he following pages document my responses to the online discussion questions in the Spring 2017 version of ARC 211 American Diversity and Design at the University at Buffalo – State University of New Y ork.

1. 1
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/07/02/thousands-
rally-in-madrid-in-favor-lgtb-pride.html
Joshua Diamond
University of Buffalo – The
State University of New York
ARC 211 – American Diversity
and Design – Spring 2017
Online Discussion Questions

2. 2
Introduction
My name is Joshua Diamond. I’m a transfer student at
University of Buffalo majoring in Environmental Design and
minoring in Sculpture. I transferred to University at Buffalo
from SUNY Community College, after attending the
Columbus College of Art and Design, and The Ohio School of
Phlebotomy. Apart from my interests in the built environment,
I have intense interests in art making, studying in the past
under avant-garde painters such as Denny Griffith, in product
design, existentialism, and sociology.
One of the ways Diversity and Design influenced me
was further exposing me to various issues facing communities
from a design perspective. The breath of resources covered
each week helped give new insight into topics of interest, and
opportunities to discuss them with classmates. I’d have to say
my favorite topics were in Week 2 (Communication Design),
Week 3 (Product Design), Week 4 (Architecture), Week 10
(Class/Economic Status), Week 11 (Age), and Week 13
(Cognitive/Psychological Disability). I enjoyed learning about
the typeface in the documentary Helvetica, about product
design, and exploring different viewpoints on how to design
most appropriately for those in need. Discussions of housing
ideas, initiatives and opinions – whether for those of lower
class systems, old age and/or physical or psychological
disabilities – were among the most exciting for me to
participate in. I also extremely enjoyed the discussions on
gender politics, including those on transgender bathroom
rights and the anti-Trump “Pussy Hat” campaign for the
Women’s March, and it only increased my passion for such
topics. The course had a lasting impression, and I only wish
there was a more in-depth course similar to take afterwards.
Everyday since, I now walk around the city noticing Helvetica
text, considering how important communicative design is in
our world . The following pages document my responses to
the online discussion questions in the Spring 2017 version of
ARC 211 American Diversity and Design at the University at
Buffalo – State University of New York.
(Above) my studio; (Below) self-portrait images by Joshua Diamond

3. 3
Week 1: Response to “What is Design? From Hello World
On “What is design?” from Hello World: Where Design Meets Life
by Alice Rawsthron
The author opened her chapter with the example of Ying Zheng,
the ruler of the Qin empire, one of the most powerful and enduring
empires I the history of China. She explained how design
innovation contributed to Ying Zheng’s success. For example, in
the development of weaponry, he resolved many problems by
standardizing parts, and this single innovation gave his armies
great advantage over other armies.
For this discussion, let’s move away from 246 B.C. China, and into
the U.S. Describe an innovation or invention (can be current or
historical) that gave advantage to a group of people in the U.S. or to
the population as a whole. What were the social impacts of this
innovation? Were any groups negatively impacted by this
innovation? For example, the telegraph, developed and patented in
the United States in 1837 by Samuel Morse, permitted people and
commerce to transmit messages across both continents and oceans
almost instantly, with widespread social and economic impacts.
This heightened communication speed allowed businesspersons to
make decisions with up-to-date information, often resulting in big
profits. Those without access had to rely on outdated information,
which put them at a disadvantage.
The first thing that comes to mind is the automobile, which
Henry Ford brought into mass production in 19131
. Irrevocably, this
invention and innovation to product manufacturing changed the social
structure of America dramatically, allowing independent
transportation on a private level to be affordable, while forever
changing the structure and design of American cities. Negative
impacts can be seen in the dominance of American transportation on
automobiles, and the detrimental environmental impact automobiles
have had.
1
Henry Ford and the Model T, The History Channel, Web
documentary, retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/henry-
ford
https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/rawfile/2013/06/d2.
jpg

4. 4
Week 1: Response to “Introduction” from Diversity and Design
The editors state, “diverse participation in the design process, from
both professionals and public citizens alike, yields more equitable
results.” This makes sense, but typically has not been the case.
Nonetheless, many marginalized groups have impacted design in
ways that have changed our visual and physical worlds as well as our
systems, policies, and institutions. For example, in the 1960s,
disability rights advocates designed media events to raise awareness
about barriers in the physical environment. They persisted with their
efforts for decades, and, finally, in 1990, the Americans with
Disabilities Act became law. It mandated accessibility in public
accommodations such as restaurants and stores, public
transportation, communication, and other areas of public life. This
dramatically changed our physical environment (from curb cuts to
ramps to automatic doors) and the results made public life more
equitable. Describe a design that was impacted by a diversity group.
How and why did it change form and/or circumstances? (Note that a
design can be anything requiring planning and development prior to
the production of an action, system, visual, material object, or
environment. Also, keep in mind that, for our purposes, a diversity
group is a group of individuals who are underrepresented in society
in some way—children, older adults, the economically disadvantaged,
those with cognitive disabilities, etc.)
One of my favorite examples of such would be the court battle of the
Gustav Klimt painting known as the Portrait of Dele Bloch-Bauer I, or
simply in popular media as “The Woman in Gold”. One of my favorite
historical interests I have spent great deal researching and exploring is
that of Nazi stolen art, and the Klimt painting was a major iconic battle
over the ownership of art theft due to cultural genocide1
. Bloch-Bauer’s
niece reclaimed the work from the Vienna National Gallerie, which
was a victory that had massive implications for correcting a wrong,
ethical art dealing, art history, as well as remembering and uncovering
to mass media an ongoing battle for many Jewish families to regain
their property and art from national galleries or collectors who acquired
them through the Nazi raping of culture during WWII. The struggle
was also made into a Hollywood film, entitled A Woman in Gold2
, as
well as being of the most expensive painting ever sold, and a work of
art from one of my favorite painters.
http://www.klimt.com/documents/pictures/en/women/klimt-bildnis-adele-
bloch-bauer1-1907.jpg
1
The Rape of Europa, directed by Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen and Nicole
Newnham (2006, USA; Actual Films, Nov. 2006) DVD
2
”Gustav Klimt and Adele Bloch-Bauer: The Woman in Gold,” Neue
Galerie NYC, 2015 press release, web,
http://www.neuegalerie.org/content/gustav-klimt-and-adele-bloch-bauer-
woman-gold

5. 5
Week 2:
Response to Media/Society Chapter and TED Talk on
Photographs
Where would you place the images shown in Photos That Changed
the World into Croteau and Hoynes' diagram entitled “Model of
Media and the Social World”? Identify a mass media photograph
taken in your own lifetime that has served as an icon of an event.
(Feel free to add an attachment.) What roles does this photo play in
the communication of the event?
I feel like there are too many images to mention. In fact, there
are so many, that I have a collection of images in physical form from
mass media news, in addition having a photographic memory to those
photographs in my lifetime either haunting or inspirational.
I can see almost half of people have picked mass media
pictures representing war. But to make it a bit more optimistic, I'm
going to choose one of my favorite pictures from last year,
specifically from the Gay Pride Parade in Madrid. The picture went
viral and I first saw it. It’s a very powerful image. Not to mention
funny in its own right.
It depicts an older Spanish woman siting on the bench in awe of the
Queen in full unicorn drag sitting next to her. The old woman looks
confused and doesn’t seem to understand what the hell is going on,
almost in the wrong place at the wrong time. The man in drag adorns
a unicorn horn and is posing on the bench; the large white platform
shoe almost touching the old woman and therefore almost touching a
past of less social/societal acceptance.
Last year in particular, I felt proud to witness same sex
marriage in this country. Yet, more so I was proud to be living in a
time where a social movement for the equal acceptance of LGBT
people in American society, and abroad, was making such big
victories. So a photo like this plays a role in helping me remember
that, while smiling and laughing.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/07/02/thousands-rally-in-madrid-in-
favor-lgtb-pride.html

