To Mars and Back? Staying with the Trouble on Planet Earth

This essay is an account of the experience of writing and presenting reflections for a panel debate under the title 'Aarhus – Mars, return' at the 2021 Aarhus School of Architecture Festival. The debate was framed around how new robot technology, AI and digital programs are the architect's new tools and can lead to profound changes in how architecture is conceived, designed, and built. On stage with Bjarke Ingels (BIG Architects, partner of Elon Musk and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on designing for Mars), Signe Kongebro (Architect, Henning Larsen Architects), and Flemming Rafn Thomsen (Architect, Tredje Natur) I debated the subject of the architect's role in 'colonizing' Mars. Under the overall theme of the event, 'staying with the trouble' , this panel asked, 'are space colonies an answer to overpopulation, climate challenges, and resource depletion? After exploiting and colonizing the Earth, should we follow the money – and Elon Musk – to the playground of the privileged few, or should we fix the problems on planet Earth, leaving no one behind?'.
This short essay summarizes my main arguments during the talk, including 'who is the architect' behind the Mars idea of futurity and the critical questions architects should ask themselves when involved in this debate. I derive my arguments from a personal experience of coming from a colonized and exploited country (Brazil), where land, resources, and forests are being exploited to give rise to development projects for the benefit of the few. To frame my arguments concerning different ways of using technology and utopian architecture to imagine a more inclusive future, this essay weaves reflections on the book Pale Blue Dot from Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan's and the sociologist Nikolaj Shultz's perspective on Mars’ colonization and examples of non-hegemonic and hopeful global futures.