It’s interesting to know how logics of resource extraction have formed urbanization. The skyline of modern cities is an output of inverted minds in philosophical, technological and economical to cities vast inheritance according to some theorists. The capital which functions in forms of money, technology, commodity and human labor have created these inverted minds which eventually has resulted to degradation of natural resources. Due to advancement in technology, now low or medium grade of minerals are harvested more in numbers to match top grade which weren’t the priority as compared to top grade minerals which have been processed naturally with biological processes. This has led to exhaustion of resources more than ever. It’s also a fact to know that the best and most modern technology has always been used and experimented first in the mining sector before public use. Like for example the concept of elevators was first used to extract minerals from deep underground to ground level.
The power of capitalist resource generation which was at first in west has now been decentralized to east in some regions as well. To give a thought about it I feel the early colonization of east by west led to economic and resources exploitation which has resulted in west been more developed and east as developing region. Had it not been the case, the resources would have been equally used by each region as per the demand and excess exported to west through normal/natural process of development through trade.
This bring me to the book ‘Limits to growth’ which talks about uneven and untimed extraction of resources by neglecting the natural process creates problems not only to environment but also in social structure of society where the rich wants to ‘grow’ by expanding their industries. The exhaustion of resources from east to west in colonial rule and exhaustion of natural resources by advancement in technology are prime example where the natural flow of process was disturbed by human greed in different ages.
The upcoming Qatar 2022 FIFA World cup is an example on how human labor from Asian countries are been exploited to death for construction of stadiums.
Other fictional example is in the movie ‘Blood Diamond’ where harsh realities of process of extraction of diamond from it’s natural resources to market is shown at the cost of human exploitation of African regions.
An analytical criticism is required to separate the ‘values’ from ‘fetish’ of money and commodities of resources. Whereas the resources extraction gives us hope for possible great future, it also has apocalyptic consequences. The less alienated and more oppressed societies have to come together and try to work together for betterment of both. The truly evolved science of the one which reduces the gap between manual and intellectual labor resources. It’s time we need to stop humans making humans irrelevant in this age.
is a project of IAAC, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, developed in the Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Bio-cities (MAEBB 01) 2021/22 by student: Kshitij Sarote; faculty: Alex Hadley