Titles
A-C
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T-Z
Territorial Museums Exhibitions - The Encounter Between Digi...The Appropriation of Verticality - Zagreb’s Historicistic ...The Building as Witness: visual narratives from Post-War Bei...The End of the City and the Last Man: Shane Jesse Christmass...The Everyday PastoralThe Inca Ceque System and its Possible Contributions Nowaday...The Legacy of Modernism in Cyprus: Architect Abdullah OnarThe Magi myth: More Overpowering than Digital Magic? A Colla...The Regeneration of Minor Centres: from Planning Scenarios t...The Role of Details in Urban Conservation: Three Critical Ru...The Role of Frank Street in the Public Life of Izmir in 19th...The unique architectural features of the mosques in Kutticha...The Virtual Reconstruction Of The Village Of Portomarín (Lu...To the Rescue: Addressing Modern Heritage in SharjahTo what extent the digitalisation of artefacts in Ithra muse...Towards Inclusive City streets: Combining Streetscape Segmen...Transforming Heritage Discourse on the Landscape at Gettysbu...Translating Ethnographic Data into Spatial Representations o...Transmedia Communication and Responsible Tourism. New Narrat...Two Centuries and Two Poles of Rural Architectural Manifests...UNESCO and the Holocaust: Complicated World HeritageUnpacking Tension between Historical Preservation and Pedest...Unravelling the Architectural Topology of Portmeirion: Explo...Urban AI: Platforms, Tools and the Sustainable Development o...Urban futures cultural past. Edinburgh a Lost World.Urban Futures- Cultural Pasts: an Urban Analytics Approach t...Urban Graphic Heritage — Case Studies Framing the Creation...Urban layers of violence: military pasts, regenerative futur...Waking the Puma: Urban Planning and Historical Disorder in C...War Memorials as Heritage in Bangladesh: A Living Cultural E...Welcome & IntroductionWhispers of Time: Rediscovering and Preserving Hyderabad's C...
Presenters
Schedule

IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Urban Futures-Cultural Pasts
Past’s Future: Visible Memories of Inaccessible Sites
C. Leitao
9:00 am - 10:30 am

Abstract

This paper and presentation explores the architectural and urban challenges presented by Anthropocene landscapes such as landfills, nuclear test areas, and disassembly yards. These realms, repositories of excess or toxic substances, diverge sharply from traditional cultural heritage, necessitating a reevaluation through the theoretical frameworks of Easterling’s Extra-State and Subtraction, Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis, and Haraway’s Tentacular Thinking. This study critically assesses these neglected spaces as potential pivots for ecological and cultural futures, integrating Easterling’s localized interventions and Haraway’s multispecies inclusivity with Brenner and Schmid’s expansive notion of Planetary Urbanization. The research, initiated from a collaboration between a team at the Waste Isolation Project Plant (WIPP) and the author’s Final Project Design studio at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture, utilizes case studies like nuclear waste repositories (WIPP, Cactus Dome), the rising seas in the Maldives or the Tianjin Port Accident to highlight the need for contingency-based architectural strategies aligned with long-term eco-social sustainability. These interventions aim to balance global urban influences with local specificities and enhance the integration of these sites into collective memory and cultural identity. The presentation and paper promotes a nuanced understanding of urban spaces, infusing Keller Easterling’s concept of ‘error’ as a productive force in the constitution of future urban landscapes. Advocating for a reimagined concept of heritage, it views landscapes as dynamic, integral elements of our urban ecosystems. This approach discusses urban futures, where diverse historical and ecological narratives are actively engaged in the redevelopment processes, crafting urban environments that are multi-modal in their understanding of heritage.

Biography

Carla Leitão is an architect, writer, and professor at RPI’s School of Architecture. Co-Founder of AUM Studio and Spec.AE. Practice, research and academic endeavors on intersection of architecture materials and practices and media concepts and processes. Lead Research at RPI’s immersive space, the CRAIVE Lab. Practice includes built Architectural design, curation, theory, speculative design & interactive multimedia installations. Publications include essays and articles on the relationships between architecture, advanced materials and media technologies.