Kinetic City: Research Seminar on Temporal Urbanism

The research seminar will explore the phenomenon of temporal urbanism. The intention of the course is to expose students to the existing literature of the subject as well as to construct new ways and methods to map, understand and theorize how \’temporality\’ can inform current debates on urbanism more broadly.

The class will be formatted such that each student will pick a research project, in consultation with the instructor in the first three weeks of the class and this will be developed through discussion in the course of the semester. The research projects will range from looking at settlement design as a result of response to emergencies – both man made as well as natural disasters. These would range from refugee camps and responses to earthquakes and floods as well as celebratory and religious gatherings such as Haj and the Burning Man Festival etc.

The seminar will also discuss and analyze the Kumbh Mela – a religious festival that occurs in India every 12 years and involves creating a settlement for 55 days to house 11 million people. A team from the GSD that will participate a documentation project of the Kumbh Mela during the J term (2103) will also form part of the class and will work on this as a case study project.

The class will be capped at 12 students. No prerequisites.