Market Landscape: Speaking between Financial Districts and The Planet
<p>Many international firms headquartered in major financial districts play a key part in funding industries responsible for climate change and environmental degradation—such as palm oil plantations, deep-sea drilling, and tar sands mining. In the public imaginary, these activities are often thought of as problems unfolding in far-flung landscapes. This project highlights how they also take place within a planetary-scale market landscape at the centres of our cities.</p> <p><em>Market Landscape</em> is an investigation into the urban ecologies of two major financial districts: Hong Kong’s Central District and London’s Canary Wharf. Entangled by histories of empire stretching from the early stages of industrial capitalism up to the present day, this project explores how seemingly mundane design features—like parks, plantings, and land works—reveal new frameworks to understand the inner workings of global financial markets and their wider planetary impact. In doing so, the project aims to contribute to the knowledge of architecture’s role in the Anthropocene.</p>
Authors: Sben Korsh, Maxime Decaudin
Canadian Centre for Architecture