Aerial Infrastructures: No-Fly Zones and Atmospheric Politics

The air above our heads is an element that we all seemingly share–a space of freedom. But the way that this universal and increasingly vulnerable element becomes perceived as territory—linked to private, public, governmental, military, civil, industrial or commercial interests—is a story entangled with the histories of cartography, meteorology, aviation, urbanism and the built environment, among other things. The no-fly zone—which is so often touted as a humanitarian tactic— must be considered instead as a powerful example of militarist territorialization and policing in the service of atmospheric politics.

This event is part of the BMW Center’s War and Peace lecture series.