Obstinate curiosity and situated solidarity in urban political ecology

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Goldfischer ◽  
Jennifer L. Rice ◽  
Sara T. Black
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Urban Political Ecology

scholarly journals Who defines 'whole': an urban political ecology of flood control and community relocation in Houston, Texas

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Lynn
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Public Agency ◽  
The Us ◽  
Flood Control Infrastructure

Abstract Even if public agencies sponsoring projects like flood alleviation have the best of intentions for relocated households, there may still be residents who do not agree with being forced to move. Federal relocation policy in the US has been, and continues to be, concerned primarily with housing economics and financial compensation. And yet, residents subject to relocation continue to express other concerns. The public agency responsible for relocation from flood-prone Kashmere Gardens in Houston, TX has promised to make households 'whole' in terms of finding new housing that is no more expensive (in terms of rent, mortgage payments, and equity) than vacated homes. While these considerations are important, this article illustrates how public agencies need to expand how they define 'whole.' Interviews with 53 households affected directly or indirectly by relocation show that the following factors need consideration when subjecting households to involuntary relocation: (1) suitability of new housing, (2) perceived competence of relocation specialists, (3) the relocation planning process, and (4) potential health issues for relocated households. Key Words: Kashmere Gardens, Houston, Uniform Relocation Act (URA), flood control infrastructure, urban political ecology

scholarly journals Pipes and praxis: a methodological contribution to the urban political ecology of water

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucero Radonic ◽  
Sarah Kelly-Richards
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Applied Anthropology ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Water And Sanitation

This article contributes to the urban political ecology of water through applied anthropological research methods and praxis. Drawing on two case studies in urban Sonora, Mexico, we contribute to critical studies of infrastructure by focusing on large infrastructural systems and decentralized alternatives to water and sanitation provisioning. We reflect on engaging with residents living on the marginal hillsides of two rapidly urbanizing desert cities using ethnographic methods. In the capital city of Hermosillo, Radonic emphasizes how collaborative reflection with barrio residents led her to reframe her analytical approach to water governance by recognizing informal water infrastructure as a statement of human resilience in the face of social inequality, resource scarcity, and material disrepair. In the border city of Nogales, Kelly-Richards reflects on the outcomes of conducting community-based participatory research with technical students and residents of an informally settled colonia around the construction of a composting toilet, while also investigating municipal government service provision efforts. Our article invites readers to view these infrastructure alternatives as ways to explore how applied anthropology can advance the emancipatory potential of urban political ecology through a collaborative investigation of uneven urbanization and basic service provisioning. We emphasize everyday situated relationships with infrastructure in informally organized neighborhoods. Using praxis to collectively investigate the complex and entangled relations between large piped water and sanitation projects and locally developed alternatives in under serviced areas, the two case studies reveal lessons learned and illuminate grounded research openings for social justice and environmental sustainability.Key words: Applied anthropology, infrastructure, political ecology, praxis, water governance, social justice

scholarly journals Towards Situated Analyses of Uneven Peri‐Urbanisation: An (Urban) Political Ecology Perspective

Antipode ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 1237-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Esther Bartels ◽  
Antje Bruns ◽  
David Simon
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Urban Political Ecology
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