Granular Configurations

‘Granular Configurations’ explores the world’s most widely used – yet often overlooked – building material: sand. Gathering voices from geography, geology, social sciences, art, and the humanities, the book traces how sand moves and transforms, resisting easy capture by political and ecological systems. From extractive practices and colonial legacies to grassroots struggles and fragile infrastructures, sand emerges not just as a resource, but as an unstable force shaping the planetary urban condition. The research explores environmental speculation and emerging material and territorial configurations shaped by planetary urbanisation and the climate crisis.