Political Economy of Construction:
Design, Bureaucracy, Labour, and Money

Instructor: Daniel Young Date & Time: January 09, 16, 23, 30 09:00-11:30 ET

DESCRIPTION: Like many named places in California, it was less an identifiable city than a grouping of concepts—census tracts, special purpose bond-issue districts, shopping nuclei, all overlaid with access roads to its own freeway… [A] hallucinatory vision of a city imposed onto the blank suburban plat, filed in some county recorder’s office; a planned community, a ‘circuit’s-eye view’ of a transistor radio, whose streets, housing tracts, freeway interchanges, and so on, were named for electronic parts, now deeded over to the heirs.” —Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
This Seminar proposes a wandering exploration around a web of interconnected strata. The recently deceased George Baird (August 25, 1939 – October 17, 2023) coined the term “Political Economy of Construction” as a tool to help us understand the decisions architects make when designing, as well as to distinguish established mainstream construction practices from luxury and premium construction materials and labor, setting aside experimental practices for now.
The Seminar presents the practice of Political Economy of Construction through a structured journey of interviews, conversations, and readings of theoretical texts on architecture, economics, labor, and planning. Beginning with political economy as a possible artistic practice, then moving to a study of urban building types and regulations such as zoning, we progress to examining the condition and organization of labor in construction, and finally conclude with a discussion of the complex relationship between finance and construction.

Session 1, Introductions and Political Economy as an Artistic Practice: Introduction to the Seminar; an artist talk from the Instructor, Daniel Young; the struggle with heuristics versus experience; and the evolution of the ‘prototype’ as a method, referencing Guy Debord’s Theory of the Dérive and its modification by Roberto Bolaño.
Readings:
– Guy Debord, “Theory of the Dérive” (1958)
– George Baird, review of the Gehry Residence (Santa Monica)
– Roberto Bolaño, Labyrinth (2012)
– The New Yorker Fiction Podcast, Sterling Holywhitemountain reads Roberto Bolaño
– Donald MacKenzie, An Engine Not a Camera (2006)

Session 2, The Bureaucracy: Building Code, Zoning, and Typology: A look at typology and the impact of bureaucracy on urban development, including the influence of zoning and building codes.
Readings:
– Christ & Gantenbein, Typology I & II (2012 & 2015)
– George Baird, “Vacant Lots in Toronto” (1978)
– Steven Holl, “The Alphabetical City” (1987)
– Research interview texts from architects and City of Vancouver planners
– YIMBY zoning reform texts (TBD)

Session 3, Labor: A focus on labor in construction, its organization, precariousness, and its social and economic context.
Readings:
– Andrew Yamakawa Elrod, “Built Trades” (2021)
– Pier Vittorio Aureli, “Labor and Architecture: Revisiting Cedric Price’s Potteries Thinkbelt” (2011)
– Maria Sheherazade Giudici, “Hoc Opus, Hic Labour” (YouTube, 2021)
– Katie Lloyd Thomas, “New Sites of Labor” (YouTube, 2021)
– Felix Behling and Mark Harvey, “The Evolution of False Self-Employment in the British Construction Industry” (2015)
– Vancouver carpenter research interview text

Session 4, Money: Financial Flows, Betongeld, Zero Interest Rate Phenomena, Form Follows Finance, and ‘the Wealth Window’: Discussion of the intersection between construction and finance, the impact of speculation, bubbles, and macro-economic forces.
Readings:
– Fredric Jameson, “Brick and the Balloon”
– Mike Davis, City of Quartz (selection)
– Brett Christophers, “Centering Housing in Political Economy”
– Harvey Molotch, “The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economy of Place”
– Brunnermeier & Schnabel, “Bubbles and Central Banks: Historical Perspectives”
– Pier Vittorio Aureli, historical examples of urban development, speculation, and rent-seeking
– Macro-economics research interview text

IMAGE: Construction Site, Getty Images

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