Speaker
Description
Ecopolis. What does a post-growth city may look like?
Cristiano S. (), Fabbro S. (), Faraone (), Fini G. (*)
() Architecture Department, Univ. of Florence (Italy)
(*) DPIA Department, Univ. of Udine (Italy)
In the second decade of the century, Espon, the European Agency for territorial studies, conducted scenario studies on the future of the European city, examining three major scenarios respectively named: Metropolis, Metapolis and Ecopolis. We consider that study still valid but currently it seems to have a weaker meaning as Espon aimed to synthesize them. From our perspective, it seems more preferable to choose and promote, among the three, the most just and sustainable one. We call this proposed model: the post-growth city. This cannot be a “fossil city” (Malm) based on the infrastructures of the fossil world; nor a city based on strong social, economic and power hierarchies, the unjust city (Harvey); nor a city dominated by alienation and a sick relationship between humans and nature (Latour).
At the same time, it must be capable to face all the contemporary challenges (Seto). The fundamental questions for a spatial planner consequently are: what dimension has this city? What shape? What economic structure?
First of all, it should be said that the city is no longer an “economic machine” like the Fordist metropolis (Metropolis), but not even an infrastructure to support traffic, mobility and logistics (Metapolis). The post-growth city is an ecosystem that balances human development and planetary sustainability. It must be, therefore, a living organism, in which humanity reconnects with the rest of nature and works collectively to build a more human and just future. In our research we propose the name of Ecopolis (Fabbro). The physical and social space of Ecopolis includes anthropic components (settlements), semi-natural spaces (for agriculture) and natural spaces (rivers, forests, meadows, etc.). It is supported by a dominance of vegetal and water ecosystems over the built environment. It is neither hierarchical nor monocentric and, therefore, has no single center and large peripheries but different structures.
Its form is ‘organic’ i.e. following the shape generated by its dominant geophysical (valleys, slopes, basins, the course of a river, coasts, uniform plains, etc.) and natural components (climate, air, sun exposure). It aggregates around or within a large natural ecosystem (a much biodiverse river, a valley system, etc.). Its metabolisms is inspired on ecological dynamics, thus encouraging the flourishing of buffers (lakes, forests, other ecosystems) and harmonizing energy, and resource in and outflows to meet strong forms of sustainability and resilience, safeguarding the basic, vital functioning of spatial systems in the event of resource availability oscillations.
Its political economy can no longer be capitalist, not even in its most softened conceptions. Its political economic model is, coherently with its structure and shape, post-metropolitan (Soja), post-growth (Savini) and post-capitalist (Kohei). This does not mean that capitalist companies and market exchange no longer exist; they are rather not dominant. It implies a tripartite model (Polanyi) made up of (i) market regulation to avoid their excessive expansion, (ii) protection of land, people and labour from the destructive effects of commodification, (iii) promotion of forms of social economy closer to people and the Earth. Who builds this city-territory and how? It implies a broader reterritorialization capable of calling into question all the generative parameters of the modern city concept. It will therefore be necessarily reconstructed on the basis of a community ethos. Is Ecopolis a utopia? No, because Ecopolis already exists in many parts of the world but is suffocated by the effects of the "planetary urbanization" (Brenner). It must be recognized, made to re-emerge and be valorized.
References
Brenner N. (2018), Debating Planetary Urbanization: for an Engaged Pluralism, in “Environment and Planning D: Society and Space”, 36, 3, pp. 570-90.
Fabbro S. (2024), Postmetropoli e sistemi ecopolitani, Carocci, Roma.
Latour B. (2018) Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime, Polity Pr, Cambridge
Malm A (2016), Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming, Verso Books, London.
Polany K. (1974), La grande trasformazione, Torino, Einaudi, Torino
Savini, F. (2023). Post-growth, degrowth, the doughnut, and circular economy: a short guide for policymakers. Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy.
Seto K. (2014), Rethinking Global Land Use in an Urban Era, Oxford University Press.
Soja E. (2000), Postmetropolis: Critical Studies pf Cities and Regions, Blackwell, Cambridge (MA)
| Keywords | Ecopolis; postgrowth; postmetropolis |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
