Tom Hegen's 'The Quarry Series' captures open pit mining in Augsburg, Germany. Image © Tom Hegen
Newton’s Third Law of Motion dictates that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In urbanism, this concept is evident in how the unprecedented growth of the built environment causes a reaction in rural landscapes. By 2050, the number of people living in cities will have increased by 2.5 billion, representing two-thirds of the global population. This mass flow of people from rural to urban areas gives rise to an equally dramatic flow of natural resources. In order to grow the cities of the future, humankind will continue to rely on the extraction of raw minerals to sustain our demands in architecture, energy, and commodities. As can be seen in studies such as Tom Hegen’s The Quarry Series, whose imagery accompanies this article, the extraction of these minerals represents yet another physical manifestation of rapid, linear urbanism.