Reddit mentions of Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)

As a political theory undergrad who transferred to architecture school because of the fascinating interplay between political structures, power, and the built environment, I have to say your question isn't fluffy at all. Quite a bit of excellent work covers the subject you're exploring.

Sigfried Gideon's Space, Time, and Architecture is a good place to start.

Foucault talks extensively about how liberating machines can be turned into machines of oppression. It's an interview he gave in the 70's (I think), I'll have to look it up when I head home.

The Ethical Function of Architecture discusses how value systems are translated into the built environment.

I think you can easily create an analytic framework that says something along the lines of "the built environment is the political environment, made physical". As another poster suggests, you could look at Speer and Terragni and contrast them with Corbusier, Mies, Rem, and even Vitruvius; you could easily identify departure points where the 'dictators' made aesthetic decisions to re-enforce the hegemony of the state, and the 'democrats' made decisions to promote liberty, the church, capitalism etc.

There's a huge body of architecture to understand. I would highly suggest to start by reading this book by Jackie Gargus as an introduction to architectural history. Some other fantastic books are:

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Complexity and Contradiction by Robert Venturi

Towards a new Architecture by Le Corbusier

Modern Architecture: A Critical History by Kenneth Frampton

Space, Time and Architecture by Sigfried Gideon

The Dynamics of Architectural Form by Rudolf Arnheim

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For more contemporary readings on architecture I would suggest

Red is not a Color by Bernard Tschumi

S, M, L, XL by Rem Koolhaas

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All of these will lead you to hundreds of more specific papers and discussions surrounding architecture.