Joana Rafael is an architect practitioner and Postdoctoral Researcher, specializing in ecological concerns related to pollution and contamination, both indoors and in urban planning. Her research explores the intersections of architecture and urbanism with human geography, environmental studies, and power dynamics, encompassing contemporary culture, media studies, art, and technology. She investigates the materiality and limits of physical infrastructures in relation to Earth's systems and the reciprocal relationships between humans and nature, with a particular focus on radiologically contaminated environments. Joana has taught Contextual Studies and Contemporary Culture-related courses at institutions including ESAP in Porto, ISCE Douro in Penafiel, Central Saint Martins in London, and the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury. She is a member of CEGOT (Center for Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning) and CEAA (Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo), and a co-founder of REFINERY BOARD. Joana holds a Master of Architecture and Urban Cultures from Metropolis, Barcelona, as well as a Master of Research Architecture and a PhD in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London. She also earned a Healthier Materials and Sustainable Building Specialization certificate from Parsons School of Design, The New School. In addition to her academic pursuits, Joana is a certified farmer.
Dirty Paths for a Green Mandate
Presented / Published in portuguese as Caminho Sujo para um Mandato Limpo
in FIACED II, Penafiel, Portugal
Dirty Paths for a Green Mandate focuses on causes and solutions for environmental and planetary crises such as that brought by the huge amount of waste that we produce and dispose of globally, and on interests that offer objectives to be achieved through the mobilization of technical innovation: ie manufacturing, purchasing and using materials that reduce the volume and toxicity of the waste generated and favour reuse, recycling and composting instead of disposal. Within this focus, this paper highlights the requirements of additional investment in factories, machines and the replacement of one type of waste with another. It argues, that these are solutions that, although they are perceived as achievements towards sustainability goals, idealize the life cycle and endless renewal, ignore resources and act involved in the production of more waste, inherent in the design of alternative processes and substitute products, exacerbating even more environmental and ethical problems. As part of this hypothesis and through notes for research on waste reserves, this paper propels that the objectives set out highlight the fact that this set of solutions is governed by a mandate, in fact, still green and calls for comprehensive programs to discuss methods and techniques, together with a better understanding of the problems, in current education systems and campaigns.
