Can You See Capitalism From Space?

Join the American Geographical Society Library on Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. for “Can You See Capitalism From Space?”, a presentation from AGSL Research Fellow Jon Jablonski.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, and then Reform and Opening in 1979, China experienced an almost complete demographic shift: the population moved from just 10% urban then, to 70% today. Massive urban development projects unused: housing blocks, industrial districts, railways and other transit development, ensued. And printed maps became filled with thick data about where and how those hundreds of millions of Chinese people would live their lives.

Using findings from AGSL’s collections, and preparatory research using 1970s Russian produced topographic maps and contemporary satellite image analysis, Jon will tell the story of how he went from basements of Mitchell Hall and Golda Meir to Wuhan in 2023.