Warsaw Under Construction 18: Should we Prepare (for) an Urban Exodus? A Lecture by Sébastien Marot

It can be argued that, since the so-called Renaissance, with the gradual rise of market economy, the rural exodus to cities and metropolitan areas has been the geographical signature of capital accumulation and concentration, and that the explosive growth—in both density and extent—of urban areas has been a more or less direct consequence of energy and material extraction. If so, then today’s major environmental concerns and dead ends may be interpreted as clear signs that a reverse perspective is now necessary—that would move our societies away from the destructive land-use model of mining, and toward the far more sustainable model, in principle, of gardening. Such is the hypothesis we will seek to advance by attempting to imagine the worlds and landscapes of such an urban exodus, and by emphasizing the importance of rearticulating the principles of agriculture and architecture.