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Article

Counter-Cartographies of Extraction: Mapping Socio-Environmental Changes Through Hybrid Geographic Information Technologies

by
Mitesh Dixit
1,
Nataša Danilović Hristić
2,* and
Nebojša Stefanović
2
1
Department of Architecture and Desing, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy
2
Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Land 2025, 14(8), 1576; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081576 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 16 June 2025 / Revised: 30 July 2025 / Accepted: 31 July 2025 / Published: 1 August 2025

Abstract

This paper examines Krivelj, a copper mining village in Serbia, as a critical yet overlooked node within global extractive networks. Despite supplying copper essential for renewable energy and sustainable architecture, Krivelj experiences severe ecological disruption, forced relocations, and socio-spatial destabilization, becoming a “sacrifice zone”—an area deliberately subjected to harm for broader economic interests. Employing a hybrid methodology that combines ethnographic fieldwork with Geographic Information Systems (GISs), this study spatializes narratives of extractive violence collected from residents through walking interviews, field sketches, and annotated aerial imagery. By integrating satellite data, legal documents, environmental sensors, and lived testimonies, it uncovers the concept of “slow violence,” where incremental harm occurs through bureaucratic neglect, ambient pollution, and legal ambiguity. Critiquing the abstraction of Planetary Urbanization theory, this research employs countertopography and forensic spatial analysis to propose a counter-cartographic framework that integrates geospatial analysis with local narratives. It demonstrates how global mining finance manifests locally through tangible experiences, such as respiratory illnesses and disrupted community relationships, emphasizing the potential of counter-cartography as a tool for visualizing and contesting systemic injustice.
Keywords: geographic information technologies (GITs); counter-cartography; planetary urbanization; extractive landscapes; spatial justice geographic information technologies (GITs); counter-cartography; planetary urbanization; extractive landscapes; spatial justice

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MDPI and ACS Style

Dixit, M.; Danilović Hristić, N.; Stefanović, N. Counter-Cartographies of Extraction: Mapping Socio-Environmental Changes Through Hybrid Geographic Information Technologies. Land 2025, 14, 1576. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081576

AMA Style

Dixit M, Danilović Hristić N, Stefanović N. Counter-Cartographies of Extraction: Mapping Socio-Environmental Changes Through Hybrid Geographic Information Technologies. Land. 2025; 14(8):1576. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081576

Chicago/Turabian Style

Dixit, Mitesh, Nataša Danilović Hristić, and Nebojša Stefanović. 2025. "Counter-Cartographies of Extraction: Mapping Socio-Environmental Changes Through Hybrid Geographic Information Technologies" Land 14, no. 8: 1576. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081576

APA Style

Dixit, M., Danilović Hristić, N., & Stefanović, N. (2025). Counter-Cartographies of Extraction: Mapping Socio-Environmental Changes Through Hybrid Geographic Information Technologies. Land, 14(8), 1576. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081576

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