Cities in the Anthropocene

Ihnji Jon

Description

Climate change is real, and extreme weather events are its physical manifestations. These extreme events affect how we live and work in cities, and subsequently the way we design, plan, and govern them. Taking action 'for the environment' is not only a moral imperative; instead, it is activated by our everyday experience in the city.

Based on the author's site visits and interviews in Darwin (Australia), Tulsa (Oklahoma), Cleveland (Ohio), and Cape Town (South Africa), this book tells the story of how cities can lead a transformative pro-environment politics.

National governments often fail to make binding agreements that bring about radical actions for the environment. This book shows how cities, as local sites of mobilizing a collective, political agenda, can be frontiers for activating the kind of environmental politics that appreciates the role of 'nature' in the everyday functioning of our urban life.

Figures and tables

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: Environment politics beyond environment

2. Why cities? Towards a new theorisation of ‘scale’

3. Darwin vs. Tulsa: How cities talk about ‘nature’ without saying the word

4. Cleveland vs. Cape Town: Can a city aspire to be green and inclusive?

5. Cities and complexity: Linking ‘the social’ with ‘the environmental’

6. Conclusion: Possibilities of the unknown, for the unknown

Postscript: Future directions for cities in the Anthropocene

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Environmental Policy
• Public Policy
• Human Geography
• Sustainable Development
• Social Science
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Cleveland (Ohio)
• 21st century
• Sustainability
• Political geography
• Northern Territories
• Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Darwin
• Development
• Charles Darwin
• Cleveland
• Tulsa
• Oklahoma

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 juillet 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786807557
• Langue: English

Extrait

Cities in the Anthropocene
This thought-provoking book brings an exciting, young voice to contemporary urban planning. Jon proposes that pragmatic urban policy must factor in respectful, more-than-human relationships. Her message of hope in the possibilities of the unknown should shape critical discussion in urban planning and geography seminars.
-Jean Hillier, Professor Emerita at the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne
Theoretically-informed and practically-engaged, Ihnji Jon has written a thoughtful and compelling argument for an anti-essentialist ecology that links environmental concerns with inequality and centers the necessary political action in the fertile complexity of cities.
-Robert A. Beauregard, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
A must-read - a carefully crafted account that unsettles wide-ranging expositions of the unfolding present of perilous uncertainty. Extremely important, both theoretically and from a policy perspective.
-Prince K. Guma, Research Fellow and Assistant Country Director, British Institute in East Africa
Shows with nuance and care how cities can provide a platform for politics in the midst of ecological crisis. An essential book for thinking, teaching, and taking action in the Anthropocene.
-Derek S. Denman, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen
Engaging with contemporary urban existence in creative and subversive ways, this inspiring book opens new avenues for scholars, activists and professionals to advance an environmental politics appropriate to the Anthropocene.
-Dr Kevin J. Grove, Associate Professor of Human Geography Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University
Jon s insightful research shows how place-based urban practice can connect with green theory and community activism to affirm the global role of cities as drivers of positive equity-based ecological and social change with imagination, hope and soul.
-Dr Paul Downton, author of Ecopolis: Architecture and Cities for a Changing Climate
Cities in the Anthropocene
New Ecology and Urban Politics
Ihnji Jon
First published 2021 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright Ihnji Jon 2021
The right of Ihnji Jon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
An earlier version of Chapter 2 was published as Scales of Political Action in the Anthropocene: Gaia, Networks, and Cities as Frontiers of Doing Earthly Politics, Global Society 34, no. 2 (2019): 163-85.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 4149 1 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 4150 7 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7868 0754 0 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0756 4 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0755 7 EPUB eBook



This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
Contents
Figures and tables
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: Environment politics beyond environment
2. Why cities? Towards a new theorisation of scale
3. Darwin vs. Tulsa: How cities talk about nature without saying the word
4. Cleveland vs. Cape Town: Can a city aspire to be green and inclusive?
5. Cities and complexity: Linking the social with the environmental
6. Conclusion: Possibilities of the unknown, for the unknown
Postscript: Future directions for cities in the Anthropocene
Notes
Index
Figures and tables
FIGURES
0.1 Merimbula (New South Wales, Australia), during the catastrophic fire season in Summer 2019-20. Ajay Jennings
3.1 City of Darwin is famous for its unique landscape with beautiful mangroves in the region, in addition to the rich presence of First Australians culture. Ihnji Jon.
3.2 City of Tulsa, previously known as the oil capital of the world , has an abundance of art-deco architecture and historical buildings that serve as a unique city-identity. Ihnji Jon.
3.3 The exhibition booth of Department of Stormwater at one of the Sustainable Thursday events in Tulsa. Ihnji Jon.
3.4 The shade structure in Cavanaugh Street in Darwin CBD. Ihnji Jon.
3.5 In Darwin, Cavenagh Street and Knucky Street are selected to be tested for a pilot programme on cooling the city and influencing microclimate via more tree planting. Ihnji Jon.
3.6 Centennial Park in Tulsa is practically a stormwater detention pond, but it is landscaped well enough to serve also as a public park/green space. Ihnji Jon.
3.7 RiverParks in Tulsa is a flood buffer along the river which also serves as bike and walking trails during the dry season. Ihnji Jon.
3.8 Gathering Place, a brand-new park that promotes pro-ecology imageries and landscaping using indigenous plants, is an example of how mainstream culture and interest in green urbanism as quality of life factor can be used for pushing through pro-environment urban politics. Ihnji Jon.
3.9 Crow Creek Meadow advertises easy ways of achieving win-win conditions in which households benefit from flood mitigation or simplified lawn care while at the same time protecting water quality and contributing to biodiversity. Ihnji Jon.
3.10 Crow Creek Meadow, with its milkweed planting, also serves as a Monarch Waystation , certified by Monarch Waystation Network Program. Ihnji Jon.
4.1 Cleveland City Centre. Ihnji Jon.
4.2 Cape Town City Centre. Ihnji Jon.
4.3 A community-led art and gardening project in Slavic Village in Cleveland. Ihnji Jon.
4.4 Environmentalists in the Cape Town region have found a way to link the value of biodiversity with economic benefits (e.g., tourism) as well as job-creation potentials for non-white poor via invasive species removal programmes. Ihnji Jon.
5.1 An art exhibition commissioned by the Cleveland Museum of Art, as part of the 2019 citywide campaign Cuyahoga 50: Celebrating Our River, Igniting Our Future . Ihnji Jon.
5.2 Cleveland is rebuilding a new relationship with its river. The Flats area, overlooking the Cuyahoga, is capitalising on the proximity to water and waterfront amenities on the now-restored river. Ihnji Jon.
5.3 This picture was taken from the Arkansas River trail in Tulsa in July 2019. The area was flooded a month before, and one could still see the raised water level. Ihnji Jon.
5.4 Arkansas River and Zink Dam seen from the bike trail near Gathering Place (a new ecological park in Tulsa), taken in July 2019. During the historic flooding event that occurred in late May 2019, the Keystone and Zink dams reached maximum capacity. Ihnji Jon.
5.5 Cheong Gye Cheon is a restored stream in the centre of Seoul, South Korea. The restoration project attracted global attention; it is considered a key example of urban waterway restoration, as well as an urban renewal project that takes account of its heritage value. Ji Eun Lee.
5.6 Smoke haze in Melbourne during the devastating 2019-20 summer fire season (December to February) in Australia. Ihnji Jon.
5.7 The line to enter the National Climate Emergency Summit, which took place 14 February 2020, a month after the colossal media coverage on the unprecedented fire season of 2020. Ihnji Jon.
5.8 National Climate Emergency Summit on 14 February 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. It was reported that the Summit attracted about 800-1,000 participants each day for two days. Ihnji Jon.
6.1 Ajay Jennings.
TABLES
3.1 Comparison between city contexts between Tulsa and Darwin
3.2 A summary of the strategies of pragmatic environmentalism
4.1 Comparison between city contexts between Cleveland and Cape Town
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to interview participants and others who provided assistance during my fieldwork research in Darwin, Tulsa, Cleveland, and Cape Town. Their insights inspired and motivated me to write this book. I thank Michele Acuto, Director of Connected Cities Lab, and Ken Barlow, Associate Commissioning Editor at Pluto, for believing in this project before it was fully developed. I also thank Melanie Patrick, Design Manager, for the beautiful cover design that inspired me to write better. Thank you to the anonymous reader, too, whose critique on the previous manuscript made this book better than it would have been otherwise. Special thanks to Ajay Jennings, an artist in Melbourne, for granting me the rights to use his pictures taken in Merimbula, New South Wales, during the 2019–20 devastating summer bushfire season in Australia.
Every day we encounter different people in our life paths. What we read and what we write are inevitably affected by these encounters and interactions. This book is no exception; it is a collection of ideas that I have heard and learned from different sources, peoples, and their stories. For that, I would like to thank everyone that I shared momentary instances with, whose names are too many and definitely not limited to: Mark Purcell, Sarah Elwood, Branden Born, and Mike Lindell in Seattle; Isabelle Steichen, Noah Ennis, Robert W. Lake in Brooklyn; Elanna Nolan, Stephanie Butcher, Irene Håkansson, Kathryn Davidson, Jessie Briggs, and Crystal Legacy in Melbourne; Marie-Aleth (Kéké) Hanrion and the family in Paris, Chrishny Kangatharan in Kettering, Yuree Noh and Bo Yun Park in Boston, Bo Kyung Kim, Eun Jin Kim and Ji Eun Lee in Seoul; Mathilde Lecler in Paris and her family in Caen, and Mr Evrard and the family, including Isabelle and Violaine in Paris, who helped me and watched me grow into an independent thinker. I wish Mme Evrard was still with us to read this book.
I dedicate this book to my dad, who sacrificed his own artistry to