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fig. 1: Mechanics of capitalism
contemporary crisis & modern utopia The framing of architecture within a post-capitalist social condition is to declare the current mechanisms of urban production to be flawed at best, and in a state of crisis at worst. The abandonment of civic centers with the evacuation of large-scale manufacturing has brought the post-industrial city to its knees. The city has always been appealing for the social and economic betterment provided through its inherent network of resources and liberties. This notion is firmly rooted within the Modernist projection of the city as a place of production and economic wealth. This ideal has faded with the removal of labor from city centers in an increasingly globalized and nomadic network of manufacturing that readily relocates in search for a cheaper workforce. The post-industrial city increasingly relies on the service and creative industries as the future of production in the Western world. As the landscapes of labor and production undergo significant structural shifts, the foundation of the American housing sector is also being scrutinized as a failing model of economic security. The last three years have produced some of the highest foreclosure rates for homeowners since the Great Depression, and is largely seen as the result of the morally
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