Data-spheres of Planetary Urbanization

003 ·

Data-spheres of Planetary Urbanization

VENICE BIENNALE 2021

Grga Bašić, Neil Brenner, Mariano Gomez-Luque, Daniel Ibáñez, Nikos Katsikis / Urban Theory Lab

How can we map the urbanization of the planet? To confront this question, the Urban Theory Lab presents a series of experimental visualizations of the worldwide urban fabric. Reversing conventional understandings of urbanization as a process of city growth, the 12 data-spheres reveal the importance of operational landscapes beyond the city (zones of agriculture, extraction, forestry and fishing), as well as planetary logistical infrastructures, that directly support urban life. By illustrating how radically divergent cartographies of an urbanized planet can be constructed on the basis of different indicators, the visualizations are intended to interrupt the authoritative, scientific “aura” that often pervades geospatial representations of our urbanizing planet. The countervisualizations presented here invite viewers to question their own cognitive maps of contemporary urbanization, and to imagine new urban worlds that might more fully embody our collective aspirations.

COVER IN PROGRESS Publication date Size Format ISBN Printed · EN Price May 2023 6.3 x 6.3 in. / 16 x 16 cm Softcover · 128 pages 978-1-63840-096-7 $29.95 / €22 / £22

Related Titles Is the World Urban? Towards a Critique of Geospatial Ideology ISBN 978-1-94029-193-2 Wood Urbanism ISBN 978-1-94515-081-4 New Geographies 10: Fallow ISBN 978-1-94876-509-1