Joshua Long | Southwestern University (original) (raw)
Books by Joshua Long
Papers by Joshua Long
This paper provides a critical, interdisciplinary analysis of the current global landscape of cli... more This paper provides a critical, interdisciplinary analysis of the current global landscape of climate action and response with the aim of determining its overall trajectory toward either justice and equity on the one hand, or exploitation and segregation on the other. It finds that tendencies toward the latter are far more pronounced. This paper summarizes those findings and presents arguments for three categories of climate action that are producing and/or exacerbating inequity, injustice, and segregation. They are: securitization (of resources, infrastructure, borders, and land), financialization (of exploitative mitigation and adaptation measures), and (im) mobilization (of migrants and the climate-vulnerable alongside the increased mobility of elite populations). An examination of the political rhetoric and public discourse associated with these trends follows, revealing widespread dehumanization and 'othering' used to condone a system that justifies protection for some populations and the expendability of others. Together, this analysis provides a framework for exposing and critiquing our current trajectory toward an outcome that is best described as climate apartheid.
Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 2019
In recent decades, universities have made significant progress toward environmental sustainabilit... more In recent decades, universities have made significant progress toward environmental sustainability and have likewise tightened their budgets and restructured economic models in the name of financial sustainability. However, institutions of higher education have failed to address issues of social sustainability and social injustice, many of which are increasing in number and severity on college campuses. This article takes a student activist perspective on these issues, suggesting that a comprehensive and intersectional approach toward university sustainability (with particular re-affirmation of the social sustainability pillar) can empower students and their allies, raise awareness about the causes of these issues, and allow a more constructive environment for collaborative approaches and policy formation on college campuses.
Urban Studies, 2018
As the negative impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, many city leaders and pol... more As the negative impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, many city leaders and policymakers have begun to regard climate action as both a fiscal challenge and strategic economic opportunity. However, addressing the increasingly evident threats of climate change in the neoliberal, post-financial-crisis city raises several questions about its equitable implementation. This paper suggests that the prioritisation of a specific mode of climate resilient urban development represents a departure from the previous decades’ movement toward sustainable urbanism. We refer to this new development paradigm as ‘climate urbanism’, a policy orientation that (1) promotes cities as the most viable and appropriate sites of climate action and (2) prioritises efforts to protect the physical and digital infrastructures of urban economies from the hazards associated with climate change. We argue that the potential social justice impacts of climate urbanism have not been fully interrogated. ...
Sustainability: The Journal of Record, 2018
Abstract Despite political division and slow progress on environmental issues at the national lev... more Abstract Despite political division and slow progress on environmental issues at the national level, renewable energy has made significant gains in the United States in recent years. Much of this p...
American Journal of Sociology, 2011
Bohemian South, 2017
In Austin, Texas—a city celebrated for its ‘weird’ and non-conformist culture—the once accessible... more In Austin, Texas—a city celebrated for its ‘weird’ and non-conformist culture—the once accessible enclaves of creative expression are now beyond the reach of its emergent artists while the liminal spaces of Austin’s Bohemian past are becoming increasingly eclipsed by expanding landscapes of affluence and vogue consumerism. This chapter examines the historical evolution of Austin’s emergence as a tolerant space for non-conformity, activism, and Bohemian sensibility in the heart of Texas. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Austin was the clear destination for those who had become otherwise ostracized in the surrounding conservative towns and cities. Since the late 1990s, however, a mix of co-option, compromise, and urban governance has removed targets for activism while the Bohemian ghosts of Austin’s past became slowly overshadowed by towering condos of creative workers and pseudo-hipsters. The iconoclast creativity of Austin’s most promising Bohemians has become monetized and marketed ...
Urban Geography, 2020
Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), cl... more Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), climate urbanism represents a unique development paradigm that facilitates neoliberal accumulation through market-based investments in infrastructure development, technological fixes, and strategic policy approaches. Limited by the ideology of its structural roots and its selective material approach, climate urbanism facilitates projects that protect some urban populations while simultaneously increasing the vulnerability of others. If allowed to continue on its current trajectory, the dominant mode of climate urbanism threatens to exacerbate a crisis-contingent mode of capitalism that would intensify various forms of inequality and injustice. The future of climate urbanism is not predetermined, however. This short paper explores the volatile origins of climate urbanism and seeks out areas for intervention. It does so with the aim of derailing the current polarizing trajectory of climate urbanism in order to replace it with a mode of climate urbanism that prioritizes a more heterogeneous, post-colonial, and transformative vision.
