Description
Book SynopsisFrom Australia to North America, we need to rethink how our cities resist environmental change in the age of climate catastrophe
Trade Review'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 at 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' (Springer, 2008)
Table of ContentsFigures 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
