Architectural Theory of the American City

This course surveys the ways in which architects have theorized the development of the American city since the early 19th century. As seen through the eyes of these architects, the American city is an exemplar, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, of the ways in which architecture and urban form have both responded and contributed to the radically changed technological, environmental, and social circumstances of the past two centuries, up to and including current crises of climate and social inequity. The class will expose students to ways of "reading" architecture, providing them tools to interrogate their physical surroundings, discovering the forces that these architectural and urban environments manifest and shape.