Silvia Balzan is Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester and member of the Manchester Architecture Research Group (MARG). Her doctoral research focused on instances of colonial modernities with relational dimensions and their legacies, while her current work is geared towards postcolonial construction materials, artefacts, technologies, and the exchange of knowledge as they traverse global networks encompassing professional organizations, international building regulations, and educational establishments. Her broader research explores the environmental and geopolitical afterlives of modern architecture, with a particular focus on “toxic modernities” - the infrastructures, materials, and practices that have generated enduring ecological and social harm - as well as the histories and politics of underground spaces, from infrastructural and ecological systems to their metaphorical and cultural imaginaries. She studied architecture at IUAV Venice and holds a doctorate in Social Anthropology from the University of Basel, Switzerland. Before joining Manchester, she was adjunct lecturer at the Mendrisio Architecture Academy, postdoctoral researcher at ZHAW, Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, and research fellow at the Swiss Institute in Milan.