Artist Jason Reblando will give a talk about his recent photography book New Deal Utopias, which explores three planned communities built by the U.S. government during the Great Depression. His photographs depict the built environments and landscapes of Greenbelt, Maryland; Greenhills, Ohio; and Greendale, Wisconsin, collectively known as "Greenbelt Towns," to evoke utopia both as an idea and a place in the American mind.

In the '30s, the program was critiqued as "socialistic" and "communistic" by industrial and corporate leaders, newspapers, and members of Congress hostile to New Deal policies, yet they made an indelible impression on urbanist ideas around the world. New Deal Utopias emphasizes that the Greenbelt Towns are an overlooked, but crucial part of the American landscape, as we continue to grapple with the shifting roles of housing, nature, and government in American life.

This public talk is in connection to Taubman College lecturer Sarah Rovang's Arch 603 course, "Fieldwork in American Modernism."