The Limits of Techno-management in Transitioning to Green Cities

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

The challenge of creating a green city is enormous. But often, the complex social and political processes that are involved in making a city green are reduced to techno-managerial efforts. These depoliticize a highly political process, often upholding contemporary socio-environmental inequalities that are at the heart of the environmental crisis—and usually an outcome of unsustainable urban patterns. What’s more, this depoliticization tends to limit our acknowledgement of urban environmental ethics in the transition to green cities. Technical and managerial solutions are highly significant, yes, but they do not encompass all the political aspects involved in such a transition. Since a city is primarily a political entity, and not solely a “physical container” that needs improved management, how it transitions to sustainable patterns should also focus on the way that environmental issues are socially and politically framed, and on the values that drive the city’s policies. In addition, a public-civic discussion should assess the city’s contemporary political, social, economic, and cultural practices that may lie behind unsustainable urban patterns or, conversely, be more conducive to environmentally friendly policies.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)47-52
Number of pages6
JournalRCC Perspectives
Volume1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Environmental politics
  • built environmnt
  • displacement
  • environmental justice
  • environmentalism
  • ethics
  • policies
  • poverty
  • society
  • technology

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