Territorial scale – Recognizing politico-environmental ecologies

Infrastructure plays an important role in the organization of society. It is therefore also a political and economic instrument that influences physical and cultural development. This is especially true for infrastructure at the regional and national scales, where the systems cross borders. In our increasingly networked world, such “territorial infrastructure” requires a new basic framework in terms of design, implementation, and usage.

The workshop, moderated by Geoffrey Thün and Kathy Velikov, focused on three categories of territorial infrastructure: infra- structure that protects society against environmental dangers and disasters, infrastructure for handling and distributing resources such as water or energy, and the infrastructure of connectivity. The workshop participants investigated questions such as: What ideological, cultural, economic, social, and political aspects are crucial in the development of these infrastructures? How can the various publics be included in the development process? How is physical infrastructure linked to information technologies?

In her summary report, Kathy Velikov explained that we must not see territorial infrastructure as an isolated element because man- made, biological, geological, and temporal factors are in constant interplay with each other. The question is how we can talk about these systems: “How can we draw them? How do we model them?” This is not a marginal issue – because models are not simply representations but also have political consequences, as shown by the example of Galileo Galilei.

The notion of “apparatus” received great attention in the discussion. “There is a wiring between discourse, institutions, laws, administrative measures, scientific statements, and philosophical, moral, and philanthropic proposals – and we have to deal with this wiring,” stated Kathy Velikov. Architectural form stands at the center of it all. The task is to design and redesign the elements of the apparatus in order to shape an infrastructure that’s suitable for the future.

One thing is clear: There is no simple guide on how to design territorial infrastructure sustainably for the future – and the associated processes take a lot of time. “And it’s not just about technologies and strategies, but also about issues such as the language of visual display that we must deal with,” reminds Kathy Velikov.

Territorial scale mobile workshop

This mobile workshop also dealt with the interaction between infrastructure and community. The leaders Dan Pitera and Diane van Buren walked with the participants along more than 10 km of the Beltline Greenway, a green corridor along a former railway line, which links various businesses.

One of these is the Earthworks Urban Farm. It is run by a soup kitchen; volunteers participate in the urban agriculture program. Seven large and well-maintained gardens are located around the soup kitchen. This infrastructural facility significantly shapes life in the neighborhood.

Further to the north is the Downtown Boxing Gym. Joe Louis, one of the best and most famous boxers in history, grew up in Detroit, but this gym is not about fame and glory. Established in 2007, the institution has proven highly successful in providing children and young people a safe and interesting place to spend their free time.

A particularly “hands-on” symbol of Detroit rising like a phoenix from its ashes is the Architectural Salvage Warehouse (ASWD), which was the final destination of the mobile workshop. Thou- sands of buildings have been torn down in and around Detroit. The ASWD prepares salvaged building materials for reuse – and has developed innovative systematic processes for recovering as much material as possible during demolition.

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