Is the World Urban: Towards a Critique of Geospatial Ideology

(Hardback, English)

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This book builds upon theories of planetary urbanization to evaluate the limits and potentials of remotely sensed data and other forms of geospatial information as a basis for mapping urbanization processes. Against the prevalent trend towards cartographic positivism, in which such data are presented as neutral, photographic -captures- of ground conditions, our analysis reveals the hidden, pre-empirical interpretive assumptions that mediate the construction of geospatial maps. Building upon our ongoing work on planetary urbanization, we present new metageographical frameworks for visualizing the worldwide urban fabric, including through the theoretically reflexive application of geospatial data. This publication won a Graham Foundation Grant.

Author Bio

Neil Brenner is Professor of Urban Theory and Director of the Urban Theory Lab at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. His most recent books are Implosions/Explosions: Towards a Study of Planetary Urbanization (Jovis, 2014) and Critique of Urbanization: Selected Essays (Bauwelt Fundamente/Birkhuser, 2016). Nikos Katsikis is an architect and urbanist. He holds a Doctor of Design from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where he is also a research associate in the Urban Theory Lab. He is on the editorial board of New Geographies journal and co-editor of New Geographies 06: Grounding Metabolism (Harvard University Press, 2014).