Territories of Extended Urbanisation
![](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/details/territories-of-extended-urbanisation/_large/1495/Amazonia-2.jpg)
Aerial view of the Carajás mine within the Carajás Forest conservation unit, Eastern Amazonia, 2018 (R. Castriota)
Urbanization processes are increasingly unfolding far beyond the realm of agglomerations, urban regions and even mega city-regions. Urban change affects the most remote and diverse landscapes and territories. Novel forms of urbanization are profoundly transforming agrarian and mountain areas, rain forests, deserts and oceans. Inextricably bound to the ecologies of life on Earth, urbanization processes require urgent and close scrutiny, and call for new conceptions and cartographies of the urban beyond-the-city, encompassing all spatial scales, and both built and unbuilt environments.
Grasping urbanization in this extended framework means reversing the dominant city-centric conception of the urban, and adopting a decentred perspective on transformation processes across the entire territory. Urbanization can then be understood through analysis in an open, transscalar framework, which transcends the rural-urban and north-south divides, and which pays close attention to all protagonists of urbanization, acting from both above and below.
Through transdisciplinary and transductive methodologies, including ethnographic fieldwork, photographic observation and cartographic synthesis, the unprecedented patterns and pathways of extended urbanization are portrayed in six world regions, foregrounding the contemporary urban struggle: Eastern Amazonia (Brazil), Arcadia (Greece), Pearl River Delta (China), the West African Corridor (Benin), the North Sea, and the Midwest Corn Belt (USA). These critical case studies contribute to a redefinition of the very notions of the “city”, the “urban” and “urbanization”, demonstrating the urgency of developing new urban agendas facing planetary challenges.
Location | Eastern Amazonia, Brazil; Midwest Corn Belt, North America; Arcadia, Greece; North Sea; Benin, West Africa; Dongguan, China |
Date | 2017-2021 |
Projects | Hinterland Operational Landscapes |
Team | Christian Schmid, Urban Sociology, ETH Zurich D-Arch Milica Topalović, Architecture of Territory, ETH Zurich D-Arch Philippe Rekacewicz, cartography; Elisa Bertuzzo, Rodrigo Castriota, Nancy Couling, Alice Hertzog, Nikos Katsikis, Metaxia Markaki and Kit Ping Wong, research and photography |
Extractivism has induced various forms of extended urbanization in Amazonia. In Carajás, the production of the largest open pit mine in human history and the associated extension of logistics infrastructure has generated immigration and urban growth at an unprecedented pace. In the midst of this extreme socio-environmental disruption, new forms of resistance and contestation emerge.
Research and photography | Rodrigo Castriota |
Cartography | Philippe Rekacewicz |
Date | 2017-2021 |
![Photo 1 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/extractivism-carajas/_large/Photo-1_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-web.jpg)
Aerial view of the Carajás mine within the Carajás Forest conservation unit, Eastern Amazonia, 2018
![Photo 2 Amazonia 2021 05 03 AOT web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/extractivism-carajas/_large/Photo-2-Amazonia_2021-05-03-AOT-web.jpg)
The Carajás Railroad- a 892km logistical device and permanent terrain for contestation, connecting Vale's mine and the port in São Luís (MA)
![Photo 3 Amazonia 2021 05 03 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/extractivism-carajas/_large/Photo-3_Amazonia_2021-05-03-web.jpg)
"For sale or trade for motorcycle"- landscapes of empty, abandoned or unfinished neighborhoods after the full automation of mining in Canaã dos Carajás, which left tens of thousands unemployed
![Photo 4 Amazonia 2021 05 03 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/extractivism-carajas/_large/Photo-4-Amazonia_2021-05-03-web.jpg)
Landless workers demand solutions for their occupied lands and protest against Vale by blocking the roads that grant access to the S11D mining complex
![Photoi 5 Amazonia 2021 05 03 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/extractivism-carajas/_large/Photoi-5-Amazonia_2021-05-03-web.jpg)
Indigenous militants from the Movement for the Popular Sovereignty in Mining (MAM) protest in Carajás, 21-May-2018
The US Corn Belt has become a highly specialized landscape of primary production that showcases an extreme degree of operationalisation. This process has led to the gradual exhaustion of the soil’s natural fertility, the pollution of both land and groundwater, the loss of jobs, and continuous emigration. The result is a highly productive, but almost empty landscape, an exclusive production zone of agricultural commodities.
Research and Photography | Nikos Katsikis |
Cartography | Philippe Rekacewicz |
Date | 2017-2021 |
![1 Corn Belt 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt/_large/1.-Corn-Belt-2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Aerial view of corn and soy fields over Southern Iowa, 2019
![2 Corn Belt 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt/_large/2.-Corn-Belt-2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Operational landscapes of feed and energy production in Western Iowa, 2019
![3 Corn Belt 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt/_large/3.-Corn-Belt-2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Grain elevator amidst dense cornfields near Otho, Iowa, 2019
![4 Corn Belt 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt/_large/4.-Corn-Belt-2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Tractor and other machinery stored under a machine shed in an industrial farm near Corning, Iowa, 2019
![5 Corn Belt 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt/_large/5.-Corn-Belt-2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Leftover genetically modified seed in an industrial farm near Corning, Iowa, 2019
![01 location map world food feed fuel 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt-maps/_large/01-location-map-world-food-feed-fuel-1000.web.jpg)
Global distribution of agricultural crop production
![02 nikos midwest regional LARGE 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt-maps/_large/02-nikos-midwest-regional-LARGE.1000.web.jpg)
A specialized agricultural territory in a global context
![04 nikos midwest serie rotated web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/corn-belt-maps/_large/04-nikos-midwest-serie-rotated.web.jpg)
The mid-west system of grids
A vast, dispersed, but mostly invisible urbanized realm stretches through the North Sea, requiring the circulating offshore work force of a small metropolis. Abstractly conceptualized for resource extraction, then installed with prefabricated steel and concrete at an unprecedented scale, the new urbanized and commodified sea space has replaced the previous ocean commons and is undergoing continuous transformation.
Research and photography | Nancy Couling |
Cartography | Philippe Rekacewicz |
Date | 2017-2021 |
![1 North Sea 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea/_large/1.-North-Sea_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm.web.jpg)
Norderney ferry and channel for offshore wind service vessels, Wadden Sea (Northern Germany), 2017
![2 North Sea 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea/_large/2.-North-Sea_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-.web.jpg)
Nysted windpark (Denmark), 2014
![3 North Sea 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea/_large/3.-North-Sea_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Offshore accommodation platform at service base near Bergen (Norway), 2018
![4 North Sea 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea/_large/4.-North-Sea_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Parts of a control room at the Ekofisk field, Norwegian Petroleum Museum, Stavanger, 2018
![5 North Sea 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea/_large/5.-North-Sea_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm.web.jpg)
Life-boats on an offshore drilling rig, near Bergen (Norway), 2018
![01 location map currents alt 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea-maps/_large/01-location-map-currents-alt.1000.web.jpg)
The North Sea, a pocket in the Atlantic Ocean
![02 nancy urbanized north sea LARGE 2000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea-maps/_large/02-nancy-urbanized-north-sea-LARGE-2000.web.jpg)
The urbanised sea
![03 travel of a plateform SMALL 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/north-sea-maps/_large/03-travel-of-a-plateform-SMALL.1000.web.jpg)
The circulation of an accommodation rig
From Lagos to Abidjan, a metropolitan corridor is emerging along the Gulf of Guinea. Spanning one thousand kilometers, it brings together a dense network of megacities, towns and villages to form a territory of extended urbanization. Mobility is inherent to the everyday life of this region–residents and migrants travel along the corridor seeking out opportunities and, in their wake, transform the urban fabric.
