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February 17, 2009: A Map
very subject, and I must admit that his persistent questions have forced me to reconsider my own arguments. And so I appeal to you, Diotima, to assist me in assuaging my doubts. During the course of our conversation in the car, we developed a four-part hypothesis. First, that globalization affects the inside as well as the outside of the enclosures in which we dwell; second, that the suburb is a type of city; third, that all houses are a type of housing and a basic element of urbanization; and fourth, that if you change the cultural narratives behind the single-family house you change the city. This hypothesis seems to me unassailable in its fundamentals. It amounts, if you will, to a reformulation if not a repudiation of what is sometimes called the American Dream, which, as you say, is the ultimate subject of our symposium. However, when I hear you describe the facts on the ground, so to speak, I remain concerned that this dream is what binds everything together and therefore must not be tampered with.
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Diotoma Well put Socrates. I concur with your hypothesis. And in a sense you’re right. Shared aspirations do form strong bonds. That is not the issue. To begin with, communities formed in this way tend to exclude as much as include. The studies we have seen show a suburban landscape that is marked by such exclusions, some of which are mainly economic while others are mainly cultural or social. The overlapping boundaries formed by these exclusions divide the interiors of houses (as, for example, in uneven domestic gender roles) just as they do neighborhoods, towns, and cities.
Socrates Yes, I made a similar argument in response to Glaucon’s objections. But how, for example, might a cultural domain like architecture contribute to unraveling these binds, which ultimately seem social or political in character? DiotomA Architecture’s capacity to stimulate, to represent, and to accommodate shared aspirations places it at the crux of the matter rather than at the margins. I am not only speaking about highly visible works of architecture, but also about the everyday architectures that make up the