If urbanisation is ineluctably spreading across the planet, exactly whose model informs the pattern? Whose plans inform the development of underdevelopment, and spatial imaginary of the mega city? Architect and artist Dele Adeyemo uses film to explore and interrogate issues of racial capitalism and the contemporary lifeworlds that exist in their midst.

Dele Adeyemo’s work was commissioned by the Against Catastrophe project. The commission will feature in the second of three installments of the online exhibition Reclaiming Futures. Reclaiming Futures critically examines how design, architecture, and technology are imbricated in producing catastrophic eco-social realities but also present tools with which to imagine and build more equitable, democratic, and sustainable worlds. The second exhibition installment will focus on planetary urbanisms and will be available at https://againstcatastrophe.net in January 2025. The Against Catastrophe project is part of Governing Through Design, a collaborative research initiative supported by a Sinergia Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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This presentation is part of the audio series Planetary Design – Reclaiming Futures, based on the conference that took place at ICI Berlin in October 2024, bringing together critical voices and debate on the role of design in making, unmaking and remaking worlds. This audio series gathers these provocative polemics and presentations for posterity, allowing for deep dives and due reflection. Starting from the intersection of design, infrastructure, and the planetary environment, these conversations — between architects, cultural scientists, geographers, philosophers, scholars of emerging technologies and artists — act as a generative platform for a discussion around design’s role in producing our past, present, and potential for differently designed futures.

The conference was organized by Governing Through Design project team (Claudia Mareis, Kenny Cupers, Orit Halpern, Laura Nkula-Wenz, Özgün Eylül İşcen, Nadia Christidi, Sudipto Basu, Anke Gründel, Tania Messell), in cooperation with the ICI Berlin. The conference marks the culmination of Governing Through Design, a collaborative research project supported by a Sinergia Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation.  Partners: Humboldt Universität Berlin zu Berlin, Technische Universität Dresden, Universität Basel, Concordia University, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW).

This audio series is produced by KoozArch and was made possible through a Sinergia Research Grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation.