Obstinate curiosity and situated solidarity in urban political ecology

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the field of urban political ecology (UPE) has developed into a robust theoretical framework for understanding the production of uneven socionatures. More recently, expanded theoretical and empirical innovations in UPE research are pushing the framework's radical roots into new and productive directions for addressing (not just critiquing) persistent inequalities and marginalizations in and beyond cities. We trace this trajectory of UPE towards its more transformative potential and argue that UPE's relevance will increase as scholars continue to embrace the power of what Povinelli calls "obstinate curiosity" to give rise to unexpected connections between people and ecologies. Specifically, we call for continued diversification of both theoretical and methodological starting points for UPE research, particularly with respect to the ways that scholars practice situated solidarity movements for social and environmental justice in cities. K E Y W O R D Sliberatory praxis, scholar-activism, social justice, urban political ecology, urban theory

Moving urban political ecology beyond the ‘urbanization of nature’

“…The call for situated UPE scholarship mobilizes a Global South perspective as a tool for conceptual and empirical reorientation, rather than simply as an afterthought. This direction enriches the field with new research methods, theoretical framings and practices from the Global South, thus provincializing north-centered UPE debates (Lawhon et al, 2014(Lawhon et al, , 2016Loftus 2019aGoldfischer et al, 2019. Such scholarship has suggested giving more attention to everyday practices (Loftus, 2012), a more nuanced examination of power as diffused and relational (Lawhon, 2012;Lawhon et al, 2014), and an emphasis on race, gender and location (Njeru, 2006;Truelove, 2011, Loftus, 2019b.…”

‘ARE WE JUST KILLING PEOPLE?’: Centering Racial Capitalism in the Green Gentrification of the Atlanta BeltLine

“…Sara Dooling (2009) coined the term 'ecological gentrification' to explain the spatial displacement of houseless individuals that is justified through dominant conceptualizations of home and land, which are rooted in ideologies prioritizing and protecting the bounds of private property. From 'ecological gentrification', various synonyms proliferated but continued to denote the constant cycles of devaluation, environmental degradation and disinvestment of urban space followed by reinvestment and environmental remediation that elevates the value of these spaces and dispossesses vulnerable residents (Rice et al, 2019). Property is central to identity, settlement and struggle because its arrangement yields social orderings and encodes space in particular ways (Blomley, 2004).…”

“…Sam's characterization of the Westside Trail reifies settler‐colonial logics of improvement that efface existing residents and embodies the problematic detachment of humans as existing outside of nature (Cronon, 1996) and nature existing outside of the city, which has characterized exclusionary, oppressive practices against Black, Indigenous people of color within urban planning (Goldfisher et al ., 2019). These theorizations of the sociohistorical detachments centered on spatial, material and ideological divisions of ‘nature’ and ‘human’ problematize Sam's apolitical and ahistorical references to the Westside Trail as a ‘refuge’.…”

Political ecology III: Praxis - doing, undoing, and being in radical political ecology research

“…Enhancing research solidarity for strengthening scholar-activism has also been called for. Goldfischer et al (2020) describe the obstinate curiosity for unexpected solidarities in field research that can result in fruitful collaborations. Montenegro De Wit et al (2021) demonstrate that by writing reflexively as a collective, it is possible to explore ways that horizontal non-exploitative learning is enriched in a collaborative collective by first engaging in internal organization for more accountable and reciprocal relationships with grassroots movements.…”