Monuments of the Anthropocene
Drifting in North Philadelphia
“People can see nothing around them that is not their own image; everything speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape is animated.”
— Guy Debord
From the influential work of mid-century political theorists, and the growing influences of Dadaism and Surrealism, philosopher Guy Debord and the French artistic/political collective the Situationist International (SI) developed “Psychogeography” — a study of the psychological effects of the geographical environment.
Through this practice emerged the concept of Dérive, the psychogeographic procedure of drifting through the city in a playful and investigative way.
“In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, their work and leisure activities, and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there” (Theory of the Dérive, Guy Debord).
I took a modern walk through North Philadelphia with these ideas in mind.
When walking along the passages between the neighborhoods known as Ludlow and Kensington in North Philadelphia, I’m greeted warmly by everyone I pass. Philadelphia is known as the “City of Brotherly Love,” but this motto is often invoked in sarcasm rather than sincerity. Indeed, this city can sometimes feel overwhelmingly committed to conflict and anger. However, the sense of companionship evoked by this pocket of North Philly is surprisingly genuine.
The physical condition of the area offers a stark juxtaposition to the positive affect of residents. This densely urban area has been afflicted with pollution, poverty, crime, and addiction. The evidence of these disturbances is scattered in the soil and on the sidewalk. Confrontation with emblems of the Anthropocene is inescapable here.
The concept of the Anthropocene is now well-known: life on Earth has entered into an epoch defined by human activity. Humans have always influenced their environments, but the Anthropocene marks a new, global scale of human influence that will long remain evident in the planet’s geology and ecology. The exploitation of nature fully pervades the Earth, from the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean.
Likewise, artifacts of the Anthropocene permeate human communities who have been victims of the same exploiting forces. Such artifacts include debris from crumbling infrastructure, tires, and drug paraphernalia; all of which accumulate where disinvestment has taken hold.
Kensington is one neighborhood where this disinvestment is evident. A Google search on the area will draw articles and videos that are apocalyptic in nature. Here, public services and spaces are growing increasingly inaccessible as residents grapple with the impacts of poverty, environmental degradation, and the opioid crisis.
However, despite the social and environmental challenges that Kensington faces, the community seems to be bursting with camaraderie and ingenuity.
A great monument to these characteristics is the plethora of community-created public spaces that have emerged across the neighborhood. A sense of unity is present in the urban gardens that have taken residence on vacant parcels across the region. These community-driven spaces are open to all, and are supported by a dedicated force of resident volunteers.
When I enter one such space, the sense of quiet, avant-garde revolution is indisputable. A unique ecosystem emerges from the anthropogenic conditions. Native and non-native plant species grow alongside garden vegetables planted in old barrels and hand-made planters. Community art made from discarded material signifies the ingenious character of the space. The selfless effort of the community makes brotherly love feel like a reality in a world that is growing increasingly polarized.
In the context of Debord and the SI movement, urbanism has taken the form of government intervention to suppress civil unrest and maintain the regimentation of public life. Urban spaces have grown increasingly exclusive and isolating. While modern urban policies claim to strive for equity and community engagement, uplifting outcomes are yet to materialize.
In The Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord explains: “Urbanism is capitalism’s seizure of the natural and human environment; developing logically into absolute domination, capitalism can and must now remake the totality of space into its own setting” (169). According to Debord, the technical forces of capitalism, including urbanism, can be understood as tools for separation and isolation.
Urbanism, then, is a tool to safeguard class power by preserving the separation of workers who have been physically brought together by the urban conditions of production. This logic of urbanism is also the methodology of the Anthropocene. The institutions and organization of the city exacerbate isolation and disinvestment as crises mount against the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Neighborhoods like Kensington have faced such severe disinvestment that residents have created their own systems that foster togetherness and prosperity. These systems are signified by an intertwining of natural and anthropogenic features that come together to form spaces that are truly public. Such spaces created outside of the grasp of municipal institutions are revolutionary. These urban ecosystems present as distinct monuments of the Anthropocene; anarchical gatherings of humans and non-human life that undermine an isolating society.
