Cities and climate change: a reflection on the debate on the post-carbon cities

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE
Author/s Silvia Crivello
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2016/111
Language Italian Pages 14 P. 153-166 File size 171 KB
DOI 10.3280/SUR2016-111010
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The issues related to the energy transition towards forms with less impact than the current ones have today a wide resonance in numerous debates. The paper starts from the assumption that the model of development of the "advanced" societies is today unsustainable, so as to threaten life on the planet; concerns regarding the state of health of the environment are turning the new logic of the so-called "carbon control". The article focuses on two aspects of the problem: on the one hand, it is investigated the transposition of the concept of energy transition at the urban scale. On the other hand, the contribution reflects on the conceptual and methodological tools that urban sociology can provide to understand the phenomenon of transition and to contribute to the formulation of solutions.

Keywords: Energy transition, city, climate change, energy justice, post-carbon, carbon control

  1. Agustoni A., Maretti M. (2012). “Energy and social change: an introduction”, International Review of Sociology, 22(3), pp. 391-404. DOI: 10.1080/03906701.2012.73082
  2. Angelini A., Pizzuto P. (a cura di) (2007). Manuale di ecologia, sostenibilità ed educazione ambientale, FrancoAngeli, Milano.
  3. Beck U. (2000). La società del rischio. Verso una seconda modernità, Carocci, Roma.
  4. Berger P., Luckman T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, Doubleday, Garden City (NY).
  5. Brechin S. R. (2008). “Ostriches and Change. A Response to ‘Global Warming and Sociology’”, Current Sociology, 56 (3), pp. 467-474. DOI: 10.1177/001139210708823
  6. Brenner N. (2004). New state spaces: urban governance and the rescaling of statehood, Oxford University Press, New York.
  7. Bulkeley H. (2010). “Cities and the governing of climate change”, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 35, pp. 229-253.
  8. Bulkeley H., Castán Broto V., Hodson M., Marvin S. (2011). Cities and Low carbon Transitions, Routledge, London.
  9. Chatterton P. (2013). “Towards an Agenda for Post-carbon Cities: Lessons from Lilac, the UK’s First Ecological, Affordable Cohousing Community”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37 (5), pp. 1654-74. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.1200
  10. Cox K.R. (1993). “The local and the global in the new urban politics: a critical view”, Environment and Planning D, 11 (4), pp. 433-448.
  11. Crivello S. (2012). “La città competitiva e sostenibile: alcune riflessioni sul rapporto fra i due discorsi”, Sociologia Urbana e Rurale, 97, pp. 52-66.
  12. Davico L. (2004). Sviluppo sostenibile, Carocci, Roma.
  13. Davico L., Mela A. Staricco L. (2009). Città Sostenibili. Carocci, Roma.
  14. Davis M. (2010). “Who Will Build The Ark?”, New Left Review, 61, pp. 29-46.
  15. Dunster B., Simmons C., Gilbert B. (2008). The ZedBook: Solutions for a Shrinking World, Taylor and Francis, Abingdon.
  16. Evans G.R. (2008). “Transformation from carbon valley to a post-carbon society in a climate change hot spot: the coalfields of the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia”, Ecology and Society, 13 (1), 39-51. DOI: 10.5751/ES-02460-13013
  17. Gordon I. (2005). “Integrating cities”, in N. Nuck, I. Gordon, A. Harding, I. Turok (eds.). Changing Cities. Palmgrave, Basingstoke, pp. 78-93.
  18. Grundmann R. Stehr N. (2010). “Climate Change: What Role for Sociology? A Response to Constance Lever-Tracy”, Current Sociology, v. 58, n. 6, DOI: 10.1177/001139211037603
  19. Harvey D. (1989). The Condition of Postmodernity, Blackwell, Oxford.
  20. Heinberg R. (2004). Powerdown. New Society Publisher, San Francisco.
  21. Hodson M., Marvin S. (2009). “Urban ecological security: a new urban paradigm”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33(1),
  22. IPCC (International panel on Climate Change) (2013). Assessment Report: Climate Change 2013, Geneva, IPCC.
  23. Jessop B. (1997). “The entrepreneurial city: re-imagining localities, redesigning economic governance, or restructuring capital”, in N. Jewson, S. MacGregor (eds.). Transforming Cities: Contested Governance and New Spatial Divisions, Routledge, London.
  24. Jonas A.E.G., Gibbs D., While A. (2011). “The New Urban Politics as a Politics of Carbon Control”, Urban Studies, 48 (12), pp. 2537–54. DOI: 10.1177/004209801141195
  25. Latour B. (1987). Science in Action. How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society; trad it. La scienza in azione. Comunità, Torino, 1998.
  26. Lever-Tracy C. (2008). “Global Warming and Sociology”, Current Sociology, 56 (3), pp. 445-466. DOI: 10.1177/001139210708823
