Looking at the world, how many examples of dishonesty can you see? It shouldn’t be hard. We run on it like gasoline.
I was struck by it yesterday in a very strange way: architecture.
This seems like a weird thing to get into a fuss over. I was in geography class and for some reason the professor found it good class material to go through pictures of Dallas, Texas and examine why things were the way they were. It makes for interesting discussion, even if it really has nothing much to do with the class.
For the rest of the class, I was struck by dishonesty in even the way things were built. Looking at architecture, infrastructure, or any other thing people build, you can tell a lot about the values of the people who live or work around these buildings.
The first slide showed a Google Earth image of downtown Dallas, boxed in by highways. The highways, the professor explained, were constructed in the late 50s and early 60s as a way to segregate poor, black neighborhoods from the mostly white downtown. This infrastructure development actually caused white people to pour out of the city into the newly developing suburbs. Anyone who has heard of “white flight” is familiar with the concept I’ve just described.
The case of the highways helped me realize that, as a 21-year-old, I’m blind to the fact that much of our infrastructure was constructed in a way to enforce segregation. Perhaps this continues to this day, unbeknownst to the average observer.
In my own burg of Oklahoma City, once you cross south of the highway rimming the southern part of downtown, you enter a poorer minority district that continues until the loop, where suburbia begins. Is this how most large cities are constructed?
When the next picture comes onto the screen, it shows a windmill standing in front of a suburban housing district within sight of Dallas’s skyline. The windmill was built to suggest the peace and tranquility of the country in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States.
Obviously, this isn’t the country. People are still willing to believe it is, because it is a very successful housing district in the Dallas area. The idea of fakeness is obviously appealing. To me, it’s not as though people are fake themselves - they just prefer comfort, even if it means accepting a lie.
The next picture shows Plano, a wealthy suburb of Dallas, and a Wal-Mart that was built with a country motif. A girl in class, who said she lived in Plano, said she always shopped there, even though it was not the closest Wal-Mart. The reason was that she felt safer there.
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Article comments
1 - Erin, elementary Art teacher, from Wichita, KS
My first thought is to defend the architects as they work simply at the will of their client. Next, DUH! Of course architecture effects, divides, defines class, neighborhoods, economic barrierers and differences. A basic course in Art and psychology would explain all of this. Just look at graphics. Target is successful and bold because they use red and because they lay out their store nicely; it's pretty and open. It makes me smile every time I walk in. Wal-Mart is cheap because they use a cheap, dirty blue. Their parking lots are angled and hard to maneuver adn their aisles are no better. I leave Wal-Mart feeling like I need to wipe off all the yucky Wal-Martness. Big Lots uses orange and brown (not seen as expensive colors) and lays out their store sloppily, because they can..everything is cheap and in bulk, nothing special. Architecture is no different than that. People don't trust modern looking buildings for their banks because it seems too, well, modern and possibly shady. Same for courthouses. Even recently-built courthouses have to be careful. With modern accents they're still pretty traditional. Fast-track architecture and strip malls do not say, "Trust me! Spend time in this store!" It says, "Run in here fast and don't expect what you buy here to last!" Why do more affluent neighborhoods NOT sport pawn shops or payday loan buildings and poor neighborhoods have them in abundance?
This sweet 21-year-old isn't saying or realizing anything new, as his professor already showed. He/she is simply starting to notice the painfully obvious divisions that art and architecture can allow, but not always at the intention or fault of the artist themselves.
Oh, the lessons this poor kid will continue to learn.....
2 - Kyle
Wow, good points. I should've realized it wasn't new but I guess being a youngin' most everything is new to me.
3 - Two Dogs
Just one small comment on the WHERE the highway systems were located. All infrastructure costs money. Those highways were not constructed with keeping the black man down in mind, certainly not in Oklahoma, but were constructed in the areas surrounding the most populated areas where it was cheapest. Think about it, logic tells you that they weren't going to raze the areas that drew the most revenue. It had not one thing to do with race, it had to do with the tax money that could be continued by ignoring the more affluent areas. That isn't racism, but classism. And your prof is perpetuating that very same concept by trying to focus your attention on the non-existent problem of race in that construction. Government's sole purpose is just like our own, to ensure its survival. You certainly wouldn't look for Soonertown to let 35 go right through the campus.
Yes, I am an architect. And I certainly appreciate your views, just do not let someone else tell you what to think or simply accept what they say as gospel truth. You are questioning your environment and that is a good thing. Don't blindly accept the spoon fed racist interpretation of classism that you were given in class today. But do realize that classism is just as much discrimination as racism is.
As far as the architecture is concerned, clients want buildings to fit the aesthetic of their function. You want to be able to SEE that the building is a church without a flashing sign. Schools look a certain way, banks as well. Dormitories, too.
As far as box stores or malls are concerned, their life cycle is at maximum seven years. Beyond that time frame, profitability drops, that is why the Wal-Mart builds a new store in the same area about every five years or so.
Great post by the way, good luck in your studies, but architecture is a great field, hope you study it more, it does tend to show history pretty well if you look closely. If you would like to ask any questions or correspond, I welcome that wholeheartedly.