ARCH 2040 - Module 1: Cities and Public Spaces

modernity

a historical period that begins in the 17th Century AND the totality of specific socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and practices associated with it; includes various cultural phenomena AND the subjective experiences of the conditions they produce; characterized by the rise of individualism, capitalism, globalization, colonization, urbanization, industrialization, and faith in the possibilities of technological progress

modernism

a philosophical AND artistic movement emerging in the second half of the 19th Century from the radical transformation of the Western world; departing from traditions considered obsolete (e.g. Art Nouveau, Abstract, Futurism, Utopian Urban Planning)

public space

an area or space that is open to the public (green spaces, parks) including connecting spaces (sidewalks, streets) that are central to life in cities

metropolis

(Greek for mother city) urban core surrounded by widely spread settlements

land-surveyor

a person whose professional occupation is to measure land and draw plans of estates (e.g. Benjamin Banneker)

urban renewal

redevelopment of areas within a large city, typically involving the clearance of slums, resulting in abusive displacement of the disenfranchised population

gentrification

a process by which an urban area is rendered middle-class through the creation of more expensive housing that makes the neighborhood unaffordable for the displaced population, forcing them into poverty

Fascism

(fascio; Italian for bundle of sticks) symbolizes the strength of the people under their leader; architecture as an essential propaganda tool

colonization

colonia; latin for farm/ settlement especially those of Roman citizens in a newly conquered country; the action of process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area in order to gain profit

orientalism

termed by Palestinian American scholar Edward Said; the patronizing and stereotypical way in which the West conceives of the cultures of the Middle and Far East, North Africa, and Asia, which are seen as inferior compared to the superior West