Abstract
In an era of escalating ecological and political crises, design provides a hopeful language for planetary futures. Yet the legacies on which our promises of design build today may lie at the very heart of these crises. Focusing on planetary politics in early-twentieth century Germany, this lecture traces ecological notions of building to imperialist expansion and the spectre of fascism. These legacies ask us to reconsider how design accounts for human responsibility in a context of radical ecological interdependency.
Caption to image: Reymond von Moritz & Ludwig Manzel, Berliner Pflaster: Illustrierte Schilderunger aus dem Berliner Leben (Berlin: W.Pauli, 1891): 270
Bio and photo:
https://urbanstudies.philhist.unibas.ch/en/persons/kenny-r-cupers/
Kenny Cupers is Professor of Architectural History and Urban Studies at the University of Basel, where he co-founded and leads the Urban Studies division. Trained as an architect, urbanist, and historian, his research and teaching focus on the relationship between built environments and changing societies in African and European contexts.