Through the Eyes of Creatures and Specters

Moderated by NYIT’s Urban Design director Marcella Del Signore, a series of talks on Territories of Planetary Urbanization took the audience around the globe through the eyes of various creatures and specters. Jeffrey S. Nesbit discussed how mid-century U.S. aerospace designs and their oceanic test sites expanded notions of territory, both along national boundaries and in the collective imaginary. The territories of the continent’s mega-regions were put in conversation with the micro-evolutions of their seeds, spiders, and foxes by Marina Alberti, who recommended that we (humans) look to the recursive actions of nature as we design for urban resilience. Ali Fard took us to the hinterland by mapping technology conglomerates through the strata of their “(data) farms, pipes, mines, and enclaves.” The geography of these technology centers, Fard noted, often fills voids left by industrial ghosts, taking advantage of aging but existent infrastructure while often reneging on their local investment promises. In the Q&A, planetary urbanism was described as a mode that reveals…