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 demonstrates and investigates 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.
Stolen River by Luisa Torres, Michał Modelski and María José Schmidt
From Afar asks 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 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 evidence the interaction of peoples, cultures, information, capital and ecologies which both shape, and are shaped by, the design of our contemporary world.
Informal Settlements in Chile by Bruka Ulmane, Josefina Ovalle, Valeria Villanueva and Maja Mawusi
Throughout this course, we work with satellite imagery, machine learning workflows, and analytical methodologies. In so doing, we uncover geo-spatial trends and transformations that are documented across various modalities. Introductions to and workshops with required softwares 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.
Investigating Grain Farming, Deforestation, and Political Conflict in the Amazon by Sutirtha Das Gupta, Francisco Ferrer and Daniela Rodriguez Mattos
WildFires by Luis Ángel Martínez Reyes, Lakshmi Narayanan and Sanjay Kumar