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Abstract
Drawing on megapolitan geographies, urban political ecology, and urban metabolism as theoretical frameworks, this article theoretically and empirically explores megapolitan political ecology. First, we elucidate a theoretical framework in the context of southern Appalachia and, in particular, the Piedmont megapolitan region, suggesting that the megapolitan region is a useful scale through which to understand urban metabolic connections that constitute this rapidly urbanizing area. We also push the environmental history and geography literature of the U.S. South and southern Appalachia to consider the central role urban metabolic connections play in the region's pressing social and environmental crises. Second, we empirically illuminate these human and nonhuman urban metabolisms across the Piedmont megapolitan region using data from the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, especially highlighting a growing “ring of asphalt” that epitomizes several developing changes to patterns of metabolism. The conclusion suggests that changing urban metabolisms indicated by Coweeta LTER data, ranging from flows of people to flows of water, pose a complicated problem for regional governance and vitality in the future.
本文运用大都会带地理、城市政治生态以及城市代谢作为理论框架, 在理论上和经验上探讨大都会带的政治生态学。首先, 我们在南阿巴拉契亚、特别是皮埃蒙特大都会带区域的脉络中阐明理论框架, 指出大都会带区域, 是可藉此理解构组该地区快速城市化的城市代谢连结的实用尺度。我们同时推进美国南方以及南阿巴拉契亚的环境历史与地理文献, 考量城市代谢连结在该区域迫切的社会与环境危机中所扮演的核心角色。再者, 我们运用考威塔长期生态研究 (LTER) 计画中的数据, 经验性地描绘在皮埃蒙特大都会带之中人类与非人类的城市代谢作用, 并特别凸显出增加中的”沥青圈”, 该圈象徵着代谢形式中几个发展中的变化。结论部分指出, 由考威塔的 LTER 数据所显示的改变中的城市代谢, 包含人口流动到水的流动, 对未来的区域治理和活力而言, 引发了复杂的问题。
Utilizando como marcos teóricos las geografías megapolitanas, la ecología política urbana y el metabolismo urbano, este artículo explora teórica y empíricamente la ecología política megapolitana. Primero que todo, dilucidamos un marco teórico en el contexto de los Apalaches meridionales y, particularmente, de la región megapolitana del Piedemonte, sugiriendo que la región megapolitana es una escala útil para entender las conexiones metabólicas urbanas que constituyen esta área en proceso de rápida urbanización. También traemos a cuento la historia ambiental y la literatura geográfica del Sur de los EE.UU., y de los Apalaches meridionales para considerar el papel central que cumplen las conexiones metabólicas urbanas en las apremiantes crisis sociales y ambientales de la región. En segundo lugar, empíricamente ilustramos estos metabolismos urbanos de naturaleza humana y no humana, a través de la región megapolitana del Piedemonte, utilizando datos del programa de la Investigación Ecológica a Largo Plazo de Coweeta (LTER), destacando especialmente un “anillo de asfalto” en expansión que epitomiza varios cambios en desenvolvimiento hacia patrones de metabolismo. La conclusión sugiere que los cambiantes metabolismos urbanos indicados por los datos de la LTER de Coweeta, que van desde los flujos de gente hasta los flujos de agua, presentan un problema complicado para la gobernanza y vitalidad regional en el futuro.
Notes
* This project was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation to the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program (DEB-0823293). The authors would like to thank Dr. Barney Warf and two anonymous reviewers who provided excellent guidance and suggestions on this article.
1The Piedmont megapolitan region includes southern Appalachia; areas of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee; five Metropolitan Statistical Areas with over 1 million people in them (Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham); and hundreds of smaller communities (see ).
2See Regional Plan Association (Citation2012) for a map of megapolitan regions in the United States.
3Including Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United States Forest Service, United States Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, National Agricultural Statistics Service, National Park Service, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Seth Gustafson
SETH GUSTAFSON is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include urban political ecology, science and technology studies, social theory, and environmental governance.
Nik Heynen
NIK HEYNEN is a Professor in the Department of Geography at The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include urban political ecology; environmental justice; social movements; intersectional studies of race, class, and gender; and food studies.
Jennifer L. Rice
JENNIFER L. RICE is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include urban political ecology, climate and carbon governance, nature–society theory, and science–policy studies.
Ted Gragson
TED GRAGSON is a Professor and Department Head in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include human behavioral ecology and historical ecology of natural resource use and conservation.
J. Marshall Shepherd
J. MARSHALL SHEPHERD is a Professor in the Department of Geography and the Director for Program in Atmospheric Sciences at The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include atmospheric sciences, climatology, water cycle processes, and urban climate systems.
Christopher Strother
CHRISTOPHER STROTHER received his MS in the Department of Geography at The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include LiDAR remote sensing for human and environmental applications.