Learner-Centered Teaching Activities for Environmental and Sustainability Studies, 2016
As cities in the developed world continue to advance projects intended to reduce their eco-footpr... more As cities in the developed world continue to advance projects intended to reduce their eco-footprint, improve the health and well-being of their citizens, and sustain their local economies, they face the challenge of just and equitable implementation. Even those cities with excellent reputations for sustainability endure significant disparities and inequalities that undermine the overall goals of sustainable development. This exercise reveals the challenges and complexities of equitable planning for urban sustainability and assists students in the development of critical thinking skills that can help them identify the economic, social, and environmental disparities within urban landscapes. The exercise ends by asking students to consider ways of promoting justice and equitable development in the sustainable city. After completing this activity, students should be able to (1) critically engage with the concept of “urban sustainability” to reveal the challenges of equitable sustainable development in a city; (2) describe the concepts of environmental and social justice as they relate to patterns of unequal distribution of social services, infrastructure, and environmental amenities in a city; and (3) articulate their responsibilities as urban citizens pursuing a sustainable lifestyle and consider how their position may provide them with advantages or disadvantages compared to others in this pursuit.
Urban Studies, 2014
In recent years Austin, Texas has gained popular recognition as a ‘sustainable city’ while experi... more In recent years Austin, Texas has gained popular recognition as a ‘sustainable city’ while experiencing robust economic growth. Austin’s ability to resolve many of the political tensions between development and environmental protection have made it a favoured case study for North American policymakers who seek to mimic the ‘Austin model’. However, despite recognised environmental achievements, the popular storyline of Austin’s move toward sustainability overlooks key aspects of sustainable development, including equitable political representation, affordability, displacement of vulnerable populations and other social justice issues. Using While et al.’s ‘sustainability fix’ as a conceptual framework, this paper explores the historical development, ideological construction and strategic implementation of Austin’s sustainability agenda. In doing so, this paper moves beyond a lateral understanding of sustainability rhetoric toward a more nuanced and critical analysis of the selective p...
City, 2013
The past decade has witnessed an outpouring of scholarship on the neoliberal city. Most of the wi... more The past decade has witnessed an outpouring of scholarship on the neoliberal city. Most of the widely read work on this topic has been theoretical, critical and tends to explore the larger political and economic mechanisms that structure urban space, foster social injustice and incite activism. However, missing from this body of literature is a recent critical study that examines the role of place theory and place-based resistance to neoliberal globalization in an urban context. This study draws from empirical research in North America to reveal the creative, complex and often contradictory ways some urban communities actualize a local sense of place in reaction to pervasive neoliberal forces. This paper suggests that employing a sense of place perspective may shed light on the ways local activists are prioritizing the local scale in an attempt to negotiate the complex and even contradictory policies evident in the current neoliberal period.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2019
An enormous amount of gratitude goes to the many social and environmental-justice activists in Se... more An enormous amount of gratitude goes to the many social and environmental-justice activists in Seattle who have contributed to this research over the years, and in particular during the summer of 2017. Jennifer Rice specifically wishes to thank Kshama Sawant for the many productive and important conversations we shared on the issues discussed here. We greatly appreciate the thoughtful comments of the three anonymous IJURR reviewers and the editor on this manuscript. Partial funding for this work was provided by the Housing and Demographic Research Center in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia, USA.
Politics and Governance, 2021
Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to ... more Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to address the climate crisis, and much of this is focused on attracting private sources of capital to fund ‘bankable’ projects in climate-vulnerable cities throughout the world. Enacted amidst a 21st century landscape of interlocking financial, epidemiological, and ecological crises, this call features an urgent narrative of ‘resilience-amidst-crisis’ that promotes large-scale, profitable investments as a form of green growth through debt-financing. The political orchestration and administration of new funding mechanisms (particularly green bonds and sustainable bonds) requires a new form of climate governance focused on the channeling of enormous sums of private capital through an assemblage of intermediaries toward profitable climate projects. This article interrogates this trend in climate finance, revealing that the framing, monetization, and orchestration of climate projects is depend...
