MS Urban Design Program Introduction
We began the 2019-2020 MS program year musing on the dense block as a figure of the Anthropocene, the geological period marking the undeniable impacts of human activity on the planet; we concluded the program with urban hybrids and entirely new learning conditions that, on some level, usher in the “post-Anthropocene.” What does it mean to be post-Anthropocene? The term “post” may be lazy, realistic or optimistic. We might suggest that “post” yokes us to our prior condition: we cannot just dive into new terminology and ignore it. “Post-Anthropocene” then means we wrestle with our anthropocentric exploitation of the planet; that we examine and acknowledge the inextricable relationship between racism and environmental degradation; and that we look at the manner in which social inequity is inscribed in the built environment, in particular regarding access to urban transportation systems.
