Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / The police are designed. Their tools, policies, and human services are all products of deliberation and choice, and therefore open to consideration and re-consideration in an era that has seen widespread abuse of power. This thesis takes up one element of the designed police system in the United States: its material culture-from vehicles, to uniforms and badges, to weapons. The physical tools and devices that the police force use are emblematic of explicit and implicit values. These values make certain conditions and encounters possible, and other scenarios impossible. What is behind these tools, and how might our culture see them anew? How might we re-imagine them in the civic act of designing a future? Oversight, transparency, and accountability are a critical piece of the civic fabric. In order for law enforcement to reflect the needs and expectations of citizens, it is in part, our responsibility to interrogate the designs of the key institutions we rely on. But agency in the design space of the police has not been encouraged. This thesis presents one example of how a dialogue around design is a form of productive civic activity and a check against state violence. In it, I offer a complementary set of tools for imagining possible futures of policing that reconsider scenarios for law enforcement, with a provisional freedom from its current form. Problematizing the physical designs of the police, it focuses on the values, priorities, and politics that are inevitably imbued in these objects. This practice-led research draws from interviews with both citizens and law enforcement, design research, and participatory, critical making. It makes a case for citizen engagement and civic imagination in the proactive design of the police. This speculative design approach fosters understanding and agency, and suggests one way in which the design of the police could be a more inclusive and collaborative project. / by Sands A. Fish, II. / S.M.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/117453 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Fish, Sands A., II |
| Contributors | Ethan Zuckerman., Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 104 pages, application/pdf |
| Rights | MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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