A more-than-urban political ecology of bushfire smoke in eastern Australia, 2019–2020

ABSTRACT

From September 2019 to February 2020 fires destroyed dwellings, towns and killed farm animals and wildlife in much of eastern Australia. While the threat and experiences of fire differed, smoke became a quotidian experience for millions of people not in direct danger from flames. The disjuncture between the Australian bushfire summer existing within much longer histories of air, respiration and smoke in cities and the experiences of smoke being new to many people highlights important issues relating to nomenclature, boundaries and urban imaginaries. Developing a more-than-urban political ecology of smoke, this paper concludes that understanding smoke as part of atmospheres within which humans live and breathe is necessary to support the integrated management of land, water, air and the living entities in and beyond a particular area or country. A more-than-urban political ecology of smoke will assist people to view themselves and their welfare as being connected with what happens on spaces that are physically distant.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban political ecology
• smoke
• wildfire
• health
• climate change
• air quality

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the reviewers who provided helpful suggestions on an earlier version of this article. Thank you also to Graham Haughton, Blanche Verlie and to colleagues in the Thinking Space seminar series in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney who provided helpful guidance on the material. Any remaining errors are my own responsibility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Phil McManus

Phil McManus is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Geography in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney.