Globalization, militarization, and surveillance—these themes are much in evidence within political and academic circles at the moment, but how do they impact the built environment? “Evasions of Power,” a symposium held at the University of Pennsylvania earlier this spring, addressed the many manifestations of political and economic power affecting architecture and urbanism. Topics ranged from free trade zones to Hurricane Katrina, but Penn architecture chair Detlef Mertens cited their common interest as “architecture understood in a political register.”
The conference should perhaps have been named “Evasions by Power,” since most presenters agreed that the most powerful entities in the built environment—national governments and multinational corporations—intentionally conceal rather than emphasize the signs of their control. “Power is always an evasive project,” asserted Tom Keenan, director of the Human Rights Project and a professor at Bard College. “There are only deviations, maneuvers and re-routings of power.”
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