11: Post-traumatic urbanism and radical indigenism

I have been thinking primarily about how the pandemic has changed the way we think about cities and ecologies. What metaphors are actually useful in thinking about this moment, this era of rebuilding, of worldmaking to use a central theme for your project.

To consider the grounds and context of creating a new kind of city, this essay outlines the fraught history of urban density in the US and abroad, from its stigmatisation by city officials as a mark of poverty and uncleanliness, to its reinvention as an asset for artists and cultural workers in the post-industrial era, and onward to the continued a... See more

One result of all this attention to e-waste and supply chains is that examples of non-Western improvisation are now often adapted, appropriated, or fetishized in the West. Designers and artists express fascination with “informal” and “entrepreneurial” design practices, or with favela “bricolage” and marginalized “maker” cultures. This can lead to t... See more