Architecture and the American Landscape

Assistant Professor Meredith Gaglio School of Architecture

This course examines the interrelationship of architecture, planning, and the ever-changing American landscape. It looks at the ways in which architecture may respond to the political, social, and philosophical implications of diverse ecological perspectives and uncovers the part architecture plays in environmental preservation and degradation. The discussion-based seminar takes as its starting point colonial settlements and Native American land use patterns in the Eastern United States and concludes with issues of environmental justice that still affect Americans today, paying particular attention to fluctuating conceptions of wildness and nature over time and to the wider socio-cultural implications of these attitudes.