Following the damning report published by the IPCC in mid-2021, the message is clear: there is no longer a way to reverse climate change. The notion that humanity would manage to get away with it—depleting and overexploiting the Earth without suffering the consequences—has proven to be mistaken. The model of development and growth that has governed us for at least two centuries must be rethought from its roots if we are to continue our life on this planet. Therefore, in 2022, we have no choice but to question our actions to date. With the goal of pushing thought toward undoing what we have been doing wrong, the three issues of ARQ magazine next year will be dedicated to different ways of rethinking our relationship with the environment: "Decolonize" (ARQ 110), "Degrow" (ARQ 111), and "Deconstruct" (ARQ 112).
As a way to detach from inherited power relations and challenge notions of superiority and inferiority between people, countries, or races, the idea of decolonization has gained ground in contemporary thought. Although the concept emerged in the middle of the last century, it is only at the beginning of this second decade of the twenty-first century that it has become a cultural, intellectual, and ethical imperative. Based on these ideas, this issue 110 of ARQ magazine is structured around the following questions: How has colonialism influenced the construction of architecture as a field of knowledge and as a discipline? What examples—recent or past—have creatively addressed this problem? How can architecture participate in this conversation? Can we conceive of decolonizing projects? Thus, the contributions we receive will not only help shape this issue of ARQ, but may also become the foundation for new relationships—among our species, with others, and with our planet.