  27. Keil R. (2007). “Sustaining Modernity, Modernizing Nature”, in R. Krueger, D. Gibbs (eds.). The Sustainable Development Paradox. Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe, Gilford Press, New York, pp. 41-65.
  28. Latouche S. (2006). Le pari de la decroissance, Fayard, Paris.
  29. Mela A. (2006). Sociologia delle città, Carocci, Roma.
  30. Miller C.A. (2012). “Energy justice: ensuring human dignity in the postcarbon future”, Cairo Review of Global Affairs, 5, pp. 46-59.
  31. Miller C.A., Iles A., Jones C.F. (2013). “The Social Dimensions of Energy Transitions”, Science as Culture, 22 (2), pp. 135-148. DOI: 10.1080/09505431.2013.78698
  32. Moore S. (2013). “Envisioning the Social and Political Dynamics of Energy Transitions: Sustainable Energy for the Mediterranean Region”, Science as Culture, 22(2), pp.181-188. DOI: 10.1080/09505431.2013.78699
  33. Newman P., Beatley T., Boyer H. (2009). Resilient Cities. Island Press, Washington.
  34. O’Rourke, D., Connolly, S. (2003). “Just oil? The distribution of environmental and social impacts of oil production and consumption”, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 28, pp. 587-617.
  35. Pellizzoni L., Osti G. (2008). Sociologia dell’ambiente, Il Mulino, Bologna.
  36. Osti G. (2012). “Frames, organisations, and practices as social components of energy”, International Review of Sociology, 22(3), DOI: 10.1080/03906701.2012.73082
  37. Peck J. (2006). “Liberating the city: between New York and New Orleans”, Urban Geography, 27 (8). pp. 681-713. DOI: 10.2747/0272-3638.27.8.68
  38. Peck J., Tickell A. (2002). “Neoliberizing space”, Antipode, 3. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8330.0024
  39. Pike A., Dawley S., Tomaney J. (2010). “Resilience, adaptation and adaptability”, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3,
  40. Raco M., Flint J. (2012). “Introduction: Characterising the ‘new’ politics of sustainability: from managing growth to coping withcrisis”, in J. Flint, M. Raco (eds.). The Future of Sustainable Cities. Radical Reflections, Policy Press, Bristol, pp. 3-27.
  41. Redclift M. (2009). “The environment and carbon dependence. Landscapes of sustainability and materiality”, Current Sociology, 57 (3). DOI: 10.1177/001139210810158
  42. Rose N. (1999). Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  43. Rossi U., Vanolo A. (2012). Urban Political Geographies. Sage, London.
  44. Sidaway J. D. (2007). “Spaces of postdevelopment”, Progress in Human Geography, 31 (3). pp. 345-361. DOI: 10.1177/030913250707740
  45. Simmie J., Martin R. (2010). “The economic resilience of regions: towards an evolutionary approach”, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3,
  46. Swyngedouw E. (2007). “Impossible “sustainability” and the postpolitical condition”, in R. Krueger, D. Gibbs (eds.). The Sustainable Development Paradox. Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe, Gilford Press, New York, pp. 13-40.
  47. Swyngedouw E. (2013). “Apocalypse Now! Fear and Doomsday Pleasures”, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 24 (1). pp. 9-18. DOI: 10.1080/10455752.2012.75925
  48. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2013). Global Environment Outlook 4 (GEO-4): environment for development, UNEP, Nairobi.
  49. Urry J. (2009). “Sociology and climate change”, The Sociological Review, v. 57, (2). pp. 84-100.
  50. UN (United Nations) (2010). World Urbanization Prospects, the 2009 Revision: Highlights, United Nations, New York.
  51. Vanolo A. (2013). “Smartmentality: the smart city as disciplinary strategy”, Urban Studies, 51(5). 883-898. DOI: 10.1177/004209801349442
  52. Vale L. J., Campanella T. J. (2005). The Resilient City. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  53. While A., Jonas A., Gibbs D. (2010). “From sustainable development to carbon control: eco-state restructuring and the politics of urban and regional development”, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 35 (1). pp. 76-93.
  54. While A., Whitehead M. (2013). “Cities, Urbanisation and Climate Change”, Urban Studies, 50 (7). 1325-31.
  55. Whitehead M. (2012). “The sustainable city: an obituary? On the future form and prospects of sustainable urbanism”, in J. Flint, M. Raco (eds.). The Future of Sustainable Cities. Radical Reflections, Policy Press, Bristol, pp. 29-46.
  56. While A. (2010). “The carbon calculus and transitions in urban politics and political theory”, in Bulkeley H., Castán Broto V.,Hodson M., Marvin S., Cities and Low carbon Transitions, Routledge, London, pp. 42-53. DOI: 10.1177/004209801348096
  57. World Watch Institute (2007). State of the world 2007: Our urban future. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Silvia Crivello, Città e sfida ambientale: prospettive e limiti del dibattito sulle post-carbon cities in "SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE" 111/2016, pp 153-166, DOI: 10.3280/SUR2016-111010