Designing Modernity

4 credits · Undergraduate

The clothes we wear, the buildings that shelter us, and the food we eat are designed. Their appearance and packaging shape our tastes and daily experiences. Humans are not the only species to fashion implements and alter surroundings, but we are possibly unique in constantly technologically reinventing what it means to be human. This course examines a specific period of human invention: modernity. Looking at how innovations in architectural, engineering, garden, and urban design from 1700 to 1900 constituted new forms of social life, created globe-encircling empires, and accelerated ecological destruction, the course contextualizes practices of financial speculation, data science, and DIY making today.