Towards a Geopolitical Understanding of Architecture
In: Cultural and Ethical Turns: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Culture, Politics and EthicsSearch for other papers by Alison Wolanski in
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This conceptual chapter was presented at an interdisciplinary conference on culture, politics and ethics in the hope of initiating an important interdisciplinary discussion on the potential of architecture as a geopolitical agent. It offers the argument that architecture can play an important role in a new politics of place that is emerging out of local-global tensions, and that a reconsideration of architecture’s symbolic capacity in the context of globalisation opens up new areas of exploration for design. The chapter begins by outlining a basic tension in architecture between flows and roots: between design approaches that respond to global trends, and those that are aimed at generating and sustaining unique place identities. A set of three examples that emphasise architecture’s relationship to the politics of migration and colonisation, corporatisation, and the emerging global network society allow architecture to be reframed as a geopolitical consideration. Architecture is offered as a potential tool for legitimisation or exclusion, for ideological assertion or compromise, and as a means for improving local accountability for global actors.