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Preserving Destruction: Philosophical Issues Of Urban Geosites, Remei Capdevila-Werning

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the philosophical issues that arise when preserving urban geological sites or urban geosites. These are preserved not only because of their geological value but also because of aesthetic, cultural, and economic reasons. To do so, it examines the geosite constituted by Olot and its surroundings, a city in Spain that extends amid four dormant volcanoes. It explores the metaphysical paradox that these geosites have become what they are due to the preservation of destruction: humancaused interventions, mostly extraction of materials and exploitation of the land, are precisely what made these geosites visible as sites worth preserving and …