Abstract
Perspectives on built environment sustainability tend to focus on using scientific means to solve problems created via the same scientific apparatus. Energy use, renewable materials, and innovative processes are problems to be solved via Bruno Latour’s notion of ‘matters of fact’ when opening the larger problem at hand is much more a ‘matter of concern’. It is assumed that science is capable of solving these problems but was it not how we got into this state of affairs? The Northeast Megalopolis in the United States is a densely urbanised environment stretching from Boston to Alexandria, home to 50 million people. The blanket of homogenous urbanisation obscures the underlying geologic formations that structure this landscape, providing the very material that is used to construct the thin layer of built environment. We have become distanced from the nature of landscape forces, and in doing distanced from how our built environment is constructed and the means with which its materials are sourced from. But what if these geologic forces were to be uncovered in a way that structures the urban environment and life within it? This paper exhibits and discusses findings from an ongoing drawing inquiry on these conditions, highlighting the often unseen relationships between landscapes of extraction, production, and occupation.
Presenters
Shaun RosierAssistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, Virginia Tech, Virginia, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Human/Nature: Toward A Reconciliation
KEYWORDS
Urban Geology, Terrain, Territory, Urban Structuring, Reciprocal Landscapes, More-than-Human
