For theorists of the city, such as Amin & Thrift, the history of the Anthropocene and the Great Acceleration aligns to the history of urbanisation itself. Or, as Lussault has suggested, the Anthropocene can be reconceptualized as an Urbanocene. This line of thinking can be connected to wider conceptual practices challenging our former assumptions of cities as distinct ‘areas’ or ‘objects’ of research or design. Rather it demands an understanding of the entanglement of cities within wider processes, networks and operational landscapes. Such a conceptual shift demands a heightened sensitivity to, and representation of, the interplay of architecture/urbanism in various settings, between: that which is near, and that which is far; that which is visible, and that which is invisible; that which addresses the human, and the more-than-human; and that registered at the scale of the building or neighbourhood, and that which transgresses it to include other scales of measure, from the microscopic to the planetary. This presentation will touch on how these refigurations challenge the conceptual boundings prevalent in our established analytical and design practices.

Designing Refiguration – Refiguring Design 6/7. November 2025, IFA Forum – TU Berlin

Hosted by the Collaborative Research Center 1265 “Re-Figuration of Spaces”