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Buell Dissertation Colloquium

The biennial Dissertation Colloquium brings together a select group of doctoral students from diverse institutional and disciplinary backgrounds working on dissertation topics related to the history, theory, and criticism of American architecture, urbanism, and landscape. 

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The Buell Conference on the History of Architecture brings together scholars in architectural and urban history to discuss topics in architecture, urbanism, and modernity as broadly understood.

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The Alibi of Capital

October 22, 2026, 12 pm EST
300S Buell Hall and online

Timothy Mitchell (Columbia)
Response by Zeynep Çelik Alexander (Columbia)

Among the great motors of the myth of abundance in the modern period (the idea that the earth is an infinitely replenishing resource) is capitalism’s supposed power to transfigure nature into wealth. In his new book, The Alibi of Capital: How We Broke the Earth to Steal the Future on the Promise of a Better Tomorrow (Verso 2026), offers a rich counter-narrative that redefines capital: from accumulating wealth to an alibi for discounting the future. This event will highlight aspects of the book that relate to architecture and development, as well as epistemologies of space and time.