Date of Award

Summer 8-2-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Megan Hicks

Second Advisor

William Parry

Academic Program Adviser

Jacqueline Brown

Abstract

This paper attempts to understand human material responses to catastrophic urban collapse. Using Henri Lefebvre's theories of spatial production and the history of a section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) this paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding the dynamics present in the creation of an urban ruin. Through the observation of homeless material responses, particularly the construction of encampments under the BQE, during the COVID-19 pandemic "lock-down" in New York City, this thesis illustrates how populations respond to urban ruin and social collapse. Moving forward, this paper hopes to serve as a synthesis of urban theory and archeological observation that will guide further investigation into social responses to urban collapse in the present, future and past.

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