6. 6
Week 2:
Response to Articles on Hats as Communication Design
Typically, we do not think of hats as elements of mass media or social
media. However, the two hats (red and pink) discussed in the articles
certainly have taken on that role. Why are the two hats (red and pink)
mentioned in the articles vehicles of communication design? What
meanings do each of the two hats carry? In terms of communication
design, how are they similar? And how are they different from one
another?
Both types of hats in the articles are new medium vehicles for
communicative design. What is wonderful is one hat is in reaction and
protest of the other, creating a new form of communicating protest,
opinions, beliefs, emotions and political motives by means of wearable
media. Both are items of clothing that can be worn, easily bought, easily
hidden, easily created and distributed. One hat by itself is meaningless
but a lot of the same hat makes a movement. The Trump Hat is simple
in design. Bright cherry Texas bull-fighting red, its also a baseball cap,
and therefore representative of America’s favorite sport, Baseball.
Putting the Words “Make America Great Again” on it is catchy, easy to
read and hard to miss. It sounds good without connecting it to whom it’s
advocating for. It plays off the relaxing sport, almost proclaiming a threat
exists to Baseball's, and therefore America’s, continued excellence. It’s
like a bumper sticker. Or an ad for something terrible at the grocery store
that sounds too good to be true. Essentially, its putting “Make America
Great Again” on an American flag. The Pink hat is, in response to the
Trump hat, a protest and reactionary form of wearable media. It’s pink in
color, less abrasive to the eyes, yet hand made and therefore more
personal in nature to whomever wears it. The Pink hat stands for
Feminism, for “prioritizing American unity over statements of
subversion,” as the article states1
. Some of them just say “NO” or
“Already Great”. In reaction to the mass produced Trump hat, the Pink
hat is made by a number of different individuals to provide an activist
rejection of not only what the Trump hat stands for, but the mass-
produced nature or threatening establishment it represents; it is provided
to those who are part of the Women’s March, by Etsy or other sources. In
this sense, the Trump hat is almost totalitarian or fascist, with every hat
being the exact same, while the Pink hat provides a more real form of
wearable media that helps to communicate through design the real people
and women that are wearing them.
http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/56/53/
06/12235153/3/920x1240.jpg
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/
01/21/gettyimages-632317268_custom-
89f9e18d3ec24b3661526645a5cf7ee86
c822b0a-s700-c85.jpg
1Katie Rogers, “Fashioning Protest for the Women’s March on
Washington,” The New York Times, Jan. 18 2017,
https://nyti.ms/2jYJUVQ

7. 7
Week 3: Response to “Industrial Design” by John Heskett and “The Incredible Inventions of Intuitive AI” by Maurice Conti
What were some of the social consequences of Ford’s production line? In other words, how did this system change our U.S. society? Do any of
those changes remain with us today? Now consider Maurice Conti’s TED Talk, and the predictions he makes about production. How do you
think manufacturing processes will change in the next twenty years? How do you think these changes will affect our U.S. society?
At the time before his production line, automobiles were designed and used for the top 10% of society, and many people wealthy would
leave the city in their automobile for a Sunday drive. Because of Henry Ford’s production line, the automobile became more readily available to
the general public, and more affordable1
, changing the dynamic of transportation. The adverse effects can be seen in America’s present day
fixation on the automobile as the major form of transportation, which no other country has in terms of the extent. The creation of the highway
system in America to drive these automobiles, interconnects communities, yet breaks up communities and makes America a giant strip mall in the
process. American’s love their automobiles, and the highway system as the main form of transportation has created widespread urban sprawl,
decentralization of cities, and a changed socioeconomic landscape within America. The positive aspects of the Ford production line, gave goods
the ability to be created in a cheaper more effective industrial design process than ever before.
I think Conti was correct in his predictions2
. For jobs alone, machines will in my lifetime surely be taking over and supplementing most
jobs done by humans. People talk often of the take-over of jobs by robots in the manufacturing/production fields. This is a common knowledge
reason for a loss of a job: being replaced by a machine. But truly, this paradigm shift can be seen in many different fields already. The truth is I
don’t see this as bad. The integration of machines in the work force, assembly line or in other fields are necessary advancements to human based
skill sets. As a society, new types of jobs need to be created to deal with the shift. Now Conti centered his talk around the next shift in creative
capabilities, and his opening lines that 'what going to change in the next 20 years will be more than the last 2,000', is monumentally exciting to
me. The “leap” as he called it from passive tools to generative tools, to human augmented capabilities, will be the changes that help us design to
meet the needs of our changing environmental experiences more accurately. Conti talks of interactive design by machines in the built
environment. I hope to see more 3D printed buildings, as an article in ArchDaily depicts a Chinese company has achieved at a magnificent scale
already3
. Production alone, if created by an augmented nervous system or a person augmented with advanced AI, could help solve the built
environment around us to become more sustainable, more Cradle-to-Cradle, cheaper and easier to obtain. In hindsight, such technologies could
and probably will have the same affect on society as Henry Ford’s production line had in the early 20th Century.
https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/4/005/081/29b/1443d4
5.jpg
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1
Objectified, directed by Gary Hustwit (2009; UK: Plexifilm, 2009), DVD
2
Maurice Conti, The Incredible Inventions of Intuitive AI, TED (April 2016; TEDxPortland, 2016), Web, Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/maurice_conti_the_incredible_inventions_of_intuitive_ai
3
Rory Stott, “Chinese Company Constructs the World’s Tallest 3D Printed Building,” ArchDaily, Jan. 26 2015,
http://www.archdaily.com/591331/chinese-company-creates-the-world-s-tallest-3d-printed-building

8. 8
Week 3:
Response to IDEA Awards and Cradle-to-Cradle Video
Which of the 2016 IDEA Gold Award products seems to defy the
Cradle-to-Cradle concept developed by architect William McDonough
and chemist Dr. Michael Braungart? How does this product resist or
disregard the concept? Provide an example any products that
embrace Cradle-to-Cradle design. Please describe and cite your
source
I found the most defying product easily within thirty seconds of looking
on IDEA page. It would definitely be the Rolls-Royce Dawn
automobile1
. And continued searching led to nothing that could top it. The
Cradle to Cradle model for design asks us to go against the concept for
designing the "Now and Next" concept, creating as nature does and maximize
the life of the ecosystems, materials and sustainability of said products and
planet. As described in the documentary Objectified, designing "Now and
Next" is only a temporary design strategy to create things that don’t last long,
or will become obsolete with a newer edition soon after2
. People will want to
buy the new Rolls-Royce simply because its the New and Now model.
According to an article in the Chicago Tribune of May 2016, the Rolls-Royce
Dawn car is a $400,000 dollar convertible and the “sexiest Rolls-Royce ever
built”3
. This is not an object easy to make or practical and the description
describes it having a luxury functionality which means it was designed for the
top 10% (or arguably 1%) of the population. It’s polluting in its nature, and
unable to be broken down and sustainable after it’s discarded. Plus I doubt
anyone who would drive one and be willing to spend the almost half-million
dollars on it would be an individual interested about the world’s
environmental impact. If they’re spending this much on a car, they’re living
in a complete fairy tale of excess/unsustainability in life product choices.
One of the most recognizable products easily abundant that exemplifies
Cradle to Cradle could arguably be the iPhone4
. This video shows the
recycling and breakdown process of old iPhones in the Apple recycling
program, as well as the immense design work put into planning for its
complete life cycle. Parts are divided, reused and made to "live on". The robot
is called Liam. Which might be because its badass likes Liam Neeson.
http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/ZokHyYK5hlaAc4ozkxjZRA3r5kk=/fit-
in/1200x9600/http%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Fwp-
content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2F1-JVzEOkbojZeAIhXErOpUGQ-640x426.jpeg
http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/dZJTxe53gZ-5Q0245MUB1rt5mA0=/fit-
in/1200x9600/http%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Fwp-
content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2FAppleLiam-640x360.jpg
1
BMW Group, “Rolls-Royce Dawn,” IDSA, 2016, Web, Retrieved from http://www.idsa.org/awards/idea/automotive-transportation/rolls-royce-dawn
2
Objectified, directed by Gary Hustwit (2009; UK: Plexifilm, 2009), DVD
3
Robert Duffer, “Rolls-Royce Dawn delivers everything in $400,000 convertible,” Chicago Tribune, May 19 2016,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/sc-rolls-royce-dawn-20160519-story.html
4
Samantha Murphy, “Inside Liam, Apple’s super-secret, 29-armed robot that tears down your iPhone,” Mashable.com, Mar 21 2016,
http://mashable.com/2016/03/21/apple-liam-recycling-robot/#1pktUcSRU5qJ

