Fall 2019

Edited by Nicholas Pevzner & Stephanie Carlisle

Infrastructure is always political, and energy transitions have always been contested, pitting established players against upstart technologies and new coalitions. How can a radical reimagining of energy infrastructure create opportunities for an inclusive and participatory conversation about climate change and social justice? Who has the power to talk about infrastructure, and who gets left out?
Introduction: Power
Community Power As Provocation: Local Control For Resilience And Equity
Our Energy For Our Country
Speculative Designs For Energy Democracy
The TVA, Fuzzy Spaces Of Power, And Other Purposes
The Missouri River Basin: Water, Power, Decolonization, And Design
Power Plant Power
Arctic Present: The Case Of Teriberka
Coal Ash Wastescapes: The Byproduct Of Our Coal-Fired Power Dependency
Biomass For All: Designing An Inclusive Biomass Infrastructure
China’s Giant Transmission Grid Could Be The Key To Cutting Climate Emissions
2050 – An Energetic Odyssey: Persuasion By Collective Immersion
The Blue Lagoon: From Waste Commons To Landscape Commodity
Territory Of Extraction: The Crude North
Daylighting Conflict: Board Games As Decision-Making Tools

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    Contemporary Infrastructure: An Interview With Marcel Smets

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    The Blue Lagoon: From Waste Commons to Landscape Commodity

    by Catherine De Almeida

    Waste legibility can be an asset shared by active power generating operations, a novel ecological community, and recreational uses. At the Blue Lagoon, the formalization of a wasteland commons created instead a high-end, privatized spa that conceals the underlying landscape and its unique conditions.

    Pit and Quarry: The Cement and Slate Landscapes of Pennsylvania

    by Frank Matero

    The Lehigh Valley gave rise to several world-class extractive industries, including steel and cement production, coal mining, and slate quarrying. How should we preserve this rich industrial heritage?

    Power Plant Power

    by Salvador Lindquist and Eric Minton

    Scattered throughout Detroit are relics of the city’s industrial production, along with the old generators of power for that industry. Power Plant Power investigates Detroit through the lens of energy production, its subsequent decline, and new futures of alternative modes and dynamics of power.

    Landscape Urbanism: Definitions & Trajectory

    by Christopher Gray

    Long described as an “emerging” practice, landscape urbanism—with all of its ambiguity and complexity—has in fact already emerged and represents a significant 21st century design and planning ethos.

    Made in Australia: The Future of Australian Cities

    by Richard Weller & Julian Bolleter

    The Australian population is increasing at a rate of one person every 84 seconds. Taking population growth seriously means planning for an extra 40 million Australians by century’s end.

    The Performative Ground: Rediscovering The Deep Section

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    The landscape we see happens above ground, yet much of its true intelligence lies beneath the surface.

    Daylighting Conflict: Board Games as Decision-Making Tools

    by Janette Kim

    Games can unearth new sites of power and a recharged vision of inclusivity in the face of crisis. This essay presents a series of original board games designed to expose the political contestations embroiled in climate risk.

    Coding Urban Metabolism

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    Yesterday’s models of zoning and planning are outmoded. Perhaps it’s time for a new ecological urban framework.

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    The ECW is one of the largest and most productive urban aquaculture treatment wetlands in the world. If designers are to construct complex, living systems they first need to understand how they work.