Steel Cities / The Architecture of Logistics in Central and Eastern Europe

In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, a certain type of industry has rapidly developed—an industry that produces nothing. Storing, packaging, classifying, assembling, and other ancillary processes of manufacturing and distribution are carried out in extensive logistics parks, the area of which has doubled on average every four years. These Steel Cities, as some locals have termed them, occupy with their hundreds of thousands of square meters increasing amounts of agricultural land, influence the lives of many inhabitants, and create entirely new relationships. The authors of the publication investigate their impact on landscape and society, and from various standpoints uncover the architectural, spatial, legislative, economic, social, and environmental ramifications of the logistics system, in this region and elsewhere.

This publication examines logistics centers on three scales: as an architectonic-landscape entity the size of a small town, as a network reshaping the map of Europe to define its own territoriality, and as part of the everyday life of the workers inside and the residents around them.

With contributions by Rutvica Andrijasevic, Kateřina Frejlachová, Adrian Hyrsz, Tomáš Khel, Jan Kolský, Bob Kuřík, Jesse LeCavalier, Lukáš Likavčan, Petr Mezihorák, Víctor Muñoz Sanz, Tonia Novitz, Miroslav Pazdera, Zdeněk Porcal (Studio Flusser), Tadeáš Říha, Hannah Schling, Pavel Suchan, Daniel Šitera, Martin Špičák, Philip Ursprung, Ina Valkanova, and Jan Vopravil.