9. 9
Week 4: Response to all Module 4 Materials
Your readings and viewings this week present different ways of thinking about architecture. Mies Van der Rohe describes
architecture as “The will of the epoch translated into space.” Andrew Ballantyne describes architecture as the background for
life. Jeanne Gang describes it as the act of building relationships. All agree that architecture can change based on context and
culture. Choose two works of architecture from any of your materials this week—one with sensibilities about the past and one
with sensibilities about the present and/or future. How do each of these buildings either reflect or challenge their cultural
contexts?
Buildings I felt best-represented American architecture when polarized to past and future sensibilities would be The
Virginia State Capital building in Richmond Virginia by Thomas Jefferson, and a tie between Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram
Building and Jeanne Gang’s Aqua Building in Chicago.
It seems a common practice for nations with great ideas to borrow from classical Roman architecture as a declaration of
the vitality of such ideas. Jefferson designed the building, copying the Maison Carree in Southern France, in an attempt to
create a new state capital capable of exhibiting “economy with elegance and utility”1
. The grand front steps to the capital
building, built after Jefferson’s time to his plans, give authority and absolute glamour of order in the senses. This sort of
neoclassical design can be seen throughout the nation’s capital, and across the country on institutions such as banks,
courthouses and assembly halls. It’s a testament to the type of democracy America was built on. It only challenges its cultural
context by asserting itself in the same greatness as architecture did in Ancient Greek and Roman times – as cultural monuments
of importance that will last.
I was very enamored to see in the reading Gang’s Aqua Tower2
. It is a building I’ve never heard of until now. It is
precisely this reason I’m pairing it with The Seagram Building by Mies Van der Rohe3
, for buildings that contain sensibilities
for the present and future. Both of these buildings, in different aspects, are working on what Gang describes as “the act of
building relationships”. The Seagram Building itself has a history of redefining what sleek International Architecture could be
in a skyscraper form. Mies uses clear and elegant materials to achieve its appearance. From the Bronze exterior, to the
Travertine and Marble walls, to his specificity when it came to designing the blinds to all open in 3 settings only (to encourage
the uniformity of the windows spaces,) to the open space in front, which is a public space I myself have sat in and eaten
lunch. The interior houses the Four Seasons restaurant, which itself brings back the relationships to abstract expressionism and
Mark. It is highly copied building, and if looking at Gang’s Aqua Tower, that glass simplicity still exists, but with the wave of a
goal for relationships socially to be put into the design. It also departs itself from the surrounding skyscrapers in Chicago. Both
of these buildings are a huge otherworldly push away from Thomas Jefferson’s Capital Building. They yell of modernity;
efficiency. For the future sensibilities, there’s an ambition to continue this luxurious example of The Seagram, with direct
relationships being formed between the materials and the people in the space. There’s a big push today to build that
sustainability of materials along with an integrated community into the design, rather than have it an afterthought.
1, 3Geoffrey Baer, 10 Buildings that Changed America, Video, PBS, “10 Things That Changed America” (2013; PBS),
television series, Web, http://www.pbs.org/program/ten-that-changed-america/10-buildings-changed-america/
2Jeanna Gang, Buildings that blend nature and city, Video, TED (Oct 2016, TEDWomen 2016) Web,
https://www.ted.com/talks/jeanne_gang_buildings_that_blend_nature_and_city
http://www.me
talocus.es/sites
/default/files/fi
le-
images/metaloc
us_segram_08_8
65.jpg

10. 10
Week 4: Response to Ballantyne and Zumthor Articles
Andrew Ballantyne and Peter Zumthor present ideas about
architecture that seem to value the sensorial and material elements
of life. How are Ballantyne’s and Zumthor’s viewpoints on
architecture alike? More importantly, how do they differ?
Both Ballantyne and Peter Zumthor felt architecture was a
need and vital existence for people to utilize and understand. They
are both interested in the experiences one has within a piece of
architecture. However, the purposes of these experiences are where
they differ. Zumthor was all about the Phenomenological experience
one has within a space: the sensual nature of the materials; the brass
door handles; the memories the very nature of a kitchen remind us of
when within one. Ballantyne however, focuses on the actions going
on within the building as the basis for its important, shying away
from seeing a building alone as an aesthetic interest. He says, "If
everything is going well, we do not focus on the building but rather
on what we are trying to do in it"1
. In the reading, he discusses the
differences in architecture between Gray and Le Corbusier. Where
Le Corbusier distinguishes a "priority to sight", there is an inevitable
priority to the life of who will live in it, and the habits of this life
rather than the “purity” of the forms. It seems they totally differ on
creative process as well. Zumthor talks in detail about his past
memories, and how each project he creates is an extension of his
sensual experiences2
, creating architecture to exemplify the
Phenomenological in itself. Where Zumthor talks of designing,
Ballantyne acknowledges that people have begun to use dwellings "to
tell others, and ourselves, who we are and what we aspire to be"3
, in a
sort of modern Nietzschean quest, but he asserts they are in the end
“instruments” before the aesthetic. That they are helping us achieve
the things we have to do and the meaning exists from that act before
the act of beauty, “purity” or the senses (if the sensuality is not
coming directly from our direct habits within the space)
https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2009/04/
pritzer-prize-squ-004.jpg
1
Andrew Ballantyne, Architecture, Life, and Habit (The Journal of
Aesthetics and Art Criticism: The American Society for Aesthetics,
2011), pg. 43
2
Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture (Germany: Birkhäuser
Architecture Publishing-, 2010), pg. 9-13
3
Andrew Ballantyne, Architecture, Life, and Habit (The Journal of
Aesthetics and Art Criticism: The American Society for Aesthetics,
2011), pg. 46
The significance of what habits happened within the building
of Auschwitz are what make it a tourist attraction, even though the
building itself is nothing special. But, there’s also a curiosity to
wonder if the design elements of Auschwitz add to its significance of
evil (as Zumthor would probably add in), that the memories of the
evil there are backed by the flat, emptiness the building's materials
have; that the materials and space have become synonymous with the
Holocaust, and now only further echo the human habits that took
place within them.

11. 11
Week 5: Response to Levy Article
John Levy’s article, “An Overview: The Need for Planning,”
discussed ways in which planning can determine the
characteristics of a place. For example, some smaller towns
restrict the heights of buildings to maintain a certain scale. How
did planning define the character of the place in which you
grew up?
Levy states in the second paragraph, "The amount and
character of development on that land will determine the amount
of traffic it generates"1
. I grew up mainly in the Hudson Valley
of New York, in Poughkeepsie, after moving around frequently as
a child before hand – from California, to Vermont, to New York.
Poughkeepsie is not a pretty place to live. But many people find it
such as a quintessential American lifestyle surrounded by great
food and every store you can imagine. Essentially it is one giant
strip mall along the Hudson River. 90 minutes north of NYC, it is
connected to the New York City Metropolitan Transit line
directly, so massive amounts of people use the train to go to
Grand Central everyday, creating a community of suburbia and
sprawl living as an economy off the city. The main highway
running alongside the river going North to South is Route 9,
whose planning destroyed downtown’s economy and created a
place of continuous stores divided by branching off areas of
suburban houses and colleges. There is insufficient public transit
around the area, and planning for any transportation other than car
is not a planning concern, which has made a place with little
social capital and mobility. The planning seems to have adapted
to growth badly. Areas of older development have been left aside
(or strictly pushed aside) to make room for extra lanes for new
roads or another Chile’s.
The area has strict zoning off Route 9, where different centers of academia
exist. On Route 9, over the past 10 years, the large gaps of undeveloped
green space are vastly disappearing to cookie cutter commercial
development. I grew up in a strictly zoned residential area near the Ivy
League school Vassar College. Areas like this between the concrete shopping
centers are historic areas of gothic architecture and walkability, acting as
cultural travel destinations a drive away from the highway. Many of the
houses around Vassar are segregated as housing for incomes middle to high
amongst small winding streets with many varieties of single-family
homes. This includes the traffic design with traffic circles, stores and its own
municipalities. My street, which was a dead end, was difficult to find, and
the houses all looked slightly similar, built post WWII. My home, which
was a mid-century ranch who’s prior owner was an architect, was the most
well hidden in the area, redesigned from the works of Wright, with a private
backyard design and hidden from the road by many trees.
http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/wp-
content/uploads/2015/08/Quad_fall_10_JA_272_edit-standard-1024x595.jpg
1
Levy, John M. 2006, "An Overview: The Need for Planning." Contemporary Urban
Manning. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall, pp. 1 - 6.
2
“Patti Smith to Artists: Don’t Come to New York,” HuffingtonPost, July 3 2010, Web,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/patti-smith-to-artists-

12. 12
If I were rebuilding Pruitt Igoe, I would plan for 3 major
improvements.
1: The design needs to be less isolating in the city, and more conducive of
community. Lower rise buildings would create less crime. Within the
overall design, this could be accomplished with more interconnectedness to
the city, but also to each other in terms of the buildings. I feel like design
elements of the Aqua Building in Chicago1
help initiate a community space
and such relationships would help in the design. The Modernist approach to
this concept of social housing only made the residents feel more isolated
within the city. Take a lesson from Amsterdam, where social housing is
designed to be better welcoming for families, simpler and boasting a high
standard of living, with ease of entering and existing via public transit, high
walkability2
. A push perhaps for free bikes for everyone who is admitted
into the social housing would allow this at a very interesting extent. This
would be a perfect job for Kent Larson to help or be put in charge with.
Customizable housing stock would only add to diversity within each
building and add value to the interactions tenants’ have3
.
2: The planning for Pruitt Igoe would need to include a federal based
funded upkeep, to keep the housing and facilities at their best ability. One of
the main things that stuck out from the documentary4
was Pruitt Igoe’s lack
of planning after it was built, putting the cost of maintenance and upkeep
and cleaning onto the residents; the same residents who were there as
welfare recipients and could barely afford basic living as much as funding
to keep their social housing looking pretty, safe and clean in order to
function properly. I feel insulted for those residents, that the planning for
the building would dump that responsibility on them, and then ostracize
them further by the conditions they were living in.
3: The ability of government letting people in should not be an experience
making families feel isolated or tearing families apart. Government should
never exclude male father figures from living with them, nor from allowing
televisions or telephones. On-site facilities to help the people placed, in
addition to things like a corner store, Laundromat, and security personnel,
would help families uplift themselves and eventually leave to better things.
Talen, would excel at this, in addition to excelling in each of these three
needs. Specifically, her call for “vitality” in the community, being driven by
Diversity, would help Pruitt Igoe succeed. She quotes Jane Jacobs with: “A
‘close-grained’ diversity of uses provides ‘constant mutual support,’ and
planning must ‘become the science and art of catalyzing and nourishing
three close-grained working relationships”5
. Without her or a Jane Jacobs
idea for the vitality of “eyes on the ground” mentality, it would certainly
fail again and again.
Week 5:
Response to Pruitt Igoe Project, Talen, and Larson
Imagine that you are part of a urban planning and design firm working
with Emily Talen (author of “Design That Enables Diversity”) and Kent
Larson (who gave the TED Talk "Brilliant Designs to Fit More People In
Every City" The thee of you have been tasked with developing a plan to
rebuild Pruitt Igoe in St. Louis. City officials told the three of you that that
they want to do it right this time. Identify three strategies for rebuilding
Pruitt Igoe in ways that promise to be more successful. What would Talen
do? What would Larson do? What would you do? How would your
strategies differ from those of the original urban planners/designers of the
project? Why would your strategies be more effective?
1
Jeanna Gang, Buildings that blend nature and city, Video, TED (Oct 2016,
TEDWomen 2016) Web,
https://www.ted.com/talks/jeanne_gang_buildings_that_blend_nature_and_city
2
Der Veer, Jeroen Van; Schuiling, Dick. “The Amsterdam housing market and
the role of housing associations.” Journal of Housing and Built Environment 20,
no. 2 (Jun 2005): 167-181. Accessed Oct 1 2016,
http://search.proquest.com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/docview/199495653?pq-
origsite=summon&accountid=14169
3
Kent Larson, Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city, TED (June 2012,
TedxBoston 2012) Web,
https://www.ted.com/talks/kent_larson_brilliant_designs_to_fit_more_people_in
_every_city
4
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, film, Chad Feidrichs (2011; St. Louis MO, Unicorn
Stencil, 2012), Web, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKgZM8y3hso
5
Emily Talen, “Design That Enables Diversity: The Complications of a Planning
Ideal,” Journal of Planning Literature, Vol.20, No. 3 (Feb. 2006): 233 - 249
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/23/article-0-
19F24A87000005DC-267_964x542.jpg

13. 13
Displaying his plan at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia, Frederick Law Olmsted stated that "Buffalo is the
best planned city, as to its streets, public places, and grounds, in the
United States, if not in the world." What was the basis for this
claim? Would Olmsted still make that claim today? Why or why
not?
His claim of Buffalo being “the best planned city” in 1876
was based on his ability to envision how a park system would create a
“city within a park” over a radial plan capable of producing a higher
quality of urban relationships. The basis of which was the ability of
downtown to be connected to all the parts, and have the parks be
extremely accessible; the ability to seem as if the city was built
around connecting green spaces.
I don’t think Olmsted would still make this claim today. To
his plans, the Park System has been greatly changed over the past
many decades. Its a plan of his which was carried out in full and then
slowly picked away over the years and destroyed in some aspects. It
needs to be restored. The addition of I190 and RT 33 destroyed
parkways and changed the infrastructure bones of Buffalo (and
therefore the social capacities). Circles and roundabouts are now only
being restored, roads have been rerouted through parks and many of
the parks have been repurposed with zoos, malls, hospitals, etc. With
the addition of city planning to accommodate the large amount of
automobile traffic, the nature of urban environments has changed the
intended use of public spaces dramatically. As stated in the video
Olmsted: Designing Western NY,1
Niagara Falls are often now seen
by people who park their cars nearby, take pictures and return to their
vehicles on the way to Canada. No longer are the parks utilized with
ideals for slow discovery. Many of the parks in Buffalo have a sense
they are being fit into spaces, rather than the city fitting around them.
On nice days, the parks are not as utilized as previous times
document and they seem vacant. Instead busy roads surround them,
where people merely drive by; drive through them, and don’t visit in
the same ratio as New Yorkers visiting Central Park.
If Olmsted were alive today, I’m sure he would advocate on
how to improve the park system, not to his name, but on how to
improve the urban green spaces to change the relationship
Buffalonians currently have with their urban and green spaces. The
city of Buffalo is not currently to its full potential. It needs its lungs
improved, and the changes of its geographic past need to be changed
and utilized to keep up with the cities current progressive revival.
____________________________________________________________________
1
Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing Western New York, film (2015; PBS), Web,
http://www.pbs.org/video/2365468061/
2
http://www.buffalospree.com/Buffalo-Spree/April-2015/Developing-Bringing-back-
an-Olmsted-parkway/humboldtlead.jpg
2
Week 6: Response to F. L. Olmsted

14. 14
Week 6: Response to Walter Hood’s Work
Identify something that should be memorialized either on
UB's campus or in your hometown. Imagine that you are the
person who will oversee this project, and that you are using
Walter Hood's 'triad of investigations' as your approach to the
project. What would your landscape intervention
commemorate/memorialize? How will you use Hood's 'triad of
investigations' to design a new landscape intervention? What do
you imagine that the design will be?
I grew up in Poughkeepsie New York, and this is very close to
a lot of interesting monuments and history. You have FDR's house 10
minutes down the road in Hyde Park, The Culinary Institute of America
(which is built within a once monastery along the Hudson River), and
there remains parks and areas in the downtown area which have been
preserved and memorialized, like the Walkway over the Hudson, which
preserves a once train bridge as the longest elevated pedestrian
bridge. However, little landscape intervention has been used to
commemorate the past between all these little areas of historic
preservation. In a result, most the land used in-between such areas is
being lost to its geographic past and taken over for parking lots or new
commercial development.
My landscape intervention would be to save some of the
stretches of green space along Route 9, which runs through
Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Rhinebeck and other Hudson Valley Historic
towns. Such stretches of green space are large forests that make up
many acres of land in addition to now abandoned farms. Slowly, most
have been sold and developed, creating more urban sprawl and
destroying what used to be ecosystems and a distinct farming
community history. If using Walter Hood's Triad of Investigations1
, my
landscape intervention would be reaching into the past to commemorate
and memorialize whatever historic farms or families lived there
previously. The goal would be to make a landscape design that allowed
people to walk and discover that past. As development continues on
these areas, people can now drive through and never know or imagine
what was there before hand.
________________________________________________________
1
Walter Hood and Megan Basnak, “Diverse Truths: Unveiling the
Hidden Layers of the Shadow Catcher Commemoration”, in Diversity
and Design 2015, ed. Beth Take and Korydon Smith (Florence: Taylor
and Francis), Ch. 2; 37-53. ProQuest Ebook Central.
2https://frameworks.ced.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/faculty/hood.deyoung.large.jpg
3https://frameworks.ced.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/faculty/hood.shadow.large.jpg
2
3

15. 15
Week 7:
Response to Brookes
The abolitionist poster, the Brookes, is an iconic image that often is
included in exhibits that explore issues of race and power. It was
commissioned by Thomas Clarkson in 1788, and the Committee of
the Abolition of Slavery used it to inform and shock the public.
While some consider the poster as an important component of the
abolitionist campaign, it recently “has been strongly criticized by
some individuals and groups of African heritage as providing a very
limited view of the history of the transatlantic slave trade, resistance
and abolition (Hudson 2007).” The lesson here is that how a viewer
sees an image is dependent upon his/her social, economic, and
cultural position. Keeping this in mind, find another iconic graphic
that addresses racial issues and post it for others in your group to
view. How do you interpret the graphic? What is its meaning? Now
imagine that someone from a racial and cultural background
different than your own is looking at the same graphic. Briefly
describe this person. How might s/he interpret its meaning? How
might this differ from your interpretation? What are the possible
reasons for these differences?
When I look at this picture of a pre-Civil Rights era segregated water fountain, I understand it immediately as a depiction of
wrongness. I right away see it as a picture of dark American history that is still prevalent in ways today. I am unable to imagine how the black
man in the foreground must have felt, and feel very angry at the stupidity of such an ignorant design and tolerance of such racism. The entire
concept of segregation and racism to me are concepts ridiculous. I view it as beneath me.
Yet, understand it is not fully possible form my perspective. Even though I am from a Jewish heritage, and therefore from a culture
that has been itself subjected to extreme racism and cultural genocide, I am racially a white man. Someone from any racial minority with
darker skin tone would look at this picture and interpret it while connecting in away I cannot: by identifying with the black man drinking. They
would identify from personal experiences, most likely from being a black man or woman in America.
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/se
gregated-water-fountain_corbis_be040876.jpg

16. 16
Week 7:
Response to Charles Davis and equityXdesign’s work
Critique either the MLK Memorial or the National Museum of
African American History and Culture using equityXdesign’s core
beliefs and/or design principles.
While other members of my group seem to feel weird about
critiquing architecture with cultural relevance, I’d argue it is the most
important social aspect of architecture to be interpreted, and therefore
an imperative part of the MLK Memorial. For no memorials existence
is infinite, and room for improvement should be there to evolve.
The MLK Memorial depicts Martin Luther King Jr. carved in
stone, as a testament to the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement.
In lieu with equityXdesign, core ideologies for design require
Historical Context, Racial Inclusion and Product Processing (which
helps their belief to “See”, “Be Seen”, and “Foresee”, which
EquityXdesign states should, in the end, “Speak to the Future”)1
.
Ultimately, I think the MLK Memorial does an excellent job of these
design principles, however I wonder if the design should have had
next to King other statues of common Americans of color, rather than
just himself. After all, King wasn’t campaigning for just himself, but
for all Americans. To design fully to “Speak to the Future,” it would
help the Memorial to add such design to help show that significance.
The Civil Rights Movement was one shared by the struggle of every
person of color in America, and having carved figures of average
American’s standing with him could be helpful in further
emphasizing King’s importance and continued vitality as an chief
civil rights leader.
________________________________________________________
1
”Racsim and inequity are products of design. They can be designed,”
EquityXdesign, Nov. 15 2016, Web.
https://medium.com/@multiplyequity/racism-and-inequity-are-
https://files.schuminweb.com/journal/2014/full-
size/monument-shoot-05.jpg

17. 17
Week 8: Response to “Landscape Stories” Chapter
First, let’s start with your own home. Describe a place in your home (indoors and/or
outdoors) that you think of as representative of your own ethnic background and
discuss why you consider this place to be ‘ethnic’. –OR-- Describe an object in your
home that you think of as representative of your ethnic background and discuss
why this object is considered to be ‘ethnic’. (If possible, add photo/s.) Is this object
or place something that you will keep or continue when you establish your own
home? Why or why not?
Now let’s move into your community. In “Landscape Stories,” the authors show
how landscape architects develop a historical narrative that sifts through and
interprets the culture and material of underrepresented groups. Think about the
community where you grew up. Describe and discuss any evidence of cultural
influences on the physical environment in your community. If possible, describe
evidence of the cultural influence of an underrepresented group. (If possible, add
photo/s.) Is this cultural influence being acknowledged or preserved from future
generations? Why or why not?
Growing up, the kitchen was the part of the home that became representative of my
culture. My Hungarian mother raised me in a home where the kitchen was the center
of the household.
My mother was born in Garmisch Partenkirchen, a German ski resort town along the
Bavarian Alps, south of Munich. My mothers side of the family is from Kiskunhalas
Hungary, and due to World War II, ended up being forced to flee to survive - first
from the Germans and the War, then from the Russians. My grandparents came
through Ellis Island after traveling on a boat across the Atlantic with my mother as a
baby.
In Kiskunhalas, my grandmother grew up in a dirt floor home where the kitchen was
the main room. I grew up with her over everyday. We'd all hang out in the kitchen,
cook in the kitchen, and it’s where I learned to cook from her. All the spices and
dishes have moved their way into my own kitchen, where I tend to spend most of my
time when home.
The area I grew up in near my grandmother was very Italian and Irish, with a minority
Hungarian and Polish population. In my lifetime, the Hungarian population got
smaller and smaller, with many Hungarians moving to New York or Toronto. Yet,
everywhere you go there’s a lot of Italian bakeries, restaurants and Deli's. And this
cultural influence and the social /food connections it gave, added to the culture of our
home tremendously, just as it continues to do so to everyone in the area as an identity
of the area's culture
http://saltandwind.com/media/_versions/recipes/150422_s
achertorte-recipe_h_large.jpg
http://gqtrippin.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/12/hungarian-meat_thumb.jpg

18. 18
Week 8:
Response to Article on Sports Branding
Recent controversies about sports branding focus on ethnicity. The
Washington Redskins team is just one example of the larger controversy, but
it receives the most public attention due to the name itself being defined as
derogatory or insulting in modern dictionaries, and the prominence of the
team representing the nation’s capital. Should sports team branding
designers use ethnic references (Fighting Irish, Boston Celtics, Atlanta
Braves, etc.)? Why? Why not? What are some of the complexities of this
issue?
I'm not Native American, but I have a problem with the choice of naming on a
team such as the Washington Redskins. But perhaps that’s because I also don't
care about sports. Someone who is into sports may feel it carries a now cultural
identity by being there for so many years. However I don't think branding
designers should use ethnic references in ANY case, and I think there should
be, today, ways to change the name while still honoring the team's history. In
the article we read, Gover, the director of The National Museum of the
American Indian, was right when he stated "you wouldn't do it with any other
racial minority"1
. It wouldn't be done with anyone from Jewish minorities.
There wouldn't be a team called the "Heroic Kikes" -- that would insult me
heavily, being half Jewish -- so why is it acceptable with other racial
minorities?
1
Erik Brady, “The Real history of Native American team names,” USAToday,
Aug. 25 2016, https://www.usatoday.com/errors/404/
https://img.apmcdn.org/28029a4a8d62a19feba7102e080
37b8b3f8a302a/uncropped/bdd935-20131010-
redskins2.jpg
http://www.hailtothedistrict.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/03/image.adapt_.960.high_.Redsk
ins_slideshow_110713_2.jpg

19. 19
Week 9:
Response to “Visualizing Gender” Chapter
In their chapter “Communicating Gender,” Maya Ganesh and
Gabi Sobliye discuss two primary visual advocacy approaches: 1)
get the idea, and 2) stories in data. Find a new example of either
of the two visual advocacy approaches to gender issues, and post
it in this thread. First, identify the approach. Then explain how
the designer uses the approach to communicate a gender issue. Is
the approach effective in this example? Why or why not? How
could this graphic be improved?
This visual uses the "Get the stories"1
approach, but in a
way it also does the "Get the Idea"1
approach as well. The designer
utilizes inspiration from antiquity anatomy books and perhaps even
the same engravings done by religious texts, only manipulating the
extremities to reveal the different gender stereotypes pushed onto
each gender in an absolutism history. I think it’s an effective ad. It
definitely caught my eye for being a cool one. I would however
change the text on the bottom, and perhaps make the different
"hands" different colors to make them stand out. On the other hand,
the fact these "hands" are not made to pop out, allows the viewer to
notice after interpreting the overall visual advocacy, allowing time
to consider each stereotype and ones relation to it. It says at the
bottom: "Women are entitled to live in dignity and in freedom from
want and from fear"2
- this would be better suited on top, as the first
thing your eye draws you to.
______________________________________________________
__
1
Maya Indira Ganesh and Gabi Sobliye, “Communicating Gender:
The Challenges of Visualizing Information for Advocacy”, in
Diversity and Design 2015, ed. Beth Take and Korydon Smith
(Florence: Taylor and Francis), Ch. 7; 137-151. ProQuest Ebook
Central.
2
“Gender Equality”, The Zyme, Web,
http://www.thezyme.gr/en/archive/GenderEquality.htm
http://www.thezyme.gr/as/GenderEquality_awarded-
poster_m42i573.jpg

20. 20
Week 9: Response to North Carolina Bathroom Bill
Last year, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law a
bill that repealed local LGBT anti-discrimination laws, and
required people to use the bathroom that corresponded with the
biological gender written on their birth certificates. This prompted
massive backlash. McCrory stated, “You know, we all have to make
adjustments in life. And we’ve had the proper etiquette situation for
decades in our country, and all of a sudden through political
correctness we’re throwing away basic etiquette.” Just this past
Thursday, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill to
repeal the law while placing a moratorium on nondiscrimination
measures.
Should people be required to use the bathroom that corresponds
with the biological gender written on their birth certificate? State
why AND state why not. In other words, to receive full credit for
this question, you need to present an argument for both sides of the
issue. As a designer, how would you solve this gender dilemma?
Why YES: You’re supposed to use the bathroom that corresponds to
the gender you had at birth, because that’s what a bunch of rich cis-
gendered men who run the government have decided. And its just the
way its been done for a really really long time, so its a big deal to
change now. After all, it’s based on biological differences; men and
women do have different “equipment” as Jerry Seinfeld said; Men’s
restrooms have urinals, and Women’s have stalls. And privacy/safety
is important.
Why NOT: saying transgendered persons should be forced into a
bathroom based against their chosen gender identity would only
reflect an un-acceptance or prejudice against those who are not cis-
gendered, and even the choices they’ve made to choose their gender.
There’s really no other reason. People should choose what best
represents them as a person, and everyone else should just mind their
own damn business.
Solution: I’d design more single restrooms, and have the sign below
on them. That way, people are forced to mind their business, since
going to the bathroom is a private thing and its rude to tell someone
else which bathroom to use if they identify otherwise.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/3865600/images/n-TRANSGENDER-FLAG-
628x314.jpg
https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-
08/23/11/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane03/sub-buzz-15536-
1471966533-6.png

21. 21
Week 10: Response to People Like Us
After almost two decades of public assistance, Tammy Crabtree
took herself and her family off the welfare rolls. But her job
cleaning bathrooms at a local Burger King barely paid the bills.
Crabtree wanted to do better and hopes to go to college and become
a teacher.
Imagine this scenario. You are a designer who works at the well-
known firm, iPD (Integrated Planning and Design). You work on a
team with planners, urban designers, policy designers, architects,
and social designers. You have been tasked to develop/design a way
for Tammy Crabtree and her family (and others with situations
similar to Tammy’s) to move themselves out of poverty. What will
your team to do to help Tammy and her family achieve their goals?
What approach will your team take to address this difficult
problem?
I think some important things to change for Tammy would be
at her home environment first to increase her quality of life. It seems
like she has a few neighbors, but regardless if she does or not, a
garden or small sponsored community farm to allow them to grow
their own food and improve the quality of day to day eating would be
a good plan to be designed and started for them. Getting Tammy her
furnace would also be a good short term plan until a more concrete
plan could be implemented -- Such public housing as that in
Amsterdam or Lo Barnechea in Santiago Chile1
helps provides a
form of social housing that is known as Participatory
Design. Tammy would be able to choose what’s important for her to
have in the home, whether that be a furnace or a bathtub and what she
could or could not afford to maintain while having the ability to
improve as she sees fit and able. The simplicity of the design allows
for a greater quality of life with better materials than her current
plywood floor. And with a better home environment and a way to
grow their own food, Tammy would be able to spend some of her
money on pursuing college, while being able to say she worked to
make that a reality.
1
Julia Ingalls, “Inside Aravena’s open source plans for low-
cost yet upgradable housing,” Archinect.com, April 6 2016, Web,
http://archinect.com/news/article/149938728/inside-aravena-s-open-
source-plans-for-low-cost-yet-upgradable-housing
Social housing project Lo Barnechea by architect Alejandro Arevena,
Santiago, Chile (above, below)

22. 22
Week 11:
Response to Carroll Article: “(Re)forming Regent
Park: When Policy Does Not Equal Practice
The development of Regent Park is phased, and there are several more
phases to the project. What actions could be taken to ensure more social
integration for the older people living in the ‘new and improved’ Regent
Park?
Regent Park could take actions to try to get residents to spend more
time together.
They discussed how the laundry was on one floor far from the older
residents, but it would be easily doable to convert any apartment into a
laundry room on a floor of all older residents, since putting a joined washer
and dryer on any floor or closet in general is a relatively easy building
improvement. Resident’s should have easily accessible laundry in many
locations, and a recreational area attached would be a conducive opportunity
to get people to interact.
More areas for older residents to be together should be the goal. And
gardening for food and as an activity should be a big push in the design and
plan. They should do away with the new system of "bidding" on gardening
space1
. I imagine a place where gardening space could be divided by room,
and each resident could either grow their own crops next to one another or
join plots as they see fit.
A design and plan to re-integrate different incomes rather than
segregating, and by process of, reintegrating the older populations into the
younger families should be a large push. Segregating the old from the young
will only make older residents life harder, while the flourishing of the
original Regent's Park, although inadequate in design, had that integration
and high richness socially as a community.
1
Mary Jane Carroll, “Re(forming) Regent Park”, in Diversity and Design
2015, ed. Beth Take and Korydon Smith (Florence: Taylor and Francis), Ch.
11; 209-221. ProQuest Ebook Central.
http://www.torontorooftops.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/regentparkbench.jpg
http://www.torontorooftops.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/RegentPark-1024x906.jpg

23. 23
Week 11: Response to Enriquez TED Talk: “What Will Humans Look Like in 100 Years?”
For this question, we will focus on Juan Enriquez’ Life Two civilization, which alters fundamental aspects of the body. We are living longer
than ever before in human history. Enriquez argues that, because of advances in bio-medical technology, the possibility of living to 120 years
of age and beyond is quite possible for many of us in this D+D class. Assuming that his assertion is accurate, how do you think extended life
spans will change our societies and built environments? What new issues might designers face because of extended life spans?
Perhaps I'm cynical, but I don't feel like the prospect of Enriquez' assertion of the possibility of life living 120 years1
and beyond will have
initial good implications. Not to say I disagree with him. On the contrary, I think it’s amazingly cool, and would in the long-term help improve
society, but for the short term, it has nothing but dangerous and destructive implications as humanity suffers while attempting to catch up.
Currently, society is having trouble inhabiting 7 Billion plus people. Our postindustrial peak oil paradigm has created a society surviving far
beyond its means just like American's do with their credit card and debt. Society is not capable as of now to find a way to transcend the need for
resources and space, and people living older now has caused a huge issue on the current design and plans of modern cities. Inevitably, this will
create a scenario of it getting traumatically worse before it gets better, as the disparity between those who have resources and those who don't will
increase until humanity can re-organize to people living longer and needing a sustainable lifestyle. Somewhere in this period and the end result of
re-structuring, is where design will have to be imperative, and issues of how to restructure space in a sustainable way will be one of the large
design feats to cross over. But, arguably, changing the dynamic of a lifespan of any species will disrupt the natural order of its existence. And
since we as a species already have a problem existing in our environments, how will we choose to redesign society as a whole, in addition to our
own biological expiration dates and capabilities? Can we ethically do it with design? Is there a way to responsibly design it? Or will it just happen
and be a trial of error of finding a way, after the fact, to overcome the challenge with the design of homes, food production, sustainability and
social abilities. We don't live in a modern society where things are meant to last forever
1
Juan Enriquez, What will Humans look like in 100 years?, Video,
TED (June 2016, TEDSummit 2016) Web,
https://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_what_will_humans_loo
k_like_in_100_years?language=en
Juan Enriquez (right)
https://pi.tedcdn.com/r/pe.tedcdn.com/images/ted/5ee3d5

24. 24
Week 12:
Response to PPT, Smithsonian, and Roy
For the Module 12 Thread 1, please select one of the seven
universal design principles, and post photographs that show both a
positive and a negative example of the principle. Then address the
following question: How do your examples empower or disempower
various people? Describe the specific features of the positive
example and the specific features of the negative example. Discuss
ways that the positive example could be even further improved.
I chose to consider the universal design principle of "Low
Physical Effort" right away.
One of my favorite examples of this I use almost everyday
when cooking is my vegetable peeler, which is an OXO peeler. When
I was little, when my grandparents were alive and making sitcom-
status Thanksgiving meals together, they'd peel the potatoes with the
older vegetable peeler. It was stainless steel, painful to use after one
potato, as if using a knife with no wooden handle riveted on. I'd
refuse to help because of the tiresome and hurting effort.
The OXO peeler is the same device, but now for my
generation, is a design upgrade that allows extreme comfort and
ability for the device to be accessible and usable by everyone,
whether or not they have arthritis3
; it also enhances the functionality
of the device in doing so as a needed cooking tool.
1
Objectified, directed by Gary Hustwit (2009; UK: Plexifilm, 2009),
DVD
2
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uct/cache/1/image/550x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/d/3/d
319_1.jpg
3
https://www.oxo.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1400x14
00/8cbb9603cd1c8aa64a161403a3adb86b/2/0/20081_2.jpg
The Negative
The Positive
2

25. 25
Week 12:
Response to Survey, Fixed, and Stelarc
What lessons do you think we should learn from history when
thinking about emerging enhancement technologies
and reproductive technologies? What are some of the possible
consequences (both positive and negative) of being able to design
our bodies and the bodies of our children? What ethical quandaries
do these technologies pose?
As an artist, I can say that perfection is imperfection. But emerging
enhancement technologies hold the yield to fundamentally make most
people the same rather than different. In the end, our culture is one of mass
media influence, where people mold themselves to look like supermodels,
actors, athletes, and general idealized body changes. If you could design a
baby, people would no longer be growing up wishing they could look a
certain way, but could ensure their children would grow up to reflect how
they want them to look based on a bunch of idealized movies or ads or
cultural phenomena. The ethical quandary is one of preventing envy and
vainness. I feel like it would make cultures and their physical traits become
more apparent, and lessen the already increasing generational mixing by
creating groups of people perpetuating children with similar idealistic
features into society. Why would I want everyone to look the same? Not to
mention being able to do it ethically, without biases and agendas of racial
superiority, which might just be a result of it happening in some future
science fiction reality. A good aspect could be being able to phase
out/prevent physical and mental disabilities, create higher intelligence, or
heighten certain body traits to help us, as a species, evolve. But beyond that,
I go forward extremely hesitant.
This question made me think of an article in National Geographic1
discussing what people will look like in America in 2050, after years of
racial mixing. It makes sense, this article is logical, but if people could
design their own babies, would they pick one race to base their babies off
of, challenging the natural progression of our species evolution and trait
mixing? Are people ready for being handed the keys to the workshop?
1
Lise Funderburg, “Changing Faces: We’ve become a country where race is
no longer so black or white,” National Geographic, Oct. 2013,
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com
/2013/10/changing-faces/funderburg-
text?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_
membership_r1p_us_se_w
https://twitter.com/HistoricalPics/status/4539744675645603
84/photo/1

26. 26
Week 13: Response to the film Titicut Follies
The state of Massachusetts tried to ban the 1967 documentary
Titicut Follies, arguing that director Frederick Wiseman had
violated the patients’ rights by not getting written permission to film
them. The case went to court, and Wiseman argued that he had
consent from their legal guardian, the institution. After a judge
ruled in favor of the state, the legal appeals carried on for several
years: in 1969, Massachusetts allowed the film to be shown to
doctors, lawyers, and health care professionals; in 1991, a superior
court judge ruled it could be released for the “general public,” as
privacy concerns were no longer at issue, so many years later.
Should Wiseman have been allowed to film the residents of
Bridgewater Massachusetts Correctional Facility? Why or why not?
How might this film be of value to designers (communication
designers, product, designers, architects, interior designers,
planners, landscape designers, systems designers, and/or social
designers)? In other words, what might they gain from this film that
they could use in their work?
Yes, Wiseman should have been allowed to film the residents of
Bridgewater Massachusetts Correctional Facility. This, after all was
1967, and I imagine that if he had done it under the supervision of the
state of Massachusetts, the end result would have been a documentary
showing peaceful, well designed facilities, and calm lovely patients -
sort of like any 1960's sort of commercial on television. You can
make the argument that he had consent from the institution, which
was their legal guardian; given the patients themselves were unable to
be mentally sound and capable to say otherwise. He might be causing
them stress by being there, an outsider from their routine ‘normal-
ness’, but such disruptive discomfort is far less than that of their
current lives while wards of the state, and therefore is intended for the
purpose of creating awareness of the system's conditions and their
daily lives.
The value to designers is to set an example of what works or doesn't,
as many designers don't get to see their work being used, and how its
being used. The film gives a "flower on the wall" view in many cases
to the downfalls of design, illustrating how not to design such
institutions. Wiseman helps show what is ideal design of these
institutions by merely filming all the ways they fall short.
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*1X69QeA1kBQyI95etpr08w.jpeg
https://cdnimages1.medium.com/max/2000/1*uYk_6V7XUZF6zuTzrY7IDA.jpeg

27. 27
The Scenario: Imagine that you and your four children live in
Amherst, New York in a $650,000 home at the end of a cul-de-sac
on the edge of a ten-acre woods. The town has purchased a one-
acre lot three houses away from yours, and plans to build a group
home for ten intellectually challenged adults.
As a resident of the neighborhood, would
you support or oppose this proposal and
why? You've learned additional
information about the residents of the
proposed group home in your
neighborhood. In 2013, three of the ten
intended residents exhibited challenging
behaviors including screaming, public
masturbation, repetitive rocking, and
echolalia (elective incontinence). However,
these behaviors have not occurred since
then.
How would this change your opinion about
the construction of the group home in your
neighborhood? The residents in your neighborhood voted (14-3) to
reject the town of Amherst’s proposal to build a group home in the
neighborhood. Town officials agreed that the home would not be
built in your neighborhood if you and your neighbors could
develop a workable alternative.
What are some possible solutions that would allow the residents of
the home to be provided with “the same basic human rights as the
rest of the population”?
It’s hard to say yes or no flat out, there are a lot of other factors to
consider before I say a full "yes". It really depends on the land
between me and the lot of land proposed for the group home. I can
imagine the area was chosen because it’s near a ten-acre wood
location, and can benefit all the intellectually challenged adults the
same way as if it was in my home town of Sonoma County as
Sweetwater was. If its a remote, upper class rich cul de sac, where no
one really plays outside and every home has 6 foot tall stone walls
and security gates, then no one
would care. If all the houses are
open grass, and every house has
children playing in the front yard,
then people would care. But unless
there is sufficient trees, fences, stone
walls or other barriers between me,
my family home and this facility, I'd
be hesitant, on the grounds that such
a facility would be best suited away
from a suburbia sort of cul de sacs
where the intellectually challenged
residents with histories could be
pushing problems onto the
neighbors' children and area at
large. I'd want to see their actual plans too, because its all possible
their plans would prove it would be a place where such fears would
be irrational, and there’s no need for that George Carlin "not in my
backyard!" firm stance. If I had kids, you don't want a neighbor
who's publicly masturbating as you walk them down the cul de sac to
the bus stop. You don't want that possibility, and that’s what all the
neighbors will fear. If its a no, my proposed alternative would be
building farther inside the woods, or in a more remote location where
the geographic area could harbor a more fruitful atmosphere
anyways- one similar to Sweetwater in California with farming and
outdoor possibilities.
Week 13: Response to PPT, The Architecture of Autism, Public
Space
Image: https://cdn-images1.medium.com/max/2000/1*lTR37X6EY3kBzf_kHWf3-A.jpeg

28. 28
Week 14: Response to the The Connection Between Relgion and
Urban Planning by David Engwicht
In his article, David Engwicht discusses the fact that religions (of
all types) have played major roles in the development of our cities.
Today, places of worship are primary components of almost all
urban centers. Author Lorne Daniel writes “From their often active
role in supporting people who live in city centers to their iconic
influence on design and use of space, religious structures tell us a
lot about our history, our current needs, and where we might be
headed in the future. This is an aspect of our urban future that
planners and urbanists should attend to.”
Identify a place of worship with which you are somewhat familiar.
(If you are not familiar with any places of worship, do a bit of
research on one in your own city or town.) Show a photograph of
this religious structure. (You may use photographs from the web.)
What roles has this place served in the development of your
city/town? How has it influenced the design of the area around it?
How has its role changed over time? What roles could this place of
worship play in the future development of your city/town?
The place of worship I'm identifying, which is the only place
of worship I'm familiar with coming from parents of atheistic faith, is
the Hungarian Reformed Church in Poughkeepsie New York. My
grandparents were active members of this church, and the church
sponsored them when coming over from Europe directly after World
War II. Its a small church with less than 50 members, with a
dwindling member list as time goes on. The church was the center
for a lot of community gatherings, which my grandmother would
always cook for. Although I was never brought up religiously, I'd
help my grandmother prepare food for events when needed, and I also
attended 2 funeral services there. In the development of the
community area, it has always acted as people from Hungary to come
together and create their own community, helping others come over
and get situated with homes and jobs if possible. The building is
small and modest, and as time goes on I'm told the Priest is getting
too old to do repairs, and is hurting financially as the amount of
people attending has fallen low, with many of the original members
after World War II dyeing.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Hungarian+Reformed+Church&sou
rce=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiShIyr3PDTAhWELcAK
HQfdDo4Q_AUICygC&biw=1414&bih=943#tbm=isch&q=hungarian
+reformed+church+poughkeepsie&imgrc=IONHEk7Yzw7nJM:

29. 29
Week 14: Response to Prospects for the Future of Diversity and
Design
Consider the quote in your syllabus from educator Michael J.
Shannon: “Design, as vision in action – the intersection of
understanding and creation – is a universal human capacity that
can play a fundamental role in social evolution, in process that
transforms resources, energy, and information to make our world.”
Think about your own major and/or future profession. What is the
biggest challenge, problem, or question that your field needs to
tackle right now? What do you plan to do to address this challenge,
problem, or question either as part of your studies or professional
life?
I'm currently majoring in Environmental Design with a minor
in Sculpture, on route to do a Master of Architecture in 2 years. I plan
to use this to get into resilient and sustainable architecture, green
urban revival and landscape designs in urban areas, while working
towards sculptural aspects of Space and Placemaking. The biggest
challenge facing the architecture field right now, as far as I see it,
someone else could disagree, would be working towards progressive
designing of cities towards a more resilient and sustainable
future. The largest catalyst changing the world is climate change,
which will completely change how we live and how we define
architecture in cities across the world. I plan to try to work towards
this, and hopefully with research into systems and materials help
create new built environments that are conducive to change, but also
able to change with it; built environments that are at the same time
smarter, more practical, more sustainable, resilient, but also are
phenomenological and help us connect to a rawness of life. I'd love to
get into 3-D printing, any new materials and practices, and
progressive forms of shaping space to help foster community.
https://www.kadvacorp.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/02/Hightech-Architecture-Style-
Sustainable-Architecture-or-Eco-tech-Design-Style-9.jpg