73‐80). [courseworks] Judt, Tony, “What is Living and What is Dead About Social Democracy?” New York New York Review Review of of Books, (December 17, 2009)(1‐16). [courseworks] Dunham‐Jones, Ellen and Williamson, June, Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions Solutions for for Redesigning Suburbs. (Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, c2009). Sclar, Elliot , You Don't Always Always Get Get What What You You Pay Pay For, For, (Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 2000). Part Three: Atlas of of Climate Climate Risk The seminar will collectively develop an Atlas of of Climate Climate Risk. Each student is to contribute one entry to the Atlas, documenting and interpreting the socio‐political implications of of architecture’s architecture’s response to climate risk in a particular project. Each entry is to focus on a site, infrastructure, landscape, building, building typology, or building technology. To build upon the research techniques regarding risk analysis and mitigation explored in Part Two, each student is asked to devise or adopt a system of of notation notation in their research that can best tease out the issues behind their project. We will explore these projects throughout their development in workshop‐style pin‐ups and design sessions. (see week 4 and 9 above) 13: April 19: Research Project Draft Presentation (v3) 14: April 26: Research Project Draft Presentation (v4) May 4‐11 TBD Deadline Final Project
Method of Evaluation of Evaluation
Expectations are as follows: Class Participation and Reading Responses: (40%) ‐ Attend each class ‐ Play an active role in reading discussions and project critiques during class ‐ Provide a written response to each reading Class Presentation: (10%) ‐ Make one 10‐15 minute presentation on a contemporary project Atlas (Final Project): (50%) ‐ Post research on Pinterest Board (www.pinterest.com) ‐ Present process work to the group for discussion and development. ‐ Create 6 page spread in the Atlas of Climate of Climate Risk
