This edited volume examines the role and agency of environmental media in contemporary architectural production, rethinking how design responds to the challenges of the Anthropocene in the context of climate change and shifting landscapes. As the climate crisis intensifies, media that articulate the relationships between society and the environment are no longer merely tools of communication, but have become critical instruments in shaping future narratives and knowledge frameworks.
The book argues that in addressing complex, multi-scalar environmental issues, designers must move across disciplines—from embodied experience to technical systems, from investigative research to speculative futures—to develop integrated modes of representation and knowledge production. Through such interdisciplinary practices, architecture and design extend beyond the construction of space to actively engage in environmental understanding and societal transformation.
The volume covers a wide range of contemporary topics, including counter-cartographies of migration and materials, forest ecologies and concepts of resource abundance, hyperreal visualization and environmental simulation, as well as the entanglements of architecture with extractive and colonial systems. It also addresses future directions in environmental pedagogy and practice, offering both critical and forward-looking perspectives.
Structured around three key modes of media practice—rendering visible, rendering sensible, and rendering actionable—the book presents distinct yet interconnected strategies for engaging with environmental media. These approaches aim to construct new knowledge systems, shift aesthetic paradigms, and respond to the complexities of contemporary social and political conditions.
Bringing together perspectives from media theory, environmental studies, visual culture, geography, and landscape studies, this book provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the relationship between architecture and the environment. It is an essential and thought-provoking resource for architects, designers, researchers, and readers concerned with environmental issues.