This working group delves into the dynamic interaction between social processes and material forms in the context of the environmental crisis, focusing on the study of ecosocial imaginaries, infrastructure trajectories and forms of political articulation in response to this crisis. Weaving together sociological theory and empirically based qualitative methodologies, the group aims to conceptualize, empirically explore and/or theoretically address the complex networks of relationships between social actors (individuals, collectives, institutions), material forms (ruins, infrastructures, waste) and environments (both natural and built) that shape socio-ecological transformations, with special attention to how power and inequalities structure these interdependencies.

Research topics

• Imaginaries of climate futures: examination of the images, narratives and materializations of climate futures and how these shape perceptions and sociopolitical responses to the ecological crisis.

• Trajectories of socio-ecological infrastructures: monitoring the rise, transformation and decline of infrastructures as transitory and material expressions of social, political and economic relations.

• Collective climate action: analysis of collective political articulations in response to the ecological crisis, with attention to their diversity of forms, situated manifestations and changing dynamics.

• Ruins and processes of ruination: exploration of material vestiges—such as industrial remains and degraded contexts—not only as expressions of degradation and exhaustion, but also as spaces for experimentation, political contestation and regeneration in the midst of the ecological crisis.

Publications

Clot-Garrell, Anna. (2025). The materiality of failed futures: Tensions and transformations of a fossil infrastructure. Social Science Information, 64(3-4), 355-379.

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Batalla, Oriol, Clot-Garrell, Anna. (2025). Approaching the ecological emergency: Intersections across the humanities and social sciences. Social Science Information, 64(3-4), 263-268. 

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Clot-Garrell, Anna; Cantó-Milà, Natalia. (2025). Scars of time: layered landscapes and valuation processes in a postindustrial site of the Catalan Pyrenees. Landscape Research, 1-16.

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Clot-Garrell, Anna; Wagner, Peter. (2025). Modern infrastructures through the lens of classical sociology: Unpacking ambiguities. Journal of Classical Sociology, 25(2), 152-167.

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Clot-Garrell, Anna. (2024). Thinking through ruin: an introduction. Digithum, (30).

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Clot-Garrell, Anna. (2024). Abandon, transform, remember: two looks at contemporary ruins. Digithum, (31).

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Clot-Garrell, Anna. (2024). Voices of emergency: Imagined climate futures and forms of collective action. Current Sociology, 72(5), 967-985.

Associated projects

The Ruins of the Anthropocene: Waste or Heritage?
Funding: Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Program (ref. IJC2020-045538-I), Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain.

The Politics of Imagined Climate Futures
Funding: Juan de la Cierva Formación Program (ref. FJCI-2017-34790), Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain.