Course Syllabus

Columbia GSAPP — Spring 2026

ARCH6975A: Design, Power, and Imaginaries: Critical Histories and Futures

Format: Seminar / Discussions / Student-led Research Projects
Instructor: Zarith Pineda
Meeting Time & Location: Mondays, 11:00 AM–1:00 PM, Avery Hall, Room 600
Office Hours: Available by appointment (email to schedule)

Course Description

This seminar examines how architecture, urbanism, and design have been historically mobilized to produce, reinforce, and naturalize systems of power—while also serving, at critical moments, as tools for resistance, solidarity, imagination, and repair. Through case studies spanning the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, students will analyze how spatial practices intersect with race, labor, migration, climate, and governance.

The course begins with histories of segregation and erasure, including redlining in U.S. cities, the concealed architecture of slavery at Monticello, and the destruction of Seneca Village to make way for Central Park. We will situate these examples within broader global frameworks of urbicide and spatial violence, drawing on Stephen Graham’s work on Bosnia, Eyal Weizman’s forensic investigations of occupation and settlements, and the spatial divisions of Northern Ireland.

Parallel discussions trace migration and mobility in the Americas—from pre-Columbian spatial practices to the Braceros Program, border militarization, and contemporary climate-driven displacement. Using Fernando Lara’s Spatial Theories of the Americas as an anchor, students will consider how displacement, resilience, and hybridity shape architectural and territorial imaginaries.

In the second half of the semester, the course turns toward speculative, emergent, and reparative practices. Readings from Octavia Butler, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Maree Brown, and Donna Haraway foreground imagination as a political force capable of reshaping scientific, artistic, and spatial futures. Students will engage methodologies of non-extractive community engagement, community assessment, and trauma-informed and healing-centered design, critically reflecting on the ethical responsibilities of architects and designers.

The seminar concludes by examining power and governance through the political thought of Noam Chomsky and José “Pepe” Mujica, asking what architectural practice can—and must—do within systems of inequality, extraction, and ecological crisis. Students will synthesize historical analysis and speculative thinking through a final research paper or design proposal.

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Image Courtesy of New York Times January 2026

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Critically analyze histories of segregation, erasure, and urbicide in architecture and urbanism.

  • Situate design practices within broader political, economic, and social power structures.

  • Evaluate migration, climate change, and displacement as spatial and territorial processes.

  • Engage speculative theory, art, and science fiction as tools for imagining alternative futures.

  • Produce critical writing and/or design research grounded in ethical, historical, and political analysis.

Community Agreements

Design, Power & Imaginaries Seminar
Columbia University

These agreements support rigorous inquiry, ethical engagement, and collective responsibility in conversations about design, power, race, colonialism, and institutional authority.

1. Situated Listening

We listen to understand, not to respond or perform.
We recognize silence, reflection, and pacing as legitimate forms of participation.

In practice

  • No one speaks twice until others have had the opportunity to speak.

  • We allow pauses and do not rush resolution.

2. Positional Responsibility

We speak from our own locations, experiences, and fields of study rather than abstraction or generalization.

In practice

  • Use “I” statements.

  • Name perspective and limits of knowledge.

  • Avoid universalizing claims.

3. Care With Accountability

Discomfort is expected in critical inquiry; harm is addressed when it occurs.
We prioritize impact, repair, and learning over intent or defensiveness.

In practice

  • We pause when harm is named.

  • We remain in dialogue rather than withdrawing.

4. Critical Context

We understand design as historically and politically situated.
We examine how power, colonialism, and institutional structures shape design practices and imaginaries.

In practice

  • We contextualize ideas historically.

  • We do not treat questions of dignity, safety, or belonging as theoretical abstractions.

5. Collective Imagination

Critique is paired with responsibility to imagine alternatives.
We engage design as a tool for repair, possibility, and shared futures.

In practice

  • We ask who benefits, who is excluded, and what could be otherwise.

  • We remain open to unlearning and reimagining.

Course Materials & Readings

All required readings will be made available to students via Columbia CourseWorks unless otherwise noted. Students are expected to complete readings prior to class and come prepared to engage in discussion.

Course Structure & Weekly Outline

Weeks 1–3 | Histories of Design and Segregation

Topics

  • Design and education as institutional systems of power

  • Redlining and spatial segregation in U.S. cities

  • Architecture and the concealment of slavery

  • Seneca Village and the politics of erasure

  • Urban ghettoization as state policy

Key Readings

Focus:
Students build a shared vocabulary for understanding design as a tool of institutional authority, segregation, and erasure, grounded in narrative, policy, and lived experience.

Weeks 4–6 | Migration, Mutual Aid, and Spatial Theories of the Americas

Topics

  • Pre-Columbian mobility and spatial practices

  • Borders, militarization, and labor regimes

  • The Braceros Program and racialized census politics

  • Climate change, El Niño/La Niña, and displacement from low-emission economies

  • Fernando Lara’s framework of the Americas as a space of displacement and resilience

Key Readings & Media

  • VOCES American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos, PBS

  • Lara, Fernando. Spatial Theories of the Americas (selected chapters).

  • Ngai, Mae. Impossible Subjects (2004).

  • Massey, Douglas et al. Beyond Smoke and Mirrors (2002).

  • IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (selected sections).

  • De Genova, Nicholas. “The Legal Production of Mexican/Migrant ‘Illegality.’” Latino Studies (2004).

Weeks 7–8 | Urbicide and Architecture in Conflict

Topics

  • Urbicide in Bosnia

  • Forensic Architecture and spatial evidence

  • Settlements, occupation, and territorial fragmentation

  • Divided cities: Northern Ireland, Johannesburg, and post-conflict urbanism

Key Readings

  • Graham, Stephen. “Cities and the ‘War on Terror.’” IJURR (2006).

  • Weizman, Eyal. Hollow Land (2007).

  • Weizman, Eyal. Forensic Architecture (2017).

  • Bollens, Scott. Urban Peace-Building in Divided Societies.

Weeks 9–10 | Imagination, Art, and Emergent Practices

Topics

  • Science fiction and political imagination

  • Non-extractive community engagement

  • Trauma-informed and healing-centered design

  • Designers’ ethical responsibilities

Key Readings

  • Brown, Adrienne Maree. Emergent Strategy (2017).

  • Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower (1993).

  • Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider (1984).

  • Ginwright, Shawn. “The Future of Healing” (2018).

  • Haraway, Donna. Staying with the Trouble (2016).

Weeks 11–12 | Power, Governance, and Alternative Visions

Topics

  • Systems of power and consent

  • Governance, austerity, and dignity

  • Implications for architectural practice

Key Readings

  • Chomsky, Noam. Power Systems (2013).

  • Mujica, José. A Black Sheep to Power (2015).

  • Harvey, David. Rebel Cities (2012).

Weeks 13–14 | Synthesis and Final Projects

  • Student presentations of final research or speculative design proposals

  • Collective discussion: design as repair, empathy, and imagination

Assignments & Assessment

  • Participation & Weekly Discussions: 25%

  • Reading Responses / Short Assessments: 35%

  • Final Paper and Speculative Drawing Project Deliverables: 40%

Evaluation follows GSAPP standards and is based on clarity of argument, depth of research, critical engagement with course materials, originality, and rigor of analysis or design inquiry.

Academic Integrity, Plagiarism & Use of AI (Columbia University Policy)

Columbia University expects the highest standards of academic honesty. All work submitted in this course must be the student’s own and must properly acknowledge all sources.

Plagiarism—including the unattributed use of another person’s words, ideas, data, images, drawings, diagrams, or design concepts—constitutes academic misconduct. This includes copying from published texts, online sources, classmates, or previous student work. Reuse of one’s own prior work without disclosure (“self-plagiarism”) is also prohibited unless explicitly approved.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI):

  • AI tools (e.g., large language models, image generators) may be used only for preliminary research support, brainstorming, outlining, or language editing, and must be clearly disclosed.

  • AI tools may not replace original critical analysis, interpretation, argumentation, or design authorship.

  • Any use of AI must be documented in a brief statement describing the tool used, the purpose, and how it informed (but did not generate) the final work.

  • Submitting AI-generated text, images, or designs as original work without disclosure constitutes academic misconduct.

Violations will be addressed in accordance with Columbia University and GSAPP disciplinary procedures.

Relevant policies:

Research & Library Resources

Students are strongly encouraged to make extensive use of Columbia’s research libraries:

Staying Informed: Media, Power & Information Literacy

Students are expected to follow current events throughout the semester and to critically evaluate media sources, ownership structures, and ideological positioning. Exposure to diverse perspectives—including conflicting and oppositional viewpoints—is essential.

Local & United States Media

International Media

Critical, Independent & Regional Perspectives

Media Bias, Verification & Analysis Tools

Students are encouraged to actively assess bias, framing, and omissions using the following tools:

These tools should be used not to avoid bias—an impossible task—but to understand how power, ideology, and ownership shape information.

Academic Calendar

Students are responsible for adhering to all Columbia GSAPP academic deadlines, including add/drop periods, holidays, and final review or submission dates.

The official Spring 2026 GSAPP Academic Calendar is available at:
https://www.arch.columbia.edu/academics/calendar

All course deadlines and expectations align with this calendar unless otherwise noted.