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“I decided to do my senior project (at College of the Atlantic) as a visual document, containing both a narration of my project in the reclamation of urban spaces through seemingly non-subaltern cultures, as well as possible options to reclaim the design and visual qualities of our urban spaces.
I started my project by doing a 6-month journey through Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Israel and Palestine. My idea was to research urban gardening, anarchist squats and subaltern urban movements to understand the ways in which we interact in the liminal space between public and private land ownership and use.
However, the more I travelled, I began to realize how there are ways in which people are (sub)consciously using their urban environment in ways that are both non-traditional and creative.
Abandoned airports turned into community agriculture projects; grocery carts with gardens in them chained to lamp posts; the train station as a house….actions that are simple, obvious and negate the increasingly controlled nature of our public spaces.
I came to the understanding that we have the possibilities to create, make and use with the materials available to us – however, in cities, more often than not people are too busy, too tired, or just don’t know the resources available to them. “
-Zuri Camille de Souza-
Designer, Artist
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