Future Anterior: Critical Carbon

As Sheila Jasanoff noted, climate change is often cast as being “impersonal, apolitical, and universal”. When in fact, it requires quite the opposite. Decarbonizing and its role in the built environment demand the “subjective, situated and normative imaginations of human actors”. This special issue of Future Anterior seeks to explore heritage as a realm within which we can develop such a critical imagination. We invite critiques of decarbonization discourse that use heritage as a lens for theorizing and historicizing the contemporary notions of carbon. In particular, we invite critiques that bring into focus the differences in cultural and ethical values associated with decarbonizing in the Southeast Asia Pacific region. This issue seeks to highlight theories and histories emerging within the Southeast Asia Pacific region that deploy heritage conservation in advancing a more equitable understanding of decarbonization.

We welcome papers from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds. Including, preservation architecture, environmental humanities, art, urban planning, real estate, and related disciplines.

Future Anterior: Critical Carbon

Some themes of particular interest include critical readings of decarbonization policies that account for contested histories and Aboriginal values associated with heritage precincts, or districts. Precinct planning examples of state or regional importance demonstrate innovative approaches to energy efficiency in the context of viability and governance.

We also encourage critical analyses of the hidden cultural and class biases in how heritage buildings in the Southeast Asia Pacific region are maintained, adapted, and demolished. This extends to studies that evaluate such biases in the production of new building materials designed to offset carbon emissions in existing buildings. Or in tools used to measure energy consumption in light of heritage status.

We also encourage essays that explore the entanglement of decarbonization policies with networks of power and privilege within professional bodies, governmental regulations, and environmental policies meant to direct heritage conservation.

Download the information related to this competition here.