Strasbourg and Sustainability in Photos + "Ecocritical Threes"

November 13, 2023

Brigitte Stepanov

The Seismology Museum, the Danube Eco-Neighborhood, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Welcome to another round of "Ecocritical Threes," a brief three-point summary of the week's theory (in-class discussions) and practice (community engagement and experimental learning). The "Ecocritical Threes" series shares questions posed, reflections had, and anecdotes told, providing a glimpse into the interdisciplinary and intersectional thinking with which we are approaching climate change and climate justice this semester. 

This week's trip to Strasbourg was organized along three axes:  

1. What is catastrophe, both "natural" and "man-made"? 

While learning more about seismology and earth sciences at the Seismology Museum with Dr. Valérie Ansel, we came to understand how the division between these two categories can become fraught - and how these distinctions will become growingly less clear in the face of an increasingly changing climate.

2. What does participatory living look like? Who does it include/exclude? How can architecture create community? 

Our tour of the Ecoquartier Danube, a neighborhood planned with ecological well-being as its guiding principle, shed light on these questions while raising further concerns about equity and inclusion. 

3. How is "environment" (and different conceptualizations of the word) represented in visual culture? 

During our time at the Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, we engaged with visual representations of landscape, still life, nature, and industry (along with its harmful environmental effects).

See Blog Post #17 for more!