Hang Pop in the academy

 I think that the line that sums up the reading on "Learning from Pop" and nonjudgmental design is as follows: "They can't learn from Pop until Pop hangs in the academy (65)". This makes me think back to the MIT Architecture Studios that hung ancient art and artifacts all around the studio for study as they believed architecture was in essence a fine art. The same applies to the thinkers of this article, they believed that the essence of architecture should lie in the study of the people (and the environment they make) that it serves. 

Referring back to the quote, 'They' being the old fuddy-duddies in the departments of HUD and the planning and redevelopment agencies that miss all that the environment created by the people they are building for has to tell them. They miss this because they decree that this real-time environment is messy and not always aesthetic and inconsistent at times; deeming it not worthy of their study. I think, as the author does, that this ignorance of the times and of the peoples living in it is a result of a twofold passed judgement: 'I know better for you who are below me' and laziness. Denice Scott Brown and thinkers like her recognize the complexity of the modern landscape (the Pop landscape), understanding that studying it will always be inherently difficult - due to all the reasons the urban planners dismiss it - but approaching their study with an air of curiosity and nonjudgement. This key attitude is what has and will secure successful understanding.