Sub-urbanism and the Art of Memory
Posted on September 21st, 2004 in of interest and
Sub-urbanism and the Art of Memory by Sebastien Marot weaves together four distinct threads—Frances Yates’ research into the ancient art of memory, Freud’s theorizing about the city, Peter Smithson’s writing and art, and a wonderful work of landscape architecture by Georges Descombes—in order to flesh out at strategy of design which he has termed Sub-urbanism. Marot lists four attitudes that characterize this approach:
an active regard for the memory of the site; a vision of site and design as processes rather than products; an in-depth rather than merely planar reading of open spaces; and a conception of site and design as fields of relations rather than as arrangements of objects.
Given that my thesis work and current interests follow a similar trajectory, I must recommend Marot’s book, especially to those of us speculating upon possible interventions into the vastness of the ‘burbs.
