Cyborg urbanization beyond the human

The construction and ruination of the Matinha gasworks site

Bibliographic Data

ID11668274
AuthorsEduardo Brito-Henriques (0000-0002-2225-869X, University of Lisbon, corresponding author), Daniel Paiva (0000-0001-9701-4705, University of Lisbon), Pablo Costa (0000-0001-8350-405X, University of Lisbon)
Year2019
Volume40
Issue10
Pages1596-1615
Publication date2019-06-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02723638.2019.1634405
OpenAlexW2955634792
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited62

Work on cyborg urbanization has unveiled the way in which the city is produced through hybridizations of the human and non-human. However, less attention has been given to the ways by which non-human actors entangle each other without human mediation. On the other hand, literature on urban ruination has explored the agency of the non-human in landscape transformation, however few works have established the link between the processes of ruination and urban transformation. In this article, we bridge these two literatures and argue that it is possible to extend the concept of cyborg urbanization to include urban transformation processes that are conducted by non-human actors, namely vegetation.We explore these missing links through an exploration of the Matinha Gasworks site, located in the Eastern Zone of the city of Lisbon, Portugal, and deactivated in 2001. It is a vacant land, with several ruined derelict constructions of a gasworks. We draw upon archival work, remote sensing techniques, and post-phenomenological fieldwork to explore the 80-year long process of construction and ruination of the Matinha Gasworks site. Our findings highlight the accumulation of distinct temporalities, scales, matters, and subjectivities in the production of the urban

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Art · Civil engineering · Economic geography · Geography · Mediation · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Temporalities · Urban planning · Urbanization · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Urban Planning and Governance · Urban Studies · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Ecology

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