Victoria Kiechel - How has extractivism become intertwined in our built environment?

EXALT Podcast

In this episode we talk to Victoria Kiechel, a professor from American University. She is an architect and teaches in the School of International Service. Her focus is on the relationship between the built environment and extractivism. This conversation is premised on Victoria’s contribution to the open access book Our Extractive Age (link below). We talk about building as they contribute (or don’t) to urban and social life. We discussed the lifecycle of buildings and the extent of the extraction in all forms that accompany the built environment. The extraction which accompanies the built environment spans from literal extraction from the Earth in the form of building materials, to the displacement of communities, to financialization (via profit driving more extraction), to the construction labor. This discussion highlights the complexity of the built environment and how to be aware to minimize the most negative impacts of the extraction which occurs with making buildings. It is inevitable that humans will continue to develop built environments, but it is important to avoid hyper-building and the rush to demolish. A key to countering extractivism in the built environment is fostering the development of a built environment that brings joy, flexibility in use, and can be long lasting.

Our Extractive Age: Expressions of Violence and Resistance, edited by Judith Shapiro, John-Andrew McNeish – Link to Open Access Edition. See Victoria’s chapter - Extraction and the Built Environment: Violence and Other Social Consequences of Construction (Chapter 6, page 114-132)

Other Resources:

Urbanist and Danish Architect Jan Gehl (https://gehlpeople.com/)