New Geographies 09: Posthuman

Description

"Posthuman" signals a historical condition in which the coordinates of human existence on the planet are altered by profound technological, ecological, biopolitical, and spatial transformations. Engendering new ways of being in the world, this condition challenges long-established definitions of the "human," and by extension, of the human environment. Interpreting design as a geographical agent deeply involved in the territorial engravings of contemporary urbanization, New Geographies 09 investigates the urban landscapes shaping the posthuman geographies of the early 21st century, fostering a wide-ranging debate about both the potentials and challenges for design to engage with the complex spatialities, more-than-human ecologies, and diverse forms and habits of life in a post-anthropocentric world. With Contributions by Rosalind Williams, Erik Swyngedouw, Cary Wolfe, McKenzie Wark, Jason Moore, Benjamin Bratton, Luciana Parisi, Eyal Weizman, Shannon Mattern, Rosetta Elkin, Mimi Sheller, and Stephen Graham, among others.

Mariano Gomez-Luque is a practicing architect and urban designer from Argentina, a Doctor of Design candidate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and a research fellow at both the Urban Theory Lab and the Office for Urbanization. His work investigates the complex relations between architecture, planetary urbanization, and associated processes of technological change; and the production of space at multiple scales under contemporary capitalism. He holds an MArch with distinction from the Harvard GSD. Ghazal Jafari is a designer and researcher. She is currently a Doctor of Design candidate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and a research fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Her work is situated at the intersection of the ethnography of infrastructure, territorial formations, and landscapes of neocolonialism. Her dissertation examines the geopolitical influence of global corporations. She holds an MDes from Harvard GSD.

"This volume of, a journal of design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, centers on the theme of the posthuman, defined here as a time period when human existence is transformed by technological, ecological, and political forces. International contributors in urban design, architecture, cultural theory, design philosophy, and geography describe speculative and physical projects related to design as a geographical agent, urban landscapes, and posthuman geographies in the early 21st century. They use geographic and design thinking as interpretive lenses through which to trace how biogenetic capitalism, biotechnology, and information technology have destabilized the human-centered environment, and how design can interact with posthuman geographies. The book contains color and b&w photos, illustrations, and images." --ProtoView