Limestone Trajectories - tracing moving matter from limestone to cement to concrete

This paper explores the industrialized cement production and the cycle from lime to cement to concrete in Aalborg and Malmö as exemplary cases of ‘matters that move’ with vast consequences for the climate crisis and as a solid symbol of the Anthropocene. Both Aalborg and Malmö owe their status as larger industrial cities to their location on a limestone formation called Danienkalk. In both cities their location on this limestone formation led to an early vast industrialized cement production, of which the one in Aalborg is still running on a large scale. Cement production is closely linked to the concept of the Anthropocene. Cement is one out of four candidates to be the geological sedimentary layer that marks the Anthropocene in contrast to the preceding Holocene period as it is distributed globally. Furthermore, it is a major contributor to climate change that marks the Anthropocene, due to its high levels of Co2 emission. Concrete, through its material affordances, shapes the affordances of mobility at a geographical scale as bridges, tunnels, ports, and airports. At an urban scale and on the scale of architectural design, it shapes our cities, and it shapes our buildings, spaces, surfaces and the aesthetic experience. The material affordances of concrete shape the affordances of our everyday life to such a degree, that it would be almost unthinkable without concrete. When disposed of, when this circulation of the material ends, concrete is usually crushed and ends as a sediment layer in the form of a stabilizing layers e.g. under roads. How should we deal with such dilemmas? The climate crisis is intertwined in complex ways with mobilities of materials that seems to be a prerequisite for life in the Anthropocene, while the human terraforming activities that follows is inextricably linked to the threatening climatic crisis.