Environments of Planetary Urbanization

Environments of Planetary Urbanization

von Neil Brenner

What role do spaces beyond the city play in urbanization? How have such spaces been transformed during the geohistory of capitalism? This volume brings together texts collaboratively produced by three researchers in the Urban Theory Lab to address these questions. Planetary urbanization is understood here not only with reference to the global expansion and proliferation of cities, but as an evolving web of metabolic relations between cities and the diverse operational landscapes that support them across the earth. Through studies of operational landscapes in various regions of the world and critical analyses of inherited approaches to urban theory, the authors portray capitalist urbanization as a metabolic monstrosity that degrades the biospheric foundations of both human and nonhuman life.

• Conceptualizes planetary urbanization as a thickening web of relations between cities and operational landscapes
• Critically evaluates and updates urban theory in relation to contemporary planetary environmental transformations and crises
• Analyzes the essential role of mining, agriculture, and logistics in the dynamics of capitalist urbanization

Über den Autor

Neil Brenner is the Lucy Flower Professor of Urban Sociology, chair of the Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization (CEGU), and director of the Urban Theory Lab at the University of Chicago. He edited Implosions/Explosions: Towards a Study of Planetary Urbanization (JOVIS, 2014).

Swarnabh Ghosh is a PhD candidate at Harvard University working at the convergence of critical geography and environmental　history. His writings have appeared in　 Critical Historical Studies,　 Dialogues in Human Geography, Environment and Planning A, and Urban Studies, among others.

Nikos Katsikis is an urbanist working at the intersection of urbanization theory, design, and geospatial analysis. He is an assistant professor of urbanism at TU Delft, where he coleads the Critical Environments group, and an affiliated researcher with the Urban Theory Lab at the University of Chicago.

Neil Brenner ist Lucy Flower Professor für Stadtsoziologie, Vorsitzender des Ausschusses für Umwelt, Geografie und Urbanisierung (CEGU) und Leiter des Urban Theory Lab der University of Chicago. 2014 erschien das von ihm herausgegebene Buch Implosions/Explosions: Towards a Study of Planetary Urbanization im JOVIS Verlag. Swarnabh Ghosh ist Doktorand an der Harvard University und arbeitet an der Konvergenz von kritischer Geografie und Umweltgeschichte. Seine Schriften sind u. a. in Critical Historical Studies, Dialogues in Human Geography, Environment and Planning A und Urban Studies erschienen. Nikos Katsikis ist ein Stadtplaner, der an der Schnittstelle von Urbanisierungstheorie, Design und Geodatenanalyse arbeitet. Er ist Assistenzprofessor für Stadtplanung an der TU Delft, wo er gemeinsam mit anderen die Gruppe „Critical Environments“ leitet, sowie assoziierter Wissenschaftler am Urban Theory Lab der University of Chicago.