All Courses
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UP 539 001 FA 2016
UP539: Methods of Econ Dev Planning. NOTE: I will primarily use Canvas to store online class readings. The actual course syllabus is on my web site: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sdcamp/up539/
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ARCH 509 003 FA 2016
This course examines the history, theory and mechanisms through which architects, designers, planners and other socially-conscious activists put their professional skills in service to an idea of social change. The resurgence in socially-conscious design is due in large part to groups of students and practitioners who are inspired by the widening gap between the haves and have nots; some in the field have leaped back into the arena of problem-solvers with great enthusiasm. Empowering people to take direct control over their environmental development, the resulting work has been both impressive and promising. Labeled as “social entrepreneurs” by some “design activists” by others, this loose group of designers has mashed the issues of accessibility, affordability, mobility, sustainability and aesthetics into a small, but exciting field of design activism. The projects of these broad-minded, multi-talented designers are impacting and improving lives, preserving local cultures and providing hope for the future in this country and all over the world. Their efforts bring balance to the perception that architecture is only concerned with the object by drawing attention to the kind of design that has the inherent ability to transform and in some cases, actually save lives. Without insisting on a determinist point of view that attributes to design the power to transform society, the course examines a series of interventions, strategies, theories, and works that impact people in perhaps modest ways that hold the potential for significant social change over the long haul with an eye towards both advocacy planning and design activism. To establish a groundwork for discussion, the course introduces theories of social change that inform much of this work. In weekly readings that address both design and the urban environment, the class will be invited to reflect on how the articulation of space shapes and reflects political and social subjectivities.