Infrastructure and the Climate Imaginary

This class will investigate sites of presumed
stability located between landscape and
architecture, looking to infrastructure to
activate a number of questions related to climate
change. How is the built environment shaped by
water, power, waste disposal, communication and
transportation systems? What social networks are
given form through infrastructure and land use?
How have artists employed infrastructure to make
visible hidden relationships and power dynamics?
We will investigate the complex technological
systems that deliver basic services as a way to
think about public space and to reflect creatively
on the structures that shape our daily lives.
Structured as a seminar, with readings and
in-class discussion, the class will also involve
field trips to a variety of locations in Santa
Clarita associated with infrastructure. In
addition, we will consider our broader
relationship to "place" and how it functions in
the construction of social and political
identities in relation to the climate crisis.