Concepts can become powerful tools to analyze reality and to develop new practices, confronted with the necessities of the contemporary world. In the notorious juxtaposition between the “bricoleur” and the “engineer,” developed by Claude Lévi-Strauss, the first uses a limited number of tools and materials to perform multiple tasks, reassembling things together in creative ways, while the second invents specific tools for the solution of each new problem that arises. The objective of the first CCA summer seminar for graduate students is to critically read a series of concepts developed by theorists and designers to understand their potential as tools for reflection, for the development of new strategies and for the creation of novel assemblages within contemporary architecture and urbanism.

As part of the series, Edward Soja presents a public Mellon Lecture on 12 July on spatial justice.

Other invited participants include:

Iñaki Ábalos and Renata Sentkiewicz on Picturesque
Stan Allen on Landform Building
David Gissen on Subnature
Momoyo Kaijima on Micro-Urbanism
Nancy Levinson on Public Works
Reinhold Martin on Utopia
Mohsen Mostafavi on Ecological Urbanism