ARC3303HS
Instructor: Erica Allen-Kim
Meeting Section: L0101
Thursdays 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Today there are 272 million migrants, and half of them are forcibly displaced. The accelerating construction of borders, informal settlements, and refugee camps to deny, detain, and control the movement of so many beings are material evidence of ongoing spatial and environmental harm. The history of human settlement, architecture, and landscape has always been a history of migration. 

This seminar will explore the relationship between design and migration through the historical and critical lenses of spatial justice. We will seek to understand how architecture has both aided and resisted attempts to limit fundamental rights to safety, education, autonomy, and dignity of life. Weekly discussion of key theoretical and primary texts on migration, landscape, and design are organized around four themes: Borderland, Journey, Home and Away, and Futures. The course introduces research methods informed by ethnography, archives, political economy, deep mapping, and storytelling. We will examine the work of architects, designers, and planners (many are also migrants) alongside the creative, visionary, and resourceful emplacement work of all who migrate.