Spatializing Authoritarianism book includes chapter by Asst. Prof. Suzanne Harris-Brandts

May 18, 2022

A new book, Spatializing Authoritarianism, includes a chapter by Assistant Professor Suzanne Harris-Brandts, of the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism. 

The book, edited by political geographer Dr. Natalie Koch, was published by Syracuse University Press in May 2022. It advances a geographic perspective on authoritarianism, with scholars investigating its many scales and spatialities in case studies from around the world.

Chapter 7 by Dr. Harris-Brandts is titled Skopje’s ‘White Palace’ Party Headquarters: Architecture, Urban Design, and Power in North Macedonia 

It discusses the opulent headquarters of a dominant right-wing political party in this former Yugoslavian country, arguing that the interconnected nature of power and space in North Macedonia is best understood by closely examining what this party built and how. 

The chapter includes photographs and focus group and interview data from Harris-Brandts’ field research in North Macedonia. It offers a practice-based understanding of how expressions of authoritarianism manifest in architecture and urban design. 

Photograph: VMRO-DPMNE Party’s “White Palace” political party headquarters, Skopje, North Macedonia, 2018.
Source: Suzanne Harris-Brandts 

Harris-Brandts joined Carleton University’s architecture school in 2020. Previously, she taught at MIT’s School of Architecture & Planning, the International Black Sea University (Tbilisi, Georgia), and the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture. Her research brings together design and the social sciences to explore issues of power, equity, and collective identity in the built environment. 

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