City Futures at a Crossroads: Contested Urban Natures and Sustainability in the Shadow of the Growth Machine

Dear Colleagues:

City futures in the first quarter of the 21^st century are being shaped by a growth-first political economy that privileges exchange value over use value (Southerton 2011; Logan & Molotch 1987), even as climate change and aging infrastructure expose the limits of this model. Building on Logan and Molotch’s (1987) urban growth machine thesis, this proposed special issues integrates urban political ecology (UPE), environmental justice (EJ), and science and technology studies (STS) to examine how sustainability is mobilized as place marketing rather than structural transformation. Greenways, smart districts, and climate initiatives often function to raise property values, while deferred maintenance of water, sewer, transportation, and energy systems intensifies flooding and heat risk in low-income communities. We seek papers that tackle various dimensions of this complex 21^st century issue. 

UPE conceptualizes cities as socio-natural metabolisms shaped by uneven circulations of water, energy, waste, and capital (Swyngedouw & Heynen 2003; Angelo & Wachsmuth 2015). Harvey’s work shows how large-scale infrastructure absorbs surplus capital through “accumulation by dispossession,” often displacing marginalized communities (Harvey 1973, 2008). EJ scholarship reframes these processes as struggles over distribution, recognition, and participation, emphasizing democratic control over planning decisions (Schlosberg 2007; Holifield et al. 2010). Research on green gentrification demonstrates how sustainability initiatives can reproduce inequality (Wolch et al. 2014). 

STS further highlights how models, maps, and resilience plans actively shape urban futures by defining legitimate knowledge and participation (Karvonen 2011). Recent work on planetary urbanization underscores how urban infrastructures depend on distant extraction zones and sacrifice landscapes (Angelo & Wachsmuth 2015). Together, these perspectives frame sustainable city futures as a political struggle over urban socio-natural systems, where equity, participation, and the right to the city must guide post-growth alternatives (Harvey 2008).

References

1. Angelo, H., & Wachsmuth, D. (2015). Urbanizing urban political ecology: A critique of methodological cityism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39(1), 16–27.
2. Harvey, D. (1973). Social justice and the city. Johns Hopkins University Press.
3. Harvey, D. (2008). The right to the city. New Left Review, 53, 23–40.
4. Holifield, R., Porter, M., & Walker, G. (2010). Introduction spaces of environmental justice: Frameworks for critical engagement. Antipode, 42(4), 803–809.
5. Karvonen, A. (2011). Politics of urban runoff: Nature, technology, and the sustainable city. The MIT Press.
6. Logan, J. R., & Molotch, H. L. (1987). Urban fortunes: The political economy of place. University of California Press.
7. Parizeau, K. (2015). Urban political ecologies of informal recyclers’ health in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Health & Place, 33, 67–74.
8. Radonic, L. (2017). Reimagining justice: Progressive water policies, restrictive water practices. Geoforum, 81, 144–156.
9. Schlosberg, D. (2007). Defining environmental justice: Theories, movements, and nature. Oxford University Press.
10. Southerton, D. (2011). Value, exchange, and use value. In D. Southerton (Ed.), Encyclopedia of consumer culture (Vol. 3, pp. 1501–1503). SAGE Publications.
11. Swyngedouw, E., & Heynen, N. C. (2003). Urban political ecology, justice, and the politics of scale. Antipode, 35(5), 898–918.
12. Wolch, J. R., Byrne, J., & Newell, J. P. (2014). Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities ‘just green enough’. Landscape and Urban Planning, 125, 234–244.

Prof. Dr. Deirdre Áine Oakley
Dr. James C. Fraser
Guest Editors

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• cities
• sustainable growth
• climate change
• capitalism