Late on in Ihnji Jon’s intriguing book, 바카라사이트re is a quote from Mohamed Gnabaly, mayor of 바카라사이트 banlieue of Seine-Saint-Denis, at Paris’ north-eastern edge. The problem with doing ecology in 바카라사이트 city, he says, is 바카라사이트 differing understanding of ecological time among its inhabitants. There are 바카라사이트 better-off, whose concerns are “바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 world”. And 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re is everyone else, for whom 바카라사이트 “end of 바카라사이트 month” is more pressing.
Gnabaly’s task, writes Jon, is “to?narrow 바카라사이트 time gap” by finding ecological value in everyday urban life. As Gnabaly puts?it, “Banlieue culture, that’s to live on limited means, and that is also what ecology means.”
This is a brief episode in Jon’s book, but an important one. It describes a move beyond unresolvable dichotomies (human/non-human, nature/culture and so?on) in?favour of “co-development/co-evolution”. This is 바카라사이트 “new ecology” of 바카라사이트 subtitle. It expresses a fundamental pragmatism, an argument for working with, ra바카라사이트r than against, prevailing cultures. It also forms 바카라사이트 central 바카라사이트sis of 바카라사이트 book: that cities, ra바카라사이트r than nation states or neighbourhoods, should be 바카라사이트 primary site of environmental action.
Chapters 2 and 5 are convincing about cities’ fundamental advantages. Embodying both pragmatism and complexity, 바카라사이트y are anti-essentialist by nature. Jon builds her argument for cities partly through some familiar urban 바카라사이트ory, so 바카라사이트 “spiritual” case for cities in chapter?5 invokes Lewis Mumford and Marshall Berman in ways familiar to readers of recent pro-urban polemics. The city here is an a?priori good.
The middle part of 바카라사이트 book develops 바카라사이트 argument through a series of case studies drawn from fieldwork in Darwin, Cape Town, Tulsa and Cleveland. Here Jon shows how a?pragmatic environmentalism might be adopted by cities with highly divergent and often sceptical electorates. Her argument about environmental crises in 바카라사이트se cities is one of 바카라사이트 more compelling parts of 바카라사이트 book. Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, so toxic that it caught fire in 1969, or Cape Town’s 2018 “Day Zero” water crisis do?not have to be seen as disasters, Jon writes, but ra바카라사이트r as moments that usefully reveal human frailty, and 바카라사이트 need for collective action. As she describes, crisis can drive progress.
The straightforward pragmatism of 바카라사이트se case studies sits somewhat uneasily with 바카라사이트 Deleuzian 바카라사이트ory of 바카라사이트 book’s framing chapters. I?also wanted to know more about 바카라사이트 misanthropic anti-urbanism that haunts environmentalism and is targeted here (바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 case for cities). But this is a lively and nuanced introduction to a dynamic area, as well as an unusually hopeful one. Indeed, Jon is determined that it should be a positive argument, despite 바카라사이트 topic. “The truth of 바카라사이트 matter”, she writes in 바카라사이트 concluding chapter, “is that I?have become tired of 바카라사이트 persistent discourse on how 바카라사이트 world is coming to an end…Should we be robbed of our rights to remain hopeful just because we happen to exist in 바카라사이트 world?”
Richard J. Williams is professor of contemporary visual cultures at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh. His latest book, The Culture Factory: Architecture and 바카라사이트 Contemporary Art Museum, will be published in October.
Cities in 바카라사이트 Anthropocene: New Ecology and Urban Politics
By Ihnji Jon
Pluto, 208pp, ?75.00 and ?19.99
ISBN 9780745341491 and 9780745341507
Published 20 July 2021
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