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Paper short abstract

This paper contributes to the field of geological anthropology by elucidating how architects, urban planners, and engineers engage with geological formations under the guise of “development”, revealing how geological movements are intertwined with neoliberal future-oriented urban imaginaries.

Paper long abstract

The Lower Danube terraces are inherently unstable geological formations, characterized by young loess and paleosoil, which naturally tend to slide toward the river. This fragility is further intensified by small creeks and shallow groundwater permeating the area. Over the past two decades, the city of Galați in Southeastern Romania has seen the emergence of two upscale residential neighborhoods on the river’s second terrace. While pre-socialist authorities avoided construction on these vulnerable slopes, both socialist and postsocialist regimes have ignored the city’s history of landslides, allowing high-value apartment complexes to rise within a hundred meters of the terrace edge. Recent “modernization” plans by the city hall seek to stabilize the terraces, aesthetically enhance the promenade along the Danube on the first terrace, and implement concrete infrastructures to combat the accelerated erosion of the riverbank. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this study examines how geological formations, soil materiality, and the dynamics of the Danube River are interpreted and managed within the framework of techno-scientific projects.

This paper contributes to the field of geological anthropology by elucidating how architects, urban planners, and engineers perceive and engage with geological formations under the guise of “development”, revealing how geological movements are intertwined with neoliberal future-oriented urban imaginaries. Our findings contribute to broader debates on how technoscientific aesthetics mediate relations between the political economy of development and the agency of geological matter in Southeast Europe.