What does liberation mean in a planetary age defined by ecological crisis and deepening inequality? If liberation can no longer be confined to issues of sovereignty or representation, how do struggles over land, resources, and environments shape planetary futures?
Kenny Cupers
Kenny Cupers is an architectural historian and professor at the University of Basel, where he directs the Urban Studies program. His research focuses on the relationship between built environments and changing societies in African and European contexts. Cupers’ interests lie in how design and infrastructure mediate social life and political power. He is the author of The Social Project: Housing Postwar France (2014) and The Earth that Modernism Built (2024), which traces the rise of planetary design to an imperialist discourse about the influence of the earthly environment on humanity. Grounded in the collaborative project "Kamĩrĩĩthũ Afterlives," he is currently working on a book project examining how workers and peasants mobilized arts and architecture to unmake the plantation system.