Green Utopianism: Perspectives, Politics and Micro-Practices

ISBN-13: 9781138954021 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 290 str.

Karin Bradley; Johan Hedren

Opis

Utopian thought and experimental approaches to societal organization have been rare in the last decades of planning and politics. Instead, there is a widespread belief in ecological modernization, that sustainable societies can be created within the frame of the current global capitalist world order by taking small steps such as eco-labeling, urban densification, and recycling. However, in the context of the current crisis in which resource depletion, climate change, uneven development, and economic instability are seen as interlinked, this belief is increasingly being questioned and alternative developmental paths sought. This collection demonstrates how utopian thought can be used in a contemporary context, as critique and in exploring desired futures. The book includes theoretical perspectives on changing global socio-environmental relationships and political struggles for alternative development paths, and analyzes micro-level practices in co-housing, alternative energy provision, use of green space, transportation, co-production of urban space, peer-to-peer production and consumption, and alternative economies. It contributes research perspectives on contemporary green utopian practices and strategies, combining theoretical and empirical analyses to spark discussions of possible futures.

Spis treści

1. Utopian Thought in the Making of Green Futures  Karin Bradley and Johan Hedrén  Part 1: The Politics of Science  2. Anthropocenic Politicization: From the Politics of the Environment to Politicizing Environments  Erik Swyngedouw  3. A Feminist Project of Belonging for the Anthropocene  J.K. Gibson-Graham  4. Utopianism in Science: The Case of Resilience Theory  Johan Hedrén  5. Why Solar Panels Don’t Grow on Trees: Technological Utopianism and the Uneasy Relation Between Ecomarxism and Ecological Economics  Alf Hornborg  Part 2: Transforming Politics and Planning  6. Politicizing Planning Through Multiple Images of the Future  Ulrika Gunnarsson-Östling  7. Mobility Transitions: The Necessity of Utopian Approaches  Karolina Isaksson  8. Utopian Desires and Institutional Change  Meike Schalk  9. The Urban Park as "Paradise Contrived"  Ylva Uggla  10. Globalism, Particularism and the Greening of Neoliberal Energy Landscapes  Tom Mels  Part 3: Changing Practices  11. Towards a Peer Economy: How Open Source and Peer-to-Peer Architecture, Hardware, and Consumption Are Transforming the Economy  Karin Bradley  12. Autonomous Urbanisms and the Right to the City: Squatting and the Production of the Urban Commons in Berlin  Alexander Vasudevan  13. Utopianism in the Architecture of New Urbanism and Co-Housing  Lucy Sargisson  14. Transition Delayed: The 1980s Ecotopia of a Decentralized Renewable Energy System  Martin Hultman  15. R-URBAN: Strategies and Tactics for Participative Utopias and Resilient Practices  Constantin Petcou and Doina Petrescu

O autorze

Karin Bradley is Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Studies at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Johan Hedrén is Senior Lecturer in Water and Environmental Studies at Linköping University.