Speaker
Description
The need to expand the idea of justice from the individual human subject to the non-human and the planetary is increasingly recognized today, thanks to a growing body of theory nurtured by Indigenous, decolonial, and feminist posthuman philosophies (Winter, 2022). The emerging field of Multispecies Justice recognizes the interconnectedness of human and other-than-human oppression, seeking to build fairer interspecies relationships (Celermajer et al., 2021). Here, the role of urban design and planning is compelling, as the design of space is part of a biopolitical action that has an inherent responsibility to make space (or not) (Secchi, 2015) for the living to thrive. As Metzeