Prof. Dr. Marc Angélil | Architecture and Urban Design

Mirroring Effects: Tales of Territory

Each of the case studies comprising Mirroring Effects: Tales of Territory unfolds as an all too real-life tale chronicling the ramifications of urbanization under the influence of integrated world capitalism. Taken together, they narrate the ongoing restructuring of built and lived spaces in highly diverse regions of what are still today referred to as the ‘Global South’ and the ‘Global North’. Whereas the two parts of this volume are divided along this political and economic ‘Equator’, the stories as told blur that very distinction, making it clear that the expansion of the free market has entangled developed as well as developing regions to the extent that such simple dichotomies no longer hold. The essays chart the course of capital-led development in settings such as Addis Ababa, Mumbai, Cairo, São Paulo, Dubai, Berlin, Paris, and Shanghai. This particular itinerary traces changes that have taken place on the ground, physically and socially, and offers glimpses of where our geoeconomic order is heading as well as what conditions will most likely ensue, for better or worse, given prevalent modes of territorial production.