Towards a Queer Urban Design Methodology

Who and what is being left out and left behind of design and development decisions of thetwenty-first century city? How can architects, landscape architects, planners and preservationistschange how they know—and therefore make—the city so that they might promotea city of difference rather than continue to propagate a nostalgic (and outdated) notion ofthe city as community? This paper proposes that the idea of the city—and how we adaptits existing resources—could benefit from a rethinking of both what we reuse and how wealter those things. In order to change the what and the how of the city made (and, therefore,extend narratives of power and control), this paper focuses on by whom and for whom is thecity as a means toward pursuing urban transformation. Specifically, this paper will assert thequeer in a methodology of an urban adaptation in order to destabilize the norms of urbandesign practice. To facilitate this discussion, this paper will describe the pedagogy and designmethods used a framework for the investigations of an architecture thesis by Dustin Buzzardentitled “Painting the Town Pink (2013).” In this case, the queer will be asserted as a methodfor destabilizing naturalized norms of urban design knowledge and practice.

Volume Editors
Robert Corser & Sharon Haar

ISBN
978-1-944214-03-6