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2014
In the past decade, sustainability and global citizenship have emerged as two of the most promine... more In the past decade, sustainability and global citizenship have emerged as two of the most prominent themes in contemporary higher education. Literature that specifically merges the two themes has, however, lagged behind. This paper integrates the literature from the fields of sustainable tourism and educational travel in order to articulate relevant concepts and to summarize theoretical and empirical approaches for improving the sustainability of educational travel programs. While most of the literature focuses upon carbon-related issues, a more comprehensive assessment and implementation would focus on the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, environmental, and socio-cultural. This paper advocates several practical measures, such as the incorporation of sustainability into program mission statements, the training of travel leaders in all three dimensions of sustainability, and the implementation of sustainability-related assessment measures for educational travel programs. Further, we argue that maintaining critical scholarly engagement with broader theoretical frameworks is necessary to contextualize these practical and empirical approaches, and to reassess the potential benefits and negative impacts associated with educational travel.
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 2021
While the uneven causes and impacts of climate change are widely known, it is also becoming evide... more While the uneven causes and impacts of climate change are widely known, it is also becoming evident that many elements of the response to the climate crisis are also reinforcing discrimination, segregation, and displacement among marginalized peoples. This is entrenching a system of climate apartheid, one that is evidenced by uneven vulnerabilities to the climate crisis, as well as inequitable implementation of climate-oriented infrastructures, policies, and programs. These efforts often secure privileged populations while harming, excluding, and criminalizing populations whose lives have been made precarious by climate change. Like previous incarnations of state- sponsored “separateness,” climate apartheid is rooted in processes of colonization, racial capitalism, and hetero-patriarchy that render some populations expendable. In this paper, we show how these interlocking historical structures of oppression facilitate a response to climate change that is systematically promoting spatial, socio-economic, and ecological segregation in many mainstream attempts to safeguard economic and socio-political structures amidst global ecological catastrophe. We then offer frameworks and interventions intended to introduce meaningful pathways forward for climate justice that seek to render all life indispensable.
Politics and Governance, 2021
Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to ... more Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to address the climate crisis, and much of this is focused on attracting private sources of capital to fund ‘bankable’ projects in climate-vulnerable cities throughout the world. Enacted amidst a 21st century landscape of interlocking financial, epidemiological, and eco- logical crises, this call features an urgent narrative of ‘resilience-amidst-crisis’ that promotes large-scale, profitable invest- ments as a form of green growth through debt-financing. The political orchestration and administration of new funding mechanisms (particularly green bonds and sustainable bonds) requires a new form of climate governance focused on the channeling of enormous sums of private capital through an assemblage of intermediaries toward profitable climate projects. This article interrogates this trend in climate finance, revealing that the framing, monetization, and orchestration of climate projects is dependent on a narrative of crisis capitalism deeply rooted in a colonial mindset of exploitation and profit. A key aim of this article is to deconstruct the contemporary dominance of crisis-oriented development and suggest the goal of decolonizing and democratizing the climate finance system.
Urban Geography, 2020
Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), cl... more Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), climate urbanism represents a unique development paradigm that facilitates neoliberal accumulation through market-based investments in infrastructure development, technological fixes, and strategic policy approaches. Limited by the ideology of its structural roots and its selective material approach, climate urbanism facilitates projects that protect some urban populations while simultaneously increasing the vulnerability of others. If allowed to continue on its current trajectory, the dominant mode of climate urbanism threatens to exacerbate a crisis-contingent mode of capitalism that would intensify various forms of inequality and injustice. The future of climate urbanism is not predetermined, however. This short paper explores the volatile origins of climate urbanism and seeks out areas for intervention. It does so with the aim of derailing the current polarizing trajectory of climate urbanism in order to replace it with a mode of climate urbanism that prioritizes a more heterogeneous, post-colonial, and transformative vision.
This paper provides a critical, interdisciplinary analysis of the current global landscape of cli... more This paper provides a critical, interdisciplinary analysis of the current global landscape of climate action and response with the aim of determining its overall trajectory toward either justice and equity on the one hand, or exploitation and segregation on the other. It finds that tendencies toward the latter are far more pronounced. This paper summarizes those findings and presents arguments for three categories of climate action that are producing and/or exacerbating inequity, injustice, and segregation. They are: securitization (of resources, infrastructure, borders, and land), financialization (of exploitative mitigation and adaptation measures), and (im) mobilization (of migrants and the climate-vulnerable alongside the increased mobility of elite populations). An examination of the political rhetoric and public discourse associated with these trends follows, revealing widespread dehumanization and 'othering' used to condone a system that justifies protection for some populations and the expendability of others. Together, this analysis provides a framework for exposing and critiquing our current trajectory toward an outcome that is best described as climate apartheid.
Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 2019
In recent decades, universities have made significant progress toward environmental sustainabilit... more In recent decades, universities have made significant progress toward environmental sustainability and have likewise tightened their budgets and restructured economic models in the name of financial sustainability. However, institutions of higher education have failed to address issues of social sustainability and social injustice, many of which are increasing in number and severity on college campuses. This article takes a student activist perspective on these issues, suggesting that a comprehensive and intersectional approach toward university sustainability (with particular re-affirmation of the social sustainability pillar) can empower students and their allies, raise awareness about the causes of these issues, and allow a more constructive environment for collaborative approaches and policy formation on college campuses.
Urban Studies, 2018
As the negative impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, many city leaders and pol... more As the negative impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, many city leaders and policymakers have begun to regard climate action as both a fiscal challenge and strategic economic opportunity. However, addressing the increasingly evident threats of climate change in the neoliberal, post-financial-crisis city raises several questions about its equitable implementation. This paper suggests that the prioritisation of a specific mode of climate resilient urban development represents a departure from the previous decades’ movement toward sustainable urbanism. We refer to this new development paradigm as ‘climate urbanism’, a policy orientation that (1) promotes cities as the most viable and appropriate sites of climate action and (2) prioritises efforts to protect the physical and digital infrastructures of urban economies from the hazards associated with climate change. We argue that the potential social justice impacts of climate urbanism have not been fully interrogated. ...
Sustainability: The Journal of Record, 2018
Abstract Despite political division and slow progress on environmental issues at the national lev... more Abstract Despite political division and slow progress on environmental issues at the national level, renewable energy has made significant gains in the United States in recent years. Much of this p...
American Journal of Sociology, 2011
Bohemian South, 2017
In Austin, Texas—a city celebrated for its ‘weird’ and non-conformist culture—the once accessible... more In Austin, Texas—a city celebrated for its ‘weird’ and non-conformist culture—the once accessible enclaves of creative expression are now beyond the reach of its emergent artists while the liminal spaces of Austin’s Bohemian past are becoming increasingly eclipsed by expanding landscapes of affluence and vogue consumerism. This chapter examines the historical evolution of Austin’s emergence as a tolerant space for non-conformity, activism, and Bohemian sensibility in the heart of Texas. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Austin was the clear destination for those who had become otherwise ostracized in the surrounding conservative towns and cities. Since the late 1990s, however, a mix of co-option, compromise, and urban governance has removed targets for activism while the Bohemian ghosts of Austin’s past became slowly overshadowed by towering condos of creative workers and pseudo-hipsters. The iconoclast creativity of Austin’s most promising Bohemians has become monetized and marketed ...
Urban Geography, 2020
Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), cl... more Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), climate urbanism represents a unique development paradigm that facilitates neoliberal accumulation through market-based investments in infrastructure development, technological fixes, and strategic policy approaches. Limited by the ideology of its structural roots and its selective material approach, climate urbanism facilitates projects that protect some urban populations while simultaneously increasing the vulnerability of others. If allowed to continue on its current trajectory, the dominant mode of climate urbanism threatens to exacerbate a crisis-contingent mode of capitalism that would intensify various forms of inequality and injustice. The future of climate urbanism is not predetermined, however. This short paper explores the volatile origins of climate urbanism and seeks out areas for intervention. It does so with the aim of derailing the current polarizing trajectory of climate urbanism in order to replace it with a mode of climate urbanism that prioritizes a more heterogeneous, post-colonial, and transformative vision.
