Dr. Jacob Holland-Lulewicz

Hi, guys.

Thanks so much for having me.

Oh, yeah.

I don't know if we can call the architecture democratic, but it certainly reflects kind of ethos and our institutions, which themselves are democratic.

And so when we're thinking of democracy, I think what we're thinking of are places that are inclusive, that can hold a lot of people, that are designed to facilitate deliberation and conversation.

Sure.

At least where I work, in southeastern North America, we're looking for big, huge, round structures.

They're much bigger than a house, right?

They can fit more than one important family.

Maybe they can fit everyone in the village.

Maybe they can fit family representatives from lots of villages coming together.

And the shape, the circle, is really important, too, because when you're sitting in a circle and we find evidence for benches around the walls, you can see everyone else, right?

No one is necessarily front and center, right?

It's not like a classroom where all of my students are looking at me and I'm telling them stuff that they maybe need to know.

But it really reflects that.

basic logic of decision-making in that deliberation and consensus being more important than top-down action.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Plazas are really interesting.

And I think they're really complex, too, because they can serve, I think, lots of different purposes.