Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
urbanization. Drawing on the work of David
Harvey and Harvey Molotch we have established
the ways in which urbanization reflects a form of
spatial logic to capitalist forms of development.
Fourth, and finally, we have considered the forms
of environmental relations that characterize cities.
In this context, it was argued that different forms
of cities are presented with different forms of
opportunities and constraints when it comes to
reforming their environmental relations.
The most important insight of this chapter
is that it is very difficult to understand what is
happening in the Anthropocene without an effec-
tive account of urbanization. Furthermore, by
revealing the ways in which cities are locked into
broader processes of capitalist economic develop-
ment, this chapter also illustrates that attempts to
reform urban development (perhaps by stopping
the suburban sprawl of cities or improving their
public transportation systems), and reduce cities'
ecological footprints, are not simply a technical
planning issue. Changing the environmental
relations of cities is a process that necessitates
rethinking the logics of capitalism and the com-
petitive imperatives of growth-oriented economic
development. The contemporary attempts to
develop regimes of urban ecological security,
discussed in the
final section of this chapter,
suggest that contemporary environmental threats
(such as climate change and energy shortages) may
actually be the basis for a new round of competi-
tively orientated urban growth and development,
and not for a more ecologically benign period of
urbanization. This is a process that is unlikely to
solve the ecological challenges that lie ahead, and
will most likely result in many of the poorest cities
in the world being most exposed to the risks that
lie in our collective environmental future.
NOTES
1
2
These figures are based upon estimates of
McKinsey and Co Consultants and were
reported in the Observer.
KEY READINGS
Cronon, W. (1991) Nature's Metropolis: Chicago
and the Great West, W.W. Norton and Company,
London. This detailed and extensive environ-
mental history of Chicago provides a fascinating
insight into the relations that emerge between
cities and the environment as urban centres
grow and develop.
Harvey, D. (1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography
of Difference, Blackwell, Oxford. An advanced
text that provides an insight into Marxist urban
theory and how such theories can be used to
analyse urban-environment relations.
Kunstler, J.H. (1994) The Geography of Nowhere:
The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made
Landscape, Free Press, New York. An engaging
and accessible discussion of the rise of the
suburbs and their socio-ecological conse-
quences.
Marcotullio, P.J. (2007) 'Variations of urban
environmental transitions: The experiences
of rapidly developing Asia-Pacific cities' in
Marcotullio, P.J. and McGranahan, G. (eds)
Scaling Urban Environment Challenges: From
Local to Global and Back, Earthscan, London:
45-68. This chapter provides a detailed dis-
cussion of the urban environmental Kuznets'
Curve.
