No. 62-63 (2022): Rural modern. Themes and context
Articles

Catastrophe, migration, and modernity: Farm Security Administration settlements in Arizona and California.

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  • Filippo De Dominicis
Filippo De Dominicis
Sapienza University of Rome
Bio
De Dominicis
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12838/fam/issn2039-0491/n62-63-2022/942

Published 2023-03-27

Keywords

  • Farm Security Administration,
  • Vernon DeMars,
  • Dust Bowl

How to Cite

De Dominicis, F. (2023). Catastrophe, migration, and modernity: Farm Security Administration settlements in Arizona and California. FAMagazine. Research and Projects on Architecture and the City, (62-63), 176–184. https://doi.org/10.12838/fam/issn2039-0491/n62-63-2022/942

Copyright (c) 2022 FAMagazine. Research and Projects on Architecture and the City

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The paper offers a brief critical reading of the resettlement efforts undertaken by the Farm Security Administration in the aftermath of the disastrous sandstorms that struck the southern Great Plains of the United States. Looking at the evolution of planning strategies between design, planning and landscape, the essay questions the adaptability and ambiguity of modern architecture as a tool of community planning and, at the same time, of control, in the aftermath of one of the greatest catastrophes the U.S. rural world had ever experienced; and beyond clichés and appraisals expressed by the specialized press of those years. 

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