Climate urbanism: crisis, capitalism, and intervention

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate urbanism
• climate justice
• crisis capitalism
• disaster capitalism
• climate adaptation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.