Counter-Cartographies of Extraction: Mapping Socio-Environmental Changes Through Hybrid Geographic Information Technologies

Mitesh Dixit, Nataša Danilović Hristić () and Nebojša Stefanović
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Mitesh Dixit: Department of Architecture and Desing, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
Nataša Danilović Hristić: Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Nebojša Stefanović: Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-23

Abstract: This paper examines Krivelj, a copper mining village in Serbia, as a critical yet overlooked node within global extractive networks. Despite supplying copper essential for renewable energy and sustainable architecture, Krivelj experiences severe ecological disruption, forced relocations, and socio-spatial destabilization, becoming a “sacrifice zone”—an area deliberately subjected to harm for broader economic interests. Employing a hybrid methodology that combines ethnographic fieldwork with Geographic Information Systems (GISs), this study spatializes narratives of extractive violence collected from residents through walking interviews, field sketches, and annotated aerial imagery. By integrating satellite data, legal documents, environmental sensors, and lived testimonies, it uncovers the concept of “slow violence,” where incremental harm occurs through bureaucratic neglect, ambient pollution, and legal ambiguity. Critiquing the abstraction of Planetary Urbanization theory, this research employs countertopography and forensic spatial analysis to propose a counter-cartographic framework that integrates geospatial analysis with local narratives. It demonstrates how global mining finance manifests locally through tangible experiences, such as respiratory illnesses and disrupted community relationships, emphasizing the potential of counter-cartography as a tool for visualizing and contesting systemic injustice.

Keywords: geographic information technologies (GITs); counter-cartography; planetary urbanization; extractive landscapes; spatial justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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