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Speculative Archaeology
Places Journal
Faux-ethnographic dioramas, modern interiors reimagined as psychedelic ruin-worlds, invented histories of proto-architecture: archaeology, as model or metaphor, has been surfacing a lot in art practice and design theory.
Hippie Modernism
Places Journal
In the late 1960s, Bay Area design activists sought to blend the aspirations of progressive architecture with new environmental imperatives — a goal that’s more relevant than ever.
Levees That Might Have Been
Places Journal
A history of forgotten inventions that would have produced a very different landscape along American rivers.
Zone: The Spatial Softwares of Extrastatecraft
Places Journal
The phenomenal rise of the free zone, an opportunistic urban hybrid that has powered the rise of glittering world cities like Singapore and Dubai.
History of the Urban Dashboard
Places Journal
Futuristic control rooms with endless screens of blinking data are proliferating in cities across the globe. Welcome to the age of Dashboard Governance.
You (Still) Have to Pay for the Public Life
Places Journal
Half a century ago Charles Moore was a rising architect and Ivy League academic. He was also the first in the field to look seriously at Disneyland — and he liked what he saw.