Irregular Connections: Everyday Energy Politics in Catalonia

While questions of energy and energy transition have become hotly contested, the abstract and fetishized conception of energy that dominates contemporary political debates occludes connections to everyday life. By tracing the activities of Catalan activist network Alianza contra la Pobreza Energética (Alliance against Energy Poverty or APE), this article seeks to excavate the political possibilities opened up by a more everyday energy politics. The article addresses the practice of illegal utilities connections among the urban poor of Catalonia, arguing that this constitutes a form of makeshift urbanism resonant of that conceptualized from within ‘Southern’ cities. These ‘irregular connections’ to urban infrastructure networks are then distinguished from the ‘irregular connections’ formed between people within the collectivized social infrastructure of APE. APE, I argue, translate ‘energy’ as social reproduction, framing their struggle for the right to energy around the right to sustain life with dignity. This, I suggest, is the starting point for a feminist praxis capable of creating new and unruly subjectivities, reconfiguring reproductive relations in more caring and collective directions, and ultimately challenging the violence of the commodity form.     

Contradictions of the Climate-Friendly City: New Perspectives on Eco-Gentrification and Housing Justice

As local governments and corporations promote ‘climate friendliness’, and a low-carbon lifestyle becomes increasingly desirable, more middle- and upper-income urban residents are choosing to live near public transit, on bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets, and in higher-density mixed-use areas. This rejection of classical forms of suburbanization has, in part, increased property values in neighborhoods offering these amenities, displacing lower-income, often non-white, residents. Increased prevalence of creative and technology workers appears to accelerate this trend. We argue that a significant and understudied socio-environmental contradiction also occurs where the actual environmental outcomes of neighborhood transformation may not be what we expect. New research on greenhouse gas emissions shows that more affluent residents have much larger carbon footprints because of their consumption, even when reductions in transportation or building energy emissions are included. We describe an area in Seattle, Washington, the location of Amazon's headquarters, experiencing this contradiction and show a distinct convergence of city investments in low-carbon infrastructure, significant rises in housing prices and decreases in lower-income and non-white residents. We conclude with a discussion of a range of issues that require more attention by scholars interested in housing justice and/or urban sustainability.     

从企业治理概念看城市的治理结构

随着经济全球一体化进程的加快 ,城市治理结构正经历着向企业家式治理模式的转变。本文通过对企业治理与管理的分析 ,认为城市治理应参照企业治理结构模式 ,建立起有中国特色的城市治理结构。     

SOCIALLY ENGAGED MUNICIPAL STATECRAFT IN URBAN CHINA? The Shenzhen Biennale as Situated Planning Experiment

In this article I build on scholarship that calls for attention to the interventionist role of the municipality in steering development beyond growth to introduce the situated planning experiment as a mechanism through which municipalities practice socially engaged statecraft. The situated planning experiment foregrounds place-based innovative planning practices that incorporate the participation of citizen intellectuals who act as advocates for marginalized groups in China. I frame the Shenzhen UrbanismArchitecture Biennale (UABB) as a situated planning experiment, tracing its influence on the municipality's shift in approach to planning for urban village redevelopment. I show how the UABB is leveraged as an instrument for the municipality to connect social and economic objectives in development and how it presents differentiated opportunities for migrant residents to make viable urban lives. The article offers one possibility for theorizing the changing relationship between municipal entrepreneurialism and urban planning and critically evaluates the potential for socially engaged municipal statecraft, considering the Xi regime's focus on people-oriented urbanization. It represents one way in which studies of municipal statecraft can consider the variegated logics and forms of emerging post-growth state programmes and politics.     

战后美国城市改造对社会公正的侵蚀

战后美国的城市改造,主要在住房建设和城市更新两个方面展开,目标是兼顾城市的经济发展和社会公正.然而,在实施过程中,由于联邦住房政策二元结构的形成,首先是联邦政府的住房政策偏离了建设公共住房的初衷,基本上没有达到政策的目标;其后是城市更新运动在强势利益集团的主导下,漠视了低收入家庭的住房需求,侵蚀和损害了社会公正.     

风险社会理论与城市公共安全——基于人口流迁与社会融合视角的分析

在我国社会转型和快速城市化的背景下,城市人口发展所面临的风险呈现出多元化特征,人口流迁与社会融合逐步成为影响城市公共安全的现实因素。流动人口缺乏在城市的原始积累,生存状态不体面,对城市社会缺乏认同感和归属感,而户籍制度仍然是制约流动人口城市融合的主要障碍。在风险治理和安全保障方面,政府需要通过合理的制度安排解决农民工在城市体系中的制度化生存问题,通过扩展流动人口的社会支持网络,增强其归属感。同时,还必须加强流动人口的常态性、制度性管理和政府公共服务能力建设,提高流动人口素质和对城市社会的自适应能力。     

西方的城市治理及其对我国的启示

分析了西方城市治理的特点及引起西方城市治理方式转变的原因,并对西方城市治理对我国城市发展带来的启示提出了相应见解.