Spatialization of oppression

For architecture and the urban to have relevance in the 21st Century, we cannot merely reignite the approaches of thought and design that were operative in the last century. Moreover, we can no longer afford to reduce them to a neutral backdrop of political realities. Architecture and urban space should be understood as political forces in and of themselves. There is explicit evidence of the inherent role that architecture and the urban play in numerous human-made crises, including but not limited to ongoing and unprecedented global problems – from the refugee crisis, the US-Mexico border, terrorist attacks, detention camps, numerous worldwide urban demonstrations, to climate change, the housing crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. This chapter is structured into three sections, first it discusses the urgency of rethinking the politics of spatialization, followed by outlining the importance of politics in relation to architecture and urban space. The last section highlights the importance of defining and re-defining architecture and the urban, necessary for understanding the political role of architecture and urban space.