Social History Through the Urban Strata

I have just read about the Crypta Balbi in Rome. The original floor plan of the Crypta has been covered over with layers from 2000 years of urban debris, silt from the Tiber, and reuse. The layers have been excavated to make a museum of sorts of Roman history. See Geoff Manaugh's article here.
I am fascinated about this idea that one can travel through time spatially. Each one of the layers is a snapshot in time, in Rome's social/physical history. To walk through it, to see it all at once, to be able to reference and cross reference these layers with one another is not only a didactic experience, but an exercise in time travel.

Recurring Dreams

I have had these recurring dreams since I was very little. Nothing much happens of consequence, its more of a spatial/visceral experience rather then a sequence of events. In these dreams there are aggregations of one particular thing that build up and break down. The objects have spanned categories, from light bulbs to dirt, from sticks to gooey gel. Sometimes this experience is associated with a sound of buzzing and a feeling of anxiety.

The aggregation of one particular material, in a waking reality, is particularly beautiful to me. The limitations of that material actually opens up realms of possibilities and opportunities to play within those boundaries. This is what Aaron Brode, my Design Principles instructor, was trying to tell me that very first semester. I was too tired, to shell shocked, and too stubborn to see it.

Here is a woman whose work does a great job with this notion: Tara Donovan

A list of interests

A good friend, who is a year behind me in the Landscape Program, asked me to list a few words as to what I was thinking about for my thesis.

Here are some of those words with brief descriptions below:

Sociology of physical space

• Space is one of the factors that shapes the interactions between people
• Space is reflective of norms and values of the users and occupants of that space
• Space can build ties and brake bonds
  

Parallax (in formal expression)

• Defined as the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer (I hate to say it but wikipedia has a good definition and has an amiation that makes it a little clearer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax)
  

Sites of Contention

• Sites that have histories of social and ecological conflict (i.e. protest grounds, old factories that now are toxic and need remediation

Vacancies

• At all scales: abandoned roads, office parks/strip malls, houses, fallen trees, missing bricks

I don't know how all of these interests will come together. I can't see the links right now, but all of them swirl in my head in proximity to one another constantly. Maybe diagraming them in a visual way will help. If anyone has any suggestions let me know....