The Global Petroleumscape

Abstract

Corporate and public actors have built the physical and financial flows of petroleum into the very landscape. This brief introduction contains abstracts from longer articles and highlights a few elements of the spatial impact of petroleum flows— physical, represented, and everyday practices—that combine into a palimpsestic global petroleumscape. Through examples from the Middle East, it shows that these layers have become essential parts of modern society and of citizens’ everyday lives. It argues that the petroleumscape connects and integrates spatial elements from global to local scales and from different political and economic systems. The Suez Canal, and the construction of the cities alongside it, is a key example for the ways in which petroleum has induced geopolitical transformations. The construction of the city of Abadan exemplifies the grasp of oil on urban planning. Refineries or port installations continue to function as a result of path dependencies and a petroleumbased energy culture, demonstrating how the existence of oil installation reshapes global flows. Buildings and urban forms needed for physical and financial oil flows—including recent developments in Dubai or Saudi Arabia—celebrate oil as a heroic cultural agent, creating a feedback loop that leads societies to consume more oil. Shifting petroleum interests leaves spaces that will require redevelopment and transformation, calling for careful reflection on their future use and role in local history, on democratic intervention, and public input. Only in appreciating the power and extent of oil can we engage with the complex, emerging challenges of sustainable design, policy making, heritage, and future built environments beyond oil.