METROPOLITAN VISIONS
@metropolitanvisions
The modern metropolis - as an abstract idea and as an actual place - is not only the site of the most radical experiments of modernism but is itself an active subject in the imagination and actions of the avant-gardes. Beginning with an examination of the historical and theoretical formation of the modern metropolis as a twentieth century phenomenon, this interdisciplinary comparative study examines how the intersection of architectural design, planning, technology, media and politics transformed the landscape of the city. Looking backwards from the global networked cities of the twenty-first century to the fin-de-siècle cities of the of nineteenth century that underwent the first onslaught of major metropolitan development such as Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, New York, colonial New Delhi and concessionary Shanghai, the metropolis will be studied through various disciplinary lenses including art, architecture, planning, sociology, history, literature and critical theory, with a focus on film. This course offers a cross-cultural perspective on the development and deployment of architectural and urban visions and how they aligned social relations, how they produce and reproduce the image of the city, their effect on the everyday work of building the cities an how they impact everyday life. The course will investigate the architecture, spaces, islands, cities and worlds - built or un-built - envisioned by individuals or groups as responses to the bombardment of the metropolitan experience.