Lithium Matters, UVA's Urban Design 8020 Research Studio was led by Porter Visiting Professor María Arquero de Alarcón and UVA Program Director Mona El Khafif. A series of workshops with PUC partner Ximena Arizaga helped to guide student research and anchor it in existing power dynamics between governments and community stakeholders. Students grappled with regional forces driving the lithium cycle. They mapped lithium’s history, from its discovery as the third element in the periodic table, to its starring role in green energy solutions. They traced lithium flows across the globe, becoming familiar with the major stakeholders involved in funding, extracting, and production. They visualized each stage of lithium’s transformational journey from minerals in the ground to highly prized goods.  In addition to the ongoing research and conversations was an in-person trip to the United States’ only operating lithium mine, Silver Peak, during which students also explored the surrounding region and the industrial center forming just to its north.

The lithium life cycle does not occur detached from the realities of everyday life, and students continuously internalized the local impacts of the increasing global pursuit of lithium by visualizing the role that this element plays in our lives, and eventually, by designing new lithium geographies.