[-empyre-] Neo-eco-liberalism

[Adam Nocek]

Hi all,

I'd like to welcome Ross Exo Adams and Adrian Parr to the first week at
-empyre!

This week's topic addresses what I'm calling, "Neo-eco-liberalism." The
title references the complicated way that "ecological catastrophe"
dominates so many design discourses today. In an era when the Anthropocene
(hypo)thesis is hotly debated in nearly all academic fields, it is
designers in particular who often feel a responsibility to correct for the
footprint left by modern, industrial-scale design, and design with an eye
to the deep time of the planet. No doubt the myriad discourses on
“sustainable,” “ecological,” or “smart” technologies come to mind as
possible ways of addressing the deep time of design. For example, great
progress has been made in the application of biotechnology, synthetic
biology, and nanotechnology to design fields, so that “programmable” or
“mediated matter” now provides a viable means for designing complex (even
semi-living) systems that adapt and evolve in response to wider, non-human
environments— surely a post-humanist framework for design.

But as our guests know, the many discourses and technologies surrounding
“sustainable” and “eco" design do not easily avoid neoliberal capture, and
in fact, have too often become a resource for private investors to
strengthen the firm grip of capital. Urban developers in particular, as
Ross has noted elsewhere, have been quick to embrace the discourse of
“ecological catastrophe” as a way to ensure that the private development of
urban space proceeds without reproach, and destroys the last vestiges of
public space.

As a way into this week's topic, I'm wondering if our guests would begin
the conversation by meditating or complicating this tension.


Here are our guests bios one more time:

Ross Exo Adams (US) is an architect, urbanist and educator whose work looks
at the political and historical intersection between circulation and
urbanization. He is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Iowa State
University. His writing has been published in Log, Environment and Planning
D: Society and Space, Radical Philosophy, Thresholds, Architectural Review
among others. Previously he has taught at The Bartlett School of
Architecture, UCL, The Architectural Association, the Berlage Institute in
Rotterdam, NL and at Brighton University in the UK. His work has been
exhibited in the Venice Biennale, the Storefront for Art and Architecture
in New York City, the Centre of Contemporary Architecture in Moscow and the
Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. As an architect and urban
designer he has worked in offices such as MVRDV, Foster & Partners, Arup
Urban Design and Productora-DF. He holds a Master of Architecture from the
Berlage Institute and a Ph.D. from the London Consortium for which he was
awarded the 2011 LKE Ozolins Studentship by the RIBA.

Adrian Parr (US/AU) specialist on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, and has
published widely on the sustainability movement, climate change politics,
activist culture, and creative practice. She is currently an Associate
Professor in the Department of Sociology and School of Architecture and
Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati. Some of her recent books
include the _Deleuze Dictionary_ (ed.) (2005), _Hijacking Sustainability_
(2009), _New Directions in Sustainable Design_ (ed. with Michael Zaretsky)
(2010), and _The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change
Politics_ (2013).


Thanks again!
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