Abstract
Urban political ecology (UPE) infuses Marxism with poststructuralism and constructivism to explore the dialectic relationship between nature and society in urban environments as well as the economic aspect of an urban socioecological system. Nevertheless, the literature on southern urbanism has urged UPE to become more “provincialized” to reflect the diffuse forms of power and everyday governance influencing the planning of cities in the Global South. This article reviews and reflects on this wave of debates raised by critics who have positioned postcolonial thinking as an alternative to Marxist political economy, in which UPE is rooted. It also identifies those works that might help provincialize UPE differently. Without rejecting the Marxism, another set of approaches draws influence from the strategic-relational approach (SRA) to examine environmental issues in ways that destabilize conventionally economic determinist UPE. In addition to involving corporate elites and city officials, a UPE framework incorporating the SRA is capable of bringing the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community leaders, and environmentalists in everyday governance to the front. The article contends that the latter framework adds weight on public participation and local governance in different geopolitical contexts without losing sight of the social inequalities caused by state-led or privatized programs in the quest for urban resilience.
Highlights
There has been abundant literature produced on urban resilience over the past few decades, in the areas of environmental science and urban planning
From the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement, the consensus established in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) symbolizes a shift towards postpolitical regulatory regimes, in which concerns about local politics and public participation have become less salient than common interests in implementing resilience-oriented planning strategies and design techniques
One of urban political ecology (UPE)’s major concepts is “socioecological assemblage”, which applies to the urban environment and tackles the multiplicity and heterogeneity in the formation of initiatives, systems and people who contribute to urban resilience
Summary
There has been abundant literature produced on urban resilience over the past few decades, in the areas of environmental science and urban planning. Urban resilience encompasses keeping the physical environment durable in the face of natural or human-induced risks and disasters and the involvement of a diverse population and different communities in decision-making mechanisms for pursuing urban sustainability As part of this special issue, “Planning Resilient Community: Public Participation and Governance”, this article aims to provide theoretical insights into the socioecological systems behind the practices and policies of planning for urban resilience, informing institutional approaches for engaging societies in municipality-led integrative mechanisms for sustainable development. It is crucial to investigate the complexity underlying bureaucratic behaviors, managerial regimes, and intersystem coordination in relation to the shaping of local politics and reshaping of policy mechanisms and institutional frameworks of urban resilience To this end, this paper reviews urban political ecology (UPE) as a critical theory for investigating the significance of socioecological multiplicity and its influence on shaping a resilient city. The conclusion comments on the strength of an integrative framework that combines UPE and the SRA, reiterating the critical role of the local state in municipality-led programs to build urban resilience
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