Conversations + Workshops
Visual Collaborations
Project Guidance
About
Contact
All Projects
Envisioning Environment:
The Landscape Imaginaries of Urban US Freeways, 1956-1968
Margot Lystra
This work investigates the landscape imaginaries of urban US freeways, in an era of rapid construction and fervent protest.
From the postwar years through the 1960s, U.S. freeway plans and the ensuing urban “freeway revolts” catalyzed a public reckoning regarding the structures and natures of cities. This dissertation investigates local histories underlying several well-known late modernist freeway design projects. This work reveals how designer visions of urban freeways collided and coincided with activist actions and government agendas to precipitate new urban visions, forms of political action, and conceptions of environmental justice.
Supported by:
- Clarence Stein Institute for Urban & Landscape Studies
- Dumbarton Oaks Garden and Landscape Studies
- Institute for Social Sciences, Cornell University
Publication:
“Drawing Natures: US Freeway Controversies, Representational Techniques, and the Rise of Ecological Design,” Journal of Design History 30.2 (2017), 157-174.
Presentations (example):Between Eviction and Revolt: Situating The View from the Road,” Mobility and Access in Modern Urban Landscapes. SAH Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA (April 2022).