Credits: Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror (Forensic Architecture 2021)From Afar explores the complex world of geo-spatial investigation, focusing on particular instances of violence and disruption across our contemporary grown and built environment. The course will demonstrate and investigate how methods of spatial, geostatistical and data analysis can be used to document, contest, mitigate and design for conditions of instability and injustice within the Anthropocene.
From Afar will ask students to critically reflect upon the infrastructures through which we perceive and investigate the world around us,: as observers and actors within an increasingly complex web of media, sensory technologies and evidentiary practices. Through the development of public-facing analytical tools students will construct novel frameworks through which the Anthropocene and its effects can be studied. Topics such as floods, deforestation, sea level rise and wildfires will be situated within a wider context of networked cause and effect. The tools and methodologies developed in these group investigations will evidence the interaction of peoples, cultures, information, capital and ecologies which both shape, and are shaped by, the design of our contemporary world.
We’ll work with satellite imagery, machine learning workflows, and analytical methodologies during this course. In so doing, we’ll uncover geo-spatial trends and transformations that will be documented across various modalities. Introductions to and workshops with required softwares will form the basis of the course, with lectures and class discussions focusing on the politics of investigative methodologies and their application in real word contexts.
The course will explore the domain of open-source geospatial investigation through an overview of existing investigative methodologies and their practical application and deployment in real-life projects.
At the same time, the lectures will be anchored by a series of group investigations that relate to the themes underlying the course’s curriculum. Each will concern itself with the design and development of emergent open-source tools and methodologies contributing to the study and investigation of social, climatological, and spatial injustice.
Throughout this time, we will:
Governmental and NGO databases have played a key role in shaping our research, providing access to existing data and enabling us to connect it with other spatial platforms. Building on these foundations, our work expands the scope of vulnerability analysis by using satellite imagery to detect emerging informal settlements, while layering in additional environmental and … Read more
“The Amazon rainforest, often called the ‘lungs of the Earth,’ is rapidly disappearing. But this isn’t just an environmental crisis—it’s a geopolitical and economic issue. In the heart of this transformation lies [Mato Grosso], Brazil’s largest soy-producing state. Its key location fuels both economic growth and ecological destruction, leading to tensions over land use, trade policies, and environmental governance.” … Read more
This research began with one of the most basic human motivation: curiosity. Looking at satellite imagery, we noticed strange, perfect green circles along the desert landscape. What are they? Why are they there? And what do they mean? Along this blogpost, key concepts will be explained , along to the reason of why we choose … Read more
January 7th marked the beginning of one of the most devastating wildfire events in California’s recent history. A series of fires struck the city of Los Angeles, and within just 24 hours of the first ignition, the city was already facing three major wildfires in Pacific Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst. At that point, two fatalities … Read more
