FROM ANOMIE TO AGRICULTURE: ON SPATIALLY PRODUCED VIOLENCE, SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AND ARCHITECTURE

Abstract

This thesis investigates the transformative potential of architecture as means of mitigating violence in West Garfield Park, Chicago (Illinois, United States). The unremitting violence that plagues the area has accelerated the rate of urban decay over the past decade, resulting in an abundance of vacant land and dilapidated infrastructure. This thesis acknowledges and defends the value of these blighted urban characteristics as sites of opportunity to mitigate the violence that created them. Through the alteration of perceptions and the implementation of a phased intervention strategy, the proposed design seeks to transform the social dynamics in which violence is spatially produced. The full capacity for violence mitigation is realized through the reproduction and transmission of knowledge and experience necessary to replicate the creation of fundamental community networks. It is through the potential to replicate these processes that the established thesis framework can be applied to urban environments with similar urban dynamics.