THINKING THROUGH SOIL

Urbanization is always a process of soil formation. Every material process that shapes the construction of the urban environment passes through the soil at some point. In Thinking Through Soil, we will use ‘soil' as an interpretive category to guide us through the political consequences, design epistemology, and material contingency of the urban environment... In particular, this seminar will take a close look at the Mexico City-Mezquital Valley system. The soils in the Mezquital Valley have been irrigated with untreated wastewater for longer than any other soil in the world, and are locked in a cycle of reciprocal presupposition with the desiccated soils of Mexico City's rapidly subsiding lake-bed... DES 3385 / Thinking Through Soil Instructor / Seth Denizen Seminar / Spring 2020 Department of Landscape Architecture Graduate School...