LATTS is pleased to invite you to the next session of its general seminar, which will take place on Monday, February 23, 2026, at 2 p.m. The session will focus on the book Accumuler du béton, tracer des routes. Une histoire environnementale des grandes infrastructures (Accumulating Concrete, Building Roads: An Environmental History of Major Infrastructure Projects), La Fabrique Éditions, 2024.
Nelo Magalhães will present his book, followed by a discussion led by Nathalie Montel, before opening the floor to questions from the audience.
This session will take place in room B015 (Bienvenüe Building) and will be broadcast via videoconference. Zoom
link: https://univ-eiffel.zoom.us/j/87987869978
Meeting ID: 879 8786 9978
Password: LATTS2026
"In the post-war decades, thousands of kilometers of roads and highways were built to support the increase in traffic and connect, across the consolidated agricultural landscapes, metropolitan areas to industrial zones, ports, airports, power plants, and tourist complexes. This marked the beginning of a "Great Acceleration" that revolutionized the production of space. On construction sites, concrete flowed freely while the noise of machines (which did not go on strike) replaced the clamor of diggers. Chemistry and the industrialization of techniques freed construction from the constraints of terrain, climate, and geology: "abstracting the ground" to build roads—and support the weight of trucks—became a leitmotif of "land use planning," which required the continuous extraction and displacement of billions of cubic meters of earth, sand, and aggregate.
Although the damage is quickly felt in river beds, around quarries and in the atmosphere – not to mention road deaths – the frenzy for asphalt has never abated: this infrastructure, which devours hectares and public money, must be constantly repaired, thickened and extended. This book offers a remarkable cross-section of this technical, economic, and political machinery. As struggles against the road model and the cement industry multiply, it identifies some of the obstacles that make the built environment so burdensome. A prerequisite for thinking about lighter alternatives.
Nelo Magalhães holds a doctorate in mathematics and economics. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Environmental Transition. His research focuses on the materiality of capitalism, from a perspective that combines political economy and environmental history.