Urban Theory Lab (UTL) / Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich

Worlds of Planetary Urbanization proposes a radical rethinking of our understanding of the contemporary urban world. Although urban areas occupy no more than 3% of the earth’s surface, they are linked to wide-ranging planetary transformations. The interdependencies between urban agglomerations and the metabolism of planetary life lie at the heart of contemporary urban transformations. This project explores such interdependencies— between agglomerations and hinterlands; political-economic and biogeophysical processes; and local, national and global scales — in order to stimulate reflection on living together under conditions of planetary urbanization. One stream of the exhibition presents a series of digital globes that reveal disparate visions of an urbanized planet. A second stream explores territories of extended urbanization in six world regions. The exhibit highlights the urgency of formulating new theoretical and cartographic perspectives on urbanization, animated by the goal of envisioning a more socially and environmentally just world.