Space, Time and Society

Catalog description

The way in which the temporality of social life is categorized and understood varies across epochs and groups. One means through which we temporally sequence the world around us is through the built-environment. Our lives are framed by the spatial distribution of individuals and activities, and the choices made in the production and ordering of space communicates ideals on power relations and social structures. Civic architecture in particular functions as a political instrument mobilized by the state in order to materialize and reproduce ideologies. The first section ‘Time’ develops an account of collective memory and political imagination, in order to consider constructions of temporality and how they mediate socio-political understandings. The second section ‘Space’ considers the relation between architecture, collective memory, and political imagination. Finally, ‘State & Society’ applies these analytic tools in the context of monuments, courthouses, and penitentiaries.