The question has been put to the list that
> I read somewhere that university campuses in the late 60s were
> designed to make civil protest by students as difficult as
> possible - unfortunately I have been unable to cross
> reference this claim, can you spare a mite more of time to
> tell me whether this is possible and if so how this would
> be done (what kind of design considerations)?
This seems weird to me.
First, most of the campuses where unrest took place were
built well before the 1960s. Fitting new buildings into a
campus would have offered some opportunity for social
control through architectural design, but I'm not sure how
this would have affected the general campus.
Second, the use of design as a vehicle of social control is
theoretically feasible, but the specifics depend on so many
factors that a claim such as this seems -- on its face -- to
be questionable.
Third, campus design involves many factors. These include
the desire to design spaces and campuses to INCREASE
communication. This would be a factor working against the
goal of making civil protest impossible.
These three points seem obvious. Before spending any more
time on this issue, I'd like to see the references and know more
about the context. It seems to me this notion is moe likely to
be an urban legend than a reality -- an urban design legend,
to coin a paraphrase.
--
Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Knowledge Management
Norwegian School of Management
+47 22.98.50.00 Telephone
+47 22.98.51.11 Telefax
Home office:
+46 (46) 53.245 Telephone
+46 (46) 53.345 Telefax
email: [log in to unmask]
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