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We are seeking early-career thinkers and creators who are developing a critical and innovative practice that traverses disciplinary boundaries to join our network. Our current areas of interest include – but are not limited to – the following interconnected fields:
Ecology Geology Urbanism Infrastructure Geography Geopolitics Ethnography Cartography System Theory Cybernetics Sense-making Enactivism Cosmology etc.
For more information, please refer to the document available here:
Metamorphic Zone begins from the co-production among practitioners across diverse disciplines, taking words as shared departure points and thresholds through which practices meet, translate, and transform. From writing to editorial, words here are not vessels of meaning but mediators of relation, inviting new forms of dialogue across fields and sensibilities. Through collaborative writing, we encounter the multiplicity of worlds that words seek to hold together.
There are two ways of rendering our choices for the inquiry into existence, a state of bifurcation: one is the real but meaningless matter named nature – or the material; the other is the meaningful but unreal symbol named culture – or the mind. However, these two are in a relationship of shaping and being shaped by each other. To overcome the oppositional yet inseparable relationship of this bifurcation, one might recognise that the world is composed of hybrids of both the natural and the cultural. The world acts in multiplicity. Words are one of these agents, with semantic capacities that contribute to mediating our relationship to the world.
From the Nature of singularity to the World of multiplicity, we must learn to inhabit the metamorphic zone. Metamorphism is a fundamental attribute of the world itself; it can be understood as any entity, agency, or phenomenon undergoing transformation, whether human or non-human, material, or immaterial. Within this condition, different actors exchange features, leading to new distributions of agency.
Metamorphic Zone thus exists as a living field of correspondences, an ongoing co-production where practitioners, ideas, and worlds continuously encounter and reshape one another. From metaphor to metamorphism, words are actors that navigate us within the world where existence and signification are synonyms, embedded as properties of all agents.
This project has taken form through the effort, enthusiasm, and generosity of each contributor. In this shared process, discussing, learning, and working together have been invaluable.
The intention behind Metamorphic Zone emerged from an intuition to assemble a shared glossary – one that could articulate how we inhabit, think, and act together in the Anthropocene. The name draws on the legacy of Bruno Latour, whose work reminds us that metamorphosis is an epistemic condition: a simultaneous transformation of knowledge, perception, and the world we inhabit.
Responding to the challenge of bringing practitioners from varied disciplines into conversation, the project seeks to cultivate a network in which ideas evolve through encounter, knowledge is generated through dialogue, and collaboration becomes a shared response to shifting conditions.
We are grateful for the insights and guidance of Ann-Sofi Rönnskog and John Palmesino, whose teaching at the Architectural Association significantly informed the development of the project. Thanks to our friends Shuhang Clarice Cao, Sheer Gritzerstein, and Hiroaki Yamane for their inspired ideas and support.
Our initial contributors, including Kunlin He, Kristiina Koskentola, Lucia Rebolino, and Dr. Catherine Russell, have been generous in their engagement. We are especially grateful to web designers Pianpian He and Max Harvey, and to web developer Mianwei Wang, whose thoughtful work enabled the realisation of the digital platform.
Data gathering, environmental monitoring and simulations are central to Earth Science development, relying on an extensive sensing apparatus that includes remote sensing satellites, radar systems, LiDAR scanners, atmospheric monitoring sensors, optical instruments, and more. Scientific observation goes beyond being a mere direct reflection of objective matters through sensing techniques. It emerges from a complex interplay of various actors and processes – observers, instruments, methodologies, conversions, observed phenomena, and interpretations. For instance, remote sensing collects and records electromagnetic radiation reflected from the Earth’s surface. These captured signals are transmitted electronically to ground stations, where they are received and processed. During this phase, raw data is transformed into interpretable formats, ultimately resulting in images that can be interpreted both visually and digitally for analysis and application.
Within the process of transforming signals, raw data, and images, the sensing apparatus transcends its initial role as a mere observational tool. Instead, it becomes an active agent, entangled within a network of relations that simultaneously shapes sensing practices and transforms fields of knowledge production. Matter and environments are no longer passive backdrops but participants that co-produce the outcomes of observation.
This transformation of environmental sensing calls a shift of scientific paradigms from matters of fact to matters of concern by engaging with a multiplicity of entangled relations shaped by diverse actors and processes. This cognitive shift does not seek to undermine the authority of scientific observation and experimental results, nor does it diminish the pursuit of high-precision instruments. Instead, while maintaining the need to continuously refine scientific instruments, approaches, and institutions, it emphasises patterns of difference and marks complex processes of modulation. Ultimately, this shift urges a commitment to understanding which differences matter, how they matter, and for whom they hold significance.
Hurricanes are immense systems of water vapor and energy, embodying the inherent uncertainty of our atmosphere. These storms, driven by complex interactions between temperature, moisture, and wind, have paths and intensities that can be anticipated only to a degree. As hurricanes gather strength, their behavior reflects the chaotic nature of atmospheric systems, where small changes can lead to dramatic outcomes. Climate models, essential for predicting these events, rely heavily on precise data from satellites to monitor moisture, a key factor in determining storm strength and potential impact.
At the heart of these predictive efforts lies the 24 GHz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, essential for detecting atmospheric water vapor. This frequency is where satellite sensors “listen” to subtle moisture signatures in the atmosphere, providing critical information on potential storm intensities. However, the 24 GHz band now faces competition from 5G telecommunications networks, which use nearby high-frequency bands for faster data transmission. These powerful 5G signals can interfere with the quieter signals emitted by water vapor, risking disruption of the delicate data that informs climate models.
From a perspective that reveals the thickness of the Critical Zone, the path of the NOAA-19 satellite is highlighted as it scans atmospheric water vapor, tracing moisture patterns within this fragile layer of Earth.
The finite spectrum, allocated by regulatory agencies, must balance the needs of both scientific and commercial interests. In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned portions of the 24 GHz band for 5G use, raising significant concerns from the scientific community. Agencies like NOAA and NASA, as well as many meteorologists, voiced fears that interference from these high-band 5G frequencies could undermine satellite detection of water vapor, potentially reducing the accuracy of climate and weather forecasts. In an era of more extreme weather events, marked by what Bruno Latour describes as a New Climatic Regime, the consequences are high. Predictive accuracy is not only vital for public safety but also for long-term climate resilience.
As these storms grow in intensity, we are increasingly challenged to understand the interactions of human technology and atmospheric conditions within what Latour refers to as the Critical Zone. This is the thin, fragile layer of Earth where human and non-human processes collide, encompassing everything from ecosystems and atmosphere to infrastructure and technologies. The critical zone, within which hurricanes form and travel, is now intersecting with human-made systems in ways that amplify risk and uncertainty. Spectrum management, then, becomes not just a matter of regulating competing interests but a crucial question of planetary resilience.
Satellite-based climate models depend on uninterrupted access to atmospheric data to refine predictions, especially as storms track closer to populated areas. Without reliable data from water vapor sensors, our ability to anticipate hurricane paths and intensities weakens, which could leave communities less prepared and more vulnerable. The telecommunications industry, however, continues to push for greater access to the high-frequency spectrum, driven by an expanding demand for faster connectivity. As more devices join the Internet of Things and high-speed networks are prioritized, the conflict over the limited spectrum space intensifies.
Weather prediction technology, a key tool for navigating the impacts of this new climatic regime, increasingly relies on partnerships between government agencies and private organizations to sustain and protect critical atmospheric data. Unlike other forms of environmental regulation, the consequences of spectrum interference are often invisible, obscured in abstract frequencies and signal strength rather than immediately perceptible effects. This makes public awareness and political consensus on the issue difficult to achieve, even as the risks continue to grow.
In response, scientists and policymakers are working to mitigate interference risks by advocating for stricter regulations and more defined Stay-Out Zones within the spectrum. These measures aim to limit the overlap between 5G frequencies and those reserved for weather sensing. However, the demand for spectrum space grows with each new advance in telecommunications. The critical question of how much bandwidth to allocate for scientific versus commercial purposes remains a contentious one, and decisions today will likely influence climate resilience for decades.
In many ways, the overlap of telecommunications and weather science reflects the broader shift in how human activity shapes our atmosphere. High-band 5G technologies are not isolated tools; they represent part of a larger expansion of high-frequency infrastructure that encroaches upon the critical zone and its delicate balance. When hurricanes form and travel within this zone, reliable detection and forecasting are vital to protect lives, as they offer communities critical lead time for evacuation and preparation. Yet, as technology accelerates, so does its footprint on the invisible frameworks – like the electromagnetic spectrum - that underpin environmental systems.
This tension is perhaps one of the defining challenges of the critical zone, where human technology, natural forces, and atmospheric patterns all intersect, and the need to protect vital climate data is paramount. Ensuring access to this data demands not only technical solutions but a shared understanding of the consequences our choices bear upon a warming, increasingly turbulent world. As we navigate these complex intersections, our ability to forecast and model changes in the atmosphere, indeed our planet’s future, may well depend on the boundaries we set today.
