Narcotecture

The term narcotecture often refers to grand mansions built with drug money. A blend of the words “narcotics” and “architecture,” the portmanteau evokes florid gated communities in Afghanistan, Africa, and the Americas. Yet, this interest in ostentation strips narcotecture of full analytical purchase...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environment and planning. D, Society & space Society & space, 2016-08, Vol.34 (4), p.672-688
Main Author: O'Neill, Kevin Lewis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Architecture
Central America
Drug abuse
Drug policy
Human trafficking
Infrastructure
Money laundering
Wealth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The term narcotecture often refers to grand mansions built with drug money. A blend of the words “narcotics” and “architecture,” the portmanteau evokes florid gated communities in Afghanistan, Africa, and the Americas. Yet, this interest in ostentation strips narcotecture of full analytical purchase. To expand the term's significance, this article samples how the global drug trade interacts every day with the War on Drugs at the level of built environments. This interaction makes flashy mansions, to be sure, but also airplane hangars and shipping containers, security booths and watch towers, drop sites and crack houses—not to mention prisons, hospitals, and barracks. This broader notion of narcotecture is organized by the tactical manipulation of space pursued in ways that self-consciously attempt to avoid detection. This article's central claim is that narcotecture is not simply a form of conspicuous consumption but more importantly a mode of inconspicuous construction.
ISSN:0263-7758
1472-3433
DOI:10.1177/0263775816637873