Rewriting Exurbia
2020-2022
Syracuse SOURCE GRANT RESEARCH
From the Hyperlocal to the Delirious Mega-Scape
The urban periphery of North America is transforming. Contrary to the iconic image and physical pattern of the endlessly sprawling suburb, the introduction of new cultures and lifestyles has enriched its physical and cultural identity. The research is ongoing experiments that explores design possibilities in the postwar suburb developments. Through finding and documenting the existing transformation mainly in Westminster, California and Maryvale, Arizona, primarily reflected in the informal uses of the front lawn, back yard, and public parking lots are immigrants' rewriting of the existing urban fabric.
New forms and materials have also been developed in single family housing and shopping mall in cope with their specific cultural and social needs. The second part examines specific design strategies and techniques that respond to the relatively new sensibility to the design of the continuous metropolitan surface. These are triggered by already existing and easy to imagine further refinements of new zoning policies and other practices that result from recent cultural and economic pressure that are already in play, changing the texture of neighborhood spaces.
Research Mentor: Larry Davis
Collaborate with Xinyu Tang
Transition in the Residential Fabric of its Dominant Postwar Suburban Area