Learner-Centered Teaching Activities for Environmental and Sustainability Studies, 2016
As cities in the developed world continue to advance projects intended to reduce their eco-footpr... more As cities in the developed world continue to advance projects intended to reduce their eco-footprint, improve the health and well-being of their citizens, and sustain their local economies, they face the challenge of just and equitable implementation. Even those cities with excellent reputations for sustainability endure significant disparities and inequalities that undermine the overall goals of sustainable development. This exercise reveals the challenges and complexities of equitable planning for urban sustainability and assists students in the development of critical thinking skills that can help them identify the economic, social, and environmental disparities within urban landscapes. The exercise ends by asking students to consider ways of promoting justice and equitable development in the sustainable city. After completing this activity, students should be able to (1) critically engage with the concept of “urban sustainability” to reveal the challenges of equitable sustainable development in a city; (2) describe the concepts of environmental and social justice as they relate to patterns of unequal distribution of social services, infrastructure, and environmental amenities in a city; and (3) articulate their responsibilities as urban citizens pursuing a sustainable lifestyle and consider how their position may provide them with advantages or disadvantages compared to others in this pursuit.
Urban Studies, 2014
In recent years Austin, Texas has gained popular recognition as a ‘sustainable city’ while experi... more In recent years Austin, Texas has gained popular recognition as a ‘sustainable city’ while experiencing robust economic growth. Austin’s ability to resolve many of the political tensions between development and environmental protection have made it a favoured case study for North American policymakers who seek to mimic the ‘Austin model’. However, despite recognised environmental achievements, the popular storyline of Austin’s move toward sustainability overlooks key aspects of sustainable development, including equitable political representation, affordability, displacement of vulnerable populations and other social justice issues. Using While et al.’s ‘sustainability fix’ as a conceptual framework, this paper explores the historical development, ideological construction and strategic implementation of Austin’s sustainability agenda. In doing so, this paper moves beyond a lateral understanding of sustainability rhetoric toward a more nuanced and critical analysis of the selective p...
City, 2013
The past decade has witnessed an outpouring of scholarship on the neoliberal city. Most of the wi... more The past decade has witnessed an outpouring of scholarship on the neoliberal city. Most of the widely read work on this topic has been theoretical, critical and tends to explore the larger political and economic mechanisms that structure urban space, foster social injustice and incite activism. However, missing from this body of literature is a recent critical study that examines the role of place theory and place-based resistance to neoliberal globalization in an urban context. This study draws from empirical research in North America to reveal the creative, complex and often contradictory ways some urban communities actualize a local sense of place in reaction to pervasive neoliberal forces. This paper suggests that employing a sense of place perspective may shed light on the ways local activists are prioritizing the local scale in an attempt to negotiate the complex and even contradictory policies evident in the current neoliberal period.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2019
An enormous amount of gratitude goes to the many social and environmental-justice activists in Se... more An enormous amount of gratitude goes to the many social and environmental-justice activists in Seattle who have contributed to this research over the years, and in particular during the summer of 2017. Jennifer Rice specifically wishes to thank Kshama Sawant for the many productive and important conversations we shared on the issues discussed here. We greatly appreciate the thoughtful comments of the three anonymous IJURR reviewers and the editor on this manuscript. Partial funding for this work was provided by the Housing and Demographic Research Center in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia, USA.
Politics and Governance, 2021
Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to ... more Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to address the climate crisis, and much of this is focused on attracting private sources of capital to fund ‘bankable’ projects in climate-vulnerable cities throughout the world. Enacted amidst a 21st century landscape of interlocking financial, epidemiological, and ecological crises, this call features an urgent narrative of ‘resilience-amidst-crisis’ that promotes large-scale, profitable investments as a form of green growth through debt-financing. The political orchestration and administration of new funding mechanisms (particularly green bonds and sustainable bonds) requires a new form of climate governance focused on the channeling of enormous sums of private capital through an assemblage of intermediaries toward profitable climate projects. This article interrogates this trend in climate finance, revealing that the framing, monetization, and orchestration of climate projects is depend...
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2014
In the past decade, sustainability and global citizenship have emerged as two of the most promine... more In the past decade, sustainability and global citizenship have emerged as two of the most prominent themes in contemporary higher education. Literature that specifically merges the two themes has, however, lagged behind. This paper integrates the literature from the fields of sustainable tourism and educational travel in order to articulate relevant concepts and to summarize theoretical and empirical approaches for improving the sustainability of educational travel programs. While most of the literature focuses upon carbon-related issues, a more comprehensive assessment and implementation would focus on the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, environmental, and socio-cultural. This paper advocates several practical measures, such as the incorporation of sustainability into program mission statements, the training of travel leaders in all three dimensions of sustainability, and the implementation of sustainability-related assessment measures for educational travel programs. Further, we argue that maintaining critical scholarly engagement with broader theoretical frameworks is necessary to contextualize these practical and empirical approaches, and to reassess the potential benefits and negative impacts associated with educational travel.
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 2021
While the uneven causes and impacts of climate change are widely known, it is also becoming evide... more While the uneven causes and impacts of climate change are widely known, it is also becoming evident that many elements of the response to the climate crisis are also reinforcing discrimination, segregation, and displacement among marginalized peoples. This is entrenching a system of climate apartheid, one that is evidenced by uneven vulnerabilities to the climate crisis, as well as inequitable implementation of climate-oriented infrastructures, policies, and programs. These efforts often secure privileged populations while harming, excluding, and criminalizing populations whose lives have been made precarious by climate change. Like previous incarnations of state- sponsored “separateness,” climate apartheid is rooted in processes of colonization, racial capitalism, and hetero-patriarchy that render some populations expendable. In this paper, we show how these interlocking historical structures of oppression facilitate a response to climate change that is systematically promoting spatial, socio-economic, and ecological segregation in many mainstream attempts to safeguard economic and socio-political structures amidst global ecological catastrophe. We then offer frameworks and interventions intended to introduce meaningful pathways forward for climate justice that seek to render all life indispensable.
Politics and Governance, 2021
Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to ... more Throughout the development sector there has been a pronounced call for new funding mechanisms to address the climate crisis, and much of this is focused on attracting private sources of capital to fund ‘bankable’ projects in climate-vulnerable cities throughout the world. Enacted amidst a 21st century landscape of interlocking financial, epidemiological, and eco- logical crises, this call features an urgent narrative of ‘resilience-amidst-crisis’ that promotes large-scale, profitable invest- ments as a form of green growth through debt-financing. The political orchestration and administration of new funding mechanisms (particularly green bonds and sustainable bonds) requires a new form of climate governance focused on the channeling of enormous sums of private capital through an assemblage of intermediaries toward profitable climate projects. This article interrogates this trend in climate finance, revealing that the framing, monetization, and orchestration of climate projects is dependent on a narrative of crisis capitalism deeply rooted in a colonial mindset of exploitation and profit. A key aim of this article is to deconstruct the contemporary dominance of crisis-oriented development and suggest the goal of decolonizing and democratizing the climate finance system.
Urban Geography, 2020
Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), cl... more Born out of one crisis (global economic recession) to address another crisis (climate change), climate urbanism represents a unique development paradigm that facilitates neoliberal accumulation through market-based investments in infrastructure development, technological fixes, and strategic policy approaches. Limited by the ideology of its structural roots and its selective material approach, climate urbanism facilitates projects that protect some urban populations while simultaneously increasing the vulnerability of others. If allowed to continue on its current trajectory, the dominant mode of climate urbanism threatens to exacerbate a crisis-contingent mode of capitalism that would intensify various forms of inequality and injustice. The future of climate urbanism is not predetermined, however. This short paper explores the volatile origins of climate urbanism and seeks out areas for intervention. It does so with the aim of derailing the current polarizing trajectory of climate urbanism in order to replace it with a mode of climate urbanism that prioritizes a more heterogeneous, post-colonial, and transformative vision.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2019
As local governments and corporations promote ‘climate friendliness’, and a low‐carbon lifestyle ... more As local governments and corporations promote ‘climate friendliness’, and a low‐carbon lifestyle becomes increasingly desirable, more middle‐ and upper‐income urban residents are choosing to live near public transit, on bike‐ and pedestrian‐friendly streets, and in higher‐density mixed‐use areas. This rejection of classical forms of suburbanization has, in part, increased property values in neighborhoods offering these amenities, displacing lower‐income, often non‐white, residents. Increased prevalence of creative and technology workers appears to accelerate this trend. We argue that a significant and understudied socio‐environmental contradiction also occurs where the actual environmental outcomes of neighborhood transformation may not be what we expect. New research on greenhouse gas emissions shows that more affluent residents have much larger carbon footprints because of their consumption, even when reductions in transportation or building energy emissions are included. We describe an area in Seattle, Washington, the location of Amazon's headquarters, experiencing this contradiction and show a distinct convergence of city investments in low‐carbon infrastructure, significant rises in housing prices and decreases in lower‐income and non‐white residents. We conclude with a discussion of a range of issues that require more attention by scholars interested in housing justice and/or urban sustainability.