Some time has lapsed since the creation of material_semiotic and any form of significant update to the blog has been absent. As Fall courses have now started the semester’s projects have become clear and you will begin to notice updates under the “projects” page.
“What would a 21st century utopia look like?”
Addressing this rather difficult prompt from one of my current professors will be a preoccupation of mine for the entirety of this semester. This stems from a course fixated on studying the “garden cities” of yesterday, suburbia, new urbanism and the role of utopia in informing urban design.
Alongside a historical case study I am in the conceptual planning phases for what a 21st century utopia may look like. For the moment my preoccupation remains on establishing certain ideals that may manifest themselves with utopian urbanism while also exploring the issues these ideals must accommodate. These will be further explored in posts specifically addressing these ideals and issues.
Currently I am researching Jackson Heights, Queens, and this will be the first significant post in “projects.” Some may be unconcerned with notions of utopian communities but their persistence in the social fantasy and physical realization throughout the globe prove to be of interest for reasons I hope to elaborate. Jackson Heights is dubbed by some as the “first garden city” in America.
-Following the historical case study of Jackson Heights will be a contemporary case study acting to establish possible ideals for Utopia.
-The course will terminate with my own production of an urban design meant to address the issue of utopia in the 21st century. While I largely remain undecided on what this will come to look like, my goal is to record the development of this design through my research presented on material_semiotic.
