Rooted in the tension between concrete locations and global networks, between movement and stillness, space and place, and between clusters and dispersed zones, global production landscapes are challenging to understand. Where do these production spaces originate? Who owns, designs, and manages them? Due to the opaque nature of corporate ownership and confidentiality within the venture capital industry, answering these questions is nearly impossible.
In many ways, contemporary global production is a «black box» – secret, hidden, unknown – with many critical sites, such as technology hubs, corporate boardrooms, and venture capital offices, remaining inaccessible.
Ina Valkanova, a doctoral fellow at LUS, addresses the complex task of examining the relationship between place and network within the context of global production. Her project, a case study of the Trakia Economic Zone in southern Bulgaria, particularly focuses on the Kuklen Industrial Park. It explores how specific locations are transformed by the flows of capital, labor, knowledge, and power – and, conversely, how local conditions influence these flows in distinctive ways.
Through a five-year, multi-stakeholder action research project with Newrope and the Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation at ETH, Valkanova’s project initiated a series of interventions at Kuklen Industrial Park. These interventions granted access to this particular site of networked production, providing a rich, situated understanding of global production processes. Ranging from guided walks to workshops and design activities, these interventions were not intended as universal solutions for factory environments; instead, they aimed to foster meaningful connections across scales, individuals, and networks within the contemporary factory. Ultimately, these design actions challenged traditional ideas of infrastructure as a dominant, often disruptive physical structure merely connecting goods and flows. Instead, they examined more equitable models of infrastructure as open, dynamic systems fostering on-the-ground connections of care. Rather than offering concrete solutions, these actions served as frameworks for creating spaces for dialogue and critical reflection on the potential coexistence of modernity and tradition.
Ina Valkanova is a fellow at the Institute for Landscape and Urban Studies of ETH Zurich. She is part of Newrope, The Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation of ETH. She worked and lectured in various practices in Europe. Prior to joining ETH she was the coordinator for investment of Vision for Sofia, the long-term development strategy of the City of Sofia. In 2021 she co-founded Gradoscope, a collective practice for urban reinvention.