New York City MTA installed protective barriers in April, 2020.

Towards a Cultural History of Plexiglass

Shannon Mattern

Plexiglass table tents and plastic dividers aim to keep us safe amidst a viral pandemic. These measures seek to maintain social and biological order. They promise epidemiological and economic resilience. Yet they are little more than security theater.

Plexiglass dividers aim to keep us safe amidst a viral pandemic. But there is no perfect seal.

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Columnists

  • Keith Eggener
  • Sandy Isenstadt
  • Despina Stratigakos

Keith Eggener

Keith Eggener is a columnist for Places. He is Marion Dean Ross Professor of Architectural History at the University of Oregon.

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Gabrielle Esperdy

Gabrielle Esperdy is a columnist for Places. She is associate professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

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Sandy Isenstadt

Sandy Isenstadt is a professor of architectural history at the University of Delaware, and a columnist for Places.

Recent Articles

Despina Stratigakos

Despina Stratigakos is a columnist for Places and Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence and Professor of Architecture at the University at Buffalo.

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Series

Poems as Maps Series

Poems as Maps

Curated by Taiyon J. Coleman

Lines that trace and transgress boundaries of identity and experience.

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