BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Memento EPFL// BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Book Launch: "On Architecture and the Greenfield" at Domushaus EG\ , Basel / RIOT DTSTART:20250221T180000 DTEND:20250221T200000 DTSTAMP:20260919T031015Z UID:26c672b1471ba316edfe7dd5f709ca8ac03a40aed68b7ca0dc9050c4 CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars DESCRIPTION:Milica Topalović\, Kathlyn Kao\, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes\n Architecture and the Greenfield\nOn the Political Economy of Space\nBook L aunch at Domushaus EG\n\nFriday\, 21 February\, 18:00 at\nDomushaus\, Pflu gleingässlein 3\, Basel\nA Conversation with Milica Topalović\, Kathlyn Kao and Charlotte Malterre-Barthes\n\n“Architecture and the Greenfield ” is the second volume after “Architecture and Greenwashing” (2023) in a series edited by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes at the Swiss Federal Inst itute of Technology—EPFL. The collection of essays presents a cross-sect ion of positions on architecture and its political economies from differen t perspectives. In this volume\, Ana Maria Leon and Andrew Herscher\, Paul o Tavares\, Milica Topalovic and Swarnabh Ghosh articulate stances forming broad theoretical frameworks around urbanization and agriculture—the so -called ‘greenfield.’  \nAffordable forms of residential urbanizatio n raise a paradoxical question: On the one hand\, cheap housing settlement s across the world devour thousands of hectares of arable fields at the pe riphery of growing cities. On the other hand\, housing is a human need (an d right). This publication investigates the spatial characteristics of ho using development on agrarian land and the mode of production at work in t ransforming fertile\, cultivated plots into urbanized settlements. Often d iscussed and even more so recently in architecture and planning (i.e.\, “Countryside\, The Future\,” Guggenheim Museum\, OMA\, 2020\; “Takin g the Country's Side: Agriculture and Architecture\,” Sebastien Marot\, 2019)\, the urbanization of agrarian land is but a complex matter transver sally studied (i.e. political science\, urban\, rural and development stud ies\, agrarian studies\, soil and crop science\, or ecology and environmen tal sciences). From Neil Brenner’s planetary urbanization to Donna Haraw ay and Anne Tsing’s Plantationocene\, scholars have articulated the cont radictions of our age\, the exploitative weight of agriculture—both hist orical and contemporary—and the political problems of our growing human footprint- both for residential use and food production.2 The ambition is to candidly investigate beyond the obvious. For instance\, while agrarian practices may be understood as a necessary human activity endangered by u rbanization\, agriculture and food production also inherently carry on an imposing project\, aiming to subdue and control space\, capital\, resource s\, and populations (i.e.\, the deforestation of the Amazon for cattle pas ture as a colonial alibi). Similarly\, agriculture-driven development belo ngs to ideologies of ‘civilizing’ and to many contemporary settler pro jects (i.e.\, the Occupied Territories) that necessitate an examination of both the complex combination of forces fostering it and their physical ex pressions. Dwelling into these perspectives\, contributions by Ana Marí a León& Andrew Herscher\, Swarnabh Ghosh\, Paulo Tavares\, and Milica To palovic help make sense of these questions. What mechanisms of oppression are revealed by both agriculture practices and urbanization? As we face th e climate emergency\, is it sustainable to keep chipping at our foodsheds\ , and what are the alternatives? Which legal instruments and narratives ar e behind political economies of land tenure?  How much does global urbani zation threatens food sustenance? From colonial tenure laws to land reform s and agriculture policies\, from forest to fields to massive real-estate developments\, what does the study of the global urbanization of agrarian land\, and the architecture and urban form it generates teach us about th e re-organization of territory and complex issues of regimes of land owner ship\, land use policies\, and property laws? This volume speaks to how th e accumulation and transfer of land as capital materialises in the compet ition for land between housing and cultivation\, with architecture centra l to this phenomenon.\n\nTexts by: Swarnabh Ghosh\, Ana María León\, And rew Herscher\, Paulo Tavares\, Milica Topalović\nYear of publication: 202 4\n\nEditor: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes\nManaging Editor: Kathlyn Kao\nPro ject Management: Dorothee Hahn\nGraphic Design: Fernanda Tellez Velasco\n Copyediting: Irene Schaudies\nProduction: Alise Ausmane\nPublisher: Hatje Cantz LOCATION: STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR