The second lecture of in our international series “Space – Society – Economy” takes place on Wednesday, 15th June (6pm, WH 112). In her talk “The nature of the unprecedented”, Dr Pushpa Arabindoo from University College London is evaluating the anatomy of Chennai floods against the background of discourses of disaster that are currently offered by social sciences. Taking the torrential rains in Chennai in November and December 2015 as an example, she argues that current discourses are insufficient in unravelling the complex spatial and environmental histories behind disasters. The lecture’s discussion goes beyond setting up a mere critique of capitalist urbanization, but offers a more cogent debunking of the deeply engrained assumptions about the unprecedented nature of disasters. It does so by dismantling three commonly invoked arguments that transgress any kind of environmental common sense: 1. the 100-year fallacy, 2. the debates that often ensue such events around environmental knowledges and subjectivities, and 3. the need to expand our limited understanding of ‘urbanization of disaster’. All interested persons are warmly invited to attend the lecture and the informal gathering at the restaurant Trompete subsequent to the talk.