Vacant/Wild/Ruined: Feral Urbanism

3 units

What urban design practices are needed in areas that have declined, that are in decline, or that simply are not growing? What if we let the city decline or go wild? What if we look at decay, ruin, wilderness and depopulation as something other than a crisis? This seminar examines experimental urban land management and preservation practices that embrace systems of emergent, wild and unexpected urbanism but that also raise questions of austerity and democratic rights to the land. With foundational readings as a guide, students will explore topics of state landbanking and autonomous land trusts, managed depletion (including St. Louis' infamous Team Four memorandum), wilderness conservation and greenway creation, agricultural land reclamation, homesteading in and deconstruction of vacant buildings, tactics for fighting absentee owners, and experimental preservation practices. Starting with grounding readings in principles of the American orientation to wilderness, ecological vitality and urbanism, the seminar explores the modern history of efforts to harness decline, vacancy, depletion and no-growth as productive forces. The seminar will root itself in Old North St. Louis, a neighborhood in St. Louis that has lost more than 60% of its peak population but that has continued to thrive. Students will work on projects serving Old North's ongoing efforts to harness urban conditions for a sustainable, just and vibrant future.