AA Book Launch: From the Bog to the Cloud

From the Bog to the Cloud: Dependency and Eco-Modernity in Ireland by Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie

Launch Price £25 RRP £30

The green digital transition is underway. But what does this transition look like when dictated by the energy and resource demands of monopoly tech? How has this situation come to be? And where is it being resisted?

This provocative book uncovers the hidden intersections of land, resource extraction and climate policy in the transition to “greener” and “smarter” economies. Challenging eco-modern and techno-solutionist approaches, the book links narratives of sustainability with colonial histories and uneven development, arguing that tech-driven transitions replicate exploitative patterns of imperial capitalism. Using Ireland as a focal point, the authors show how the history and depth of the country’s postcolonial dependency on multinational investment, especially US technology companies, comes into friction with disparate land-based struggles.

Thinking with these movements, the book offers a critique of dependent models of development and proposes an anti-imperialist approach to environmental politics.

We are delighted to welcome Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie to the AA Bookshop to celebrate the launch of their new book. Introduced by José Alfredo Ramírez Co-Director of AA Landscape Urbanism MArch/MSC, and Clara Oloriz, Director of AA Ground Lab at the Architectural Association.

Wednesday 22 October 2025

6pm

AA Bookshop

33 Bedford Square

WC1B 3EE

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Host or Publisher Architectural Association