OKLAHOMA LAND RUN

Urban development can go awfully wrong.

That it is not enough to divide the land into claims of 325m2 tells the history Guthrie, a city which was founded in a day at the Oklahoma Land Run. At  April 22 in 1889 the unassigned lands known as “Oklahoma” is opened up for settlement. It lies amongst indian territories. 60.000 people rush to claim land. At Guthrie no specific qualities were developed within the grid structure, it  just looks the same as many other towns in the wild west.
The image of the city consists of identity, structure and meaning (1). A lack of built structure which signifies history causes a present without a feeling for stability and culture.

(1) Lynch, Kevin: Das Bild der Stadt. Herausgegeben von Ulrich Conrads und Peter Neizke. Birkhäuser Verlag 2001. Orginalausgabe 1965.