Ethics of Building

Abstract

Building practices have often been associated with utopian visions and promises of a more just way of living together. But to what extent can the built environment contribute to a better society? What role can mathematical models or data analyses play in questions of distributive justice in the city? Is it ever possible to build sustainably, or is building always also destroying the environment?

Objective

Students will learn about contemporary debates in architectural and urban planning ethics. We will discuss the positions against the background of their historical predecessors and current contexts. Students will work on small case studies in which they will ethically analyze the construction of a building, a district or a city. The seminar includes a student-co-led expedition through Zurich.

Content

Throughout history, there have always been utopian visions and promises tied to construction, be it of individual objects, such as towers, or of entire cities. For example, thanks to their geometric shapes, modern cities are supposed to enable more equality among people, even the equal distribution of sunshine, as Le Corbusier once dreamed. But to what extent is it even possible to create more equality by designing living spaces? A wall automatically excludes by protecting the interior. Building cities always means defining the far and the near, the center and the periphery, the upper and the lower. These orientations translate into social relations for example of those who have to commute far and those who are at the center of the action. Who determines how and what is built and whose perspective is not taken into account? To whom does a built landscape afford agency and to whom not? Mathematical models can predict the probabilities of encounters in space, which also can have an impact on social relationships. What is the relevance of such models as well as the more recent data analyses in questions of distributive justice? Is it possible to distribute social participation in the city? Does construction always have to destroy and replace the underlying nature? How do our building practices affect coexistence with other species?

We will not be able to solve these problems in one semester, but we will intensively grapple with the overarching question implied in all of them. The question is on the extent to which the built environment takes on ethical significance for human (and other) forms of life, and how are we to understand ethics in general if it is to respond to such questions.