Research and Photography | Alice Hertzog |
Cartography | Philippe Rekacewicz |
Date | 2017-2021 |
![Photo 1 2web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/west-african-corridor/_large/Photo-1-2web.jpg)
Local leader overlooks infrastructural work to protect his neighborhood from coastal erosion
![Photo 2 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/west-african-corridor/_large/Photo-2-web.jpg)
Local moto-taxis collect passengers in front of the main Cotonou market
![Photo 3 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/west-african-corridor/_large/Photo-3-web.jpg)
![Photo 4 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/west-african-corridor/_large/Photo-4-web.jpg)
![Photo 5 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/west-african-corridor/_large/Photo-5-web.jpg)
![01 alice west africa global 1000 FINAL web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/west-africa-maps/_large/01-alice-west-africa-global-1000-FINAL.web.jpg)
The Corridor: a global interface with West Africa
![04 alice west africa regional 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/west-africa-maps/_large/04-alice-west-africa-regional-1000.web.jpg)
On each side of the Sahara, two coastlines, two tales of migration
![](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/details/territories-of-extended-urbanisation/maps/ALICE-3.no-title.jpg)
What is the future of peripheral landscapes and radically depopulating mountainous regions? Revisiting the mythicized landscapes of Arcadia, the work explores processes of extended urbanization in seemingly pristine nature on uninhabited land. Seasonal movements extend connections and center–periphery relations to broader scales and form a territory through the reciprocity of different realms.
Research and photography | Metaxia Markaki |
Cartography | Philippe Rekacewicz |
Date | 2017-2021 |
![1 Arcadia 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia/_large/1.Arcadia_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Olive-grove landscapes in the Alfeios Valley emerging from fragmentation, micro-property and a long socio-ecological history, 2016
![2 Arcadia 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia/_large/2.-Arcadia_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Agricultural cooperatives function as mediators between different economic and geographic scales, Argos, 2015
![3 Arcadia 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia/_large/3.-Arcadia_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Unexpected correlations – goats, sheds and a pile of oranges, Gortynia, 2015
![4 Arcadia 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia/_large/4.-Arcadia_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
A feta factory in Gortynia mediating between remote grazing lands and food-chain markets, 2015
![5 Arcadia 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia/_large/5.-Arcadia_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Olive harvest – a family business and a season of gathering for the villages, Alfeios Valley, 2019
![01 arcadia the greek envelope SMALL 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia-maps/_large/01-arcadia-the-greek-envelope-SMALL.1000.web.jpg)
Greece: Where is the periphery?
![02 arcadia complex overlap of traces LARGE 2000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia-maps/_large/02-arcadia-complex-overlap-of-traces-LARGE.2000.web.jpg)
Tidal inhabitation
![03 arcadia the wheel MEDIUM TO LARGE 2000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia-maps/_large/03-arcadia-the-wheel-MEDIUM-TO-LARGE.2000.web.jpg)
Arcadia as a global actor
![04 arcadia time laps overlaps SMALL 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/arcadia-maps/_large/04-arcadia-time-laps-overlaps-SMALL-1000.web.jpg)
Seasonal movement
For a long time, Dongguan was a rural backwater located between the Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou and the colonial city of Hong Kong. In the last decades, an unprecedented urban explosion has transformed the Pearl River Delta into the planet’s most populous mega region, unleashing a dispersed form of rural industrialization in Dongguan in the process. Today, the entire territory is a densely built metropolitan space.
Research and photography | Kit Ping Wong |
Cartography | Philippe Rekacewicz |
Date | 2017-2021 |
![1 Dongguan 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/dongguan/_large/1.-Dongguan_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
Freezing land development: farmland surrounding the town
![2 Dongguan 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/dongguan/_large/2.-Dongguan_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
"Plotting" of village houses as a result of land acquisition in a new round of negotiations for the Master Plan
![3 Dongguan 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/dongguan/_large/3.-Dongguan_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm-web.jpg)
![4 Dongguan 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/dongguan/_large/4.-Dongguan_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm.web.jpg)
![5 Dongguan 2021 05 03 AOT Biennale Images 260 x 212 mm web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/dongguan/_large/5.Dongguan_2021-05-03-AOT-Biennale-Images-260-x-212-mm.web.jpg)
![01 location map dongguan FINAL SMALL 2000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/dongguan-maps/_large/01-location-map-dongguan-FINAL-SMALL.2000.web.jpg)
Urban dynamics in China
![03 dongguan regional model FINAL 1000 web](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/slideshows/dongguan-maps/_large/03-dongguan-regional-model-FINAL-1000.web.jpg)
Dongguan in an exploding metropolis
![](https://planetaryurbanisation.ethz.ch/assets/details/territories-of-extended-urbanisation/maps/02-dongguan-admin-limits-changes-FINAL-LARGE-8000.web.jpg)