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In collaboration with the MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism , Pulitzer Center grantees John Fitzgerald and Matthew Niederhauser documented global suburbanization and its physical, social and environmental impacts over the past few years. Their work is part of the "Future of Suburbia" exhibition, which runs through Saturday, April 2, 2016, at the MIT Media Lab.
In the "Future of Suburbia" exhibition, Fitzgerald and Niederhauser showcase aerial footage from their project, present interviews and explain local conditions in key locations of the world’s most rapidly urbanizing countries, such as India, South Africa, Mozambique, Brazil, China and Indonesia. Fitzgerald and Niederhauser also documented suburbia across the United States, particularly the West Coast and the South. Suburbia manifests itself differently in each city, and their reporting represents the unique forces at work in each locale.
In many ways, this century already belongs to the city. The United Nations anticipates an additional 2.7 billion people will live in metropolitan regions around the world by 2050. Therefore, the ecological fate of the planet is bound to the fate of the cities.
Fitzgerald and Nierderhauser's "The Megacity Initiative" is a new media venture that seeks to illuminate this process through films, exhibitions, journalism series, and eventually an integrated digital platform that will allow people to more immediately respond to and potentially participate in city planning. These endeavors will be used to promote ongoing urbanist and activist efforts that champion sustainable development, social equity, and accountable municipal governance.
The "Future of Suburbia" exhibition, itself a multimedia synthesis of multiple years of research that has involved students, faculty, and practitioners, is presented in collaboration with Niederhauser and Fitzgerald as visiting artists funded by the Pulitzer Center and MIT Center for Art, Science, & Technology (CAST).
After the installation at MIT ends, the "Future of Suburbia" exhibition will travel to several additional locations around the country.
The "Future of Suburbia" Exhibition
Monday, January 25, 2016 - Saturday, April 2, 2016
Okawa Lobby
MIT Media Lab, E14
75 Amherst Street
Cambridge, MA 02139