Neoliberalism, Globalization, and the Ecological Crisis

This lecture is organized by the Institute for Environmental Studies and Research [IESR] In collaboration with the European Cultural Center.

The collapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990’s ushered a new political and economic era, marked by the triumphant emergence of Neoliberalism and the globalized capitalist world order. Some thirty years after this major turning point, it is clear that this new world order has led to the breakdown of the foundational elements of the socio-political order in nation-states, with disastrous consequences as evidenced by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Many critics have associated the Neoliberal policies across the globe with the increasing challenges posed on the environment, and the prognostics of an ecological disaster on the horizon.

In this symposium we propose to examine the consequences of Neoliberalism and Globalization and its environmental impacts by addressing the role that architecture and urban planning policies played in this respect, the impact of  environmental on the constitution of the city, the role of information technology, and the relation between nature and the human in the context of a sustainable environment. This symposium will seek to address and debate these issues through a panel of invited critics and scholars in an interdisciplinary setting.

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