Drawing the Dialectical Image of the City
Creators: name: Szyman, Laura
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2025
Subjects: classificationCode: 330102
subject: Architectural design

description: This PhD by Project contributes speculative design projects that use specific methods and techniques to reveal a condition that is largely invisible but affects the development and morphology of metropolitan urban peripheries. This condition, while shaping suburban growth, is not concerned with improving housing or even producing any housing at all, except to generate greater financial capacity and gain. Covert by nature, it remains hidden from view, but this research seeks to uncover and make it visible.
This research is especially timely in light of Australia’s ongoing housing crisis, which drives development in low-cost peripheral areas. Previous studies on suburban expansion at the periphery often focus on the visible outcomes, yet they fail to address the underlying cause of this condition, mainly because it is elusive and difficult to visualise.
The primary aim of this research is twofold: first, to develop methods for visualising the morphological effects of this hidden condition on Melbourne’s suburban fringe, and second, to propose design strategies that challenge this condition, imagining a future where its influence can be resisted. Using a theoretical framework that emphasises the power of the image, both written and visual, this project offers practical techniques for both design practitioners and scholars. It also establishes a conceptual framework that can support future research. The images produced through this process serve not just as documentation of the studied context but as catalysts for imagining a world beyond the stagnation of contemporary development.
The images grounding each project consist of two parts: a detailed analysis and a visualisation of capital-optimised realism (COR), a concept that illustrates how financial interests shape these suburbs. These images were developed through a focused study of Cloverton, a suburb located in Melbourne’s Northern Growth Corridor. While some of these images adhere to conventional architectural representations, others explore new methods of image-making that subvert disciplinary conventions, providing new ways of seeing the suburban landscape.
Projects one to three offer a conventional analysis of Cloverton, paying attention to its architectural vernaculars and urban fragments. Projects four to seven extend this analysis, introducing new visualisations that deepen our understanding of Cloverton’s architectural morphology. These projects reveal the specific impact that COR has had on the development of peripheral suburbs and provide new insights into hose these areas relate to the broader metropolitan context.
The final project, project eight, offers a method for collaborative urban design, synthesising the findings from earlier projects. It presents a new approach that can be used by others to engage with the language and knowledge generated by this research.
By reflecting on the outcomes of this work, I identify three key areas of knowledge, which I call ‘constellations’. These constellations not only influence my own research but also contribute to broader architectural discussions. The images that described each constellation serve as both a citation of the studied context and as tools for imagining alternatives to the current suburban reality. The design research projects presented here are knowledge in themselves, and their reflection is a catalyst for new kinds of understanding.