| Through an exploration of theories of the body and space, as developed by philosophers in the continental philosophy tradition, primarily Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Michel Foucault, my dissertation demonstrates how these concepts are essential to our understanding of urban redevelopment projects involving the social marginalization of minority groups through housing segregation. As such, this analysis of the phenomenon of segregation in the urban environment is both philosophical in methodology and insight and interdisciplinary in scope.;Using Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological and Foucault's archaeological and genealogical methods, I present the phenomenon of segregation as that which is primarily informed by how the relationship between the body and space is perceived. This perception, in turn, informs our political, sociological and historical understandings, and thus our analysis reveals the systems and logics that create and sustain the practice. By bringing this conceptual analysis to bear on case studies of urban segregation, I demonstrate that such an understanding is an essential part of the search for solutions to the continued practice of spatial and social segregation.;I have chosen to focus my investigation on two large-scale, low-income housing estates (Cabrini-Green in Chicago and Les Tarterets near Paris) that, despite bearing similar physical features, have significantly different social, historical, ethnic and cultural characteristics and demographics. Yet, I demonstrate that there exists a fundamental logic that lends itself to the formation of segregated enclaves at each of these sites, which can be extended to other sites of segregation as well.;My analysis of the architectural (spatial) practices and the systems of knowledge that inform them, support my thesis and offer a substantial critique of current and past urban planning methods and developments, while also creating space to offer proposals for other methodologies and planning schemes. |
