From the gradual urbanization of the Atacama Desert to the unchecked pumping of oil in the Brazilian, Ecuadorian, and Peruvian Amazon, inland South America is host to both large-scale infrastructural projects and resource extraction. Today, urban development in this region is accelerating as South American governments commit their natural resources—minerals, forests, water, and fertile land—to foreign buyers in exchange for loans and (often poorly planned and executed) public works projects. Beyond the City: The South American Hinterland in the Soils of the 21st Century presents historic images, maps, and texts to demonstrate how architecture and urbanism have shaped the spaces where resource extraction takes place. It visualizes five projects in five territories involving five resources: Belo Horizonte (Brazil / gold), Maria Elena (Chile / nitrate), Judibana (Venezuela / oil), Ciudad Guayana (Venezuela / iron ore), and Vila Piloto (Brazil / water). By looking at the mineral and biological resources removed from the deep soils of South America, it brings awareness to the often-forgotten spatial relationships between sites of extraction, major urban centers, port infrastructure, and global commodity markets.