The Planetary is an emerging concept in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, and politics that draws attention to the basic fact that human affairs take place on a planet — and the innumerous and complex implications that flow from this realization. To think with and through the Planetary is to acknowledge that human life is inextricably embedded within the biogeochemical ferment of an ever-changing planet — a planet that expands spatially from the Earth’s core to interplanetary space, temporally from nanoseconds to cosmic time scales, and materially from elementary particles to the dark matter of the universe.

This website, the Planetary Portal, aims to serve as a hub for planetary thinking, connecting disparate communities where theoretical and practical ideas on the Planetary are being developed. A collaboration between the Panel on Planetary Thinking at the University of Giessen and the Planetary research program at the Berggruen Institute, the Planetary Portal maps institutions around the world that are working on or within a planetary framework. They include university research centers, independent research institutes, NGOs, and other organizations that approach policy, politics, and philosophy through a planetary lens. It is our hope that representing the many diverse institutions that are working on the Planetary in one place will help visitors visualize the contours of this emerging field, draw connections between the various intellectual ventures, provide basic structure for the nascent category, and further the development of planetary thought, with the aim of developing a viable planetary politics.