Course Details

The city stands as one of the defining symbols of humanity- its built forms reflecting the highest aspirations and advances in society. But its most celebrated artifacts have typically been the towering monuments that serve as emblems of power and control. This seminar seeks to explore the invisible cities, the hidden spaces and edifices that serve as the domain of anonymous urban dwellers, marginalized due to their race, class, ethnicity, gender or culture. Studying written, visual and spoken texts, we seek to recover the lost stories of the silenced voices – the urban nomads and exiles overlooked in built narratives that privilege the authority of collective power.

The class will follow a roughly chronological structure in studying the history of the architecture of the city but will highlight themes of nature, technology and society that weave across time and place. Topics will range from creation myths and native American landscapes to places of work and living, like sweatshops and tenements, and institutional interiors from the cell to the closet. Requirements include discussing, writing and mapping those urban stories that have been concealed and buried, while building an awareness and understanding of the built environment. On the edges and in the interstices, behind and beneath its polished surfaces and public spaces, the invisible city will be mapped as a mosaic of lost spaces of transgression, resistance and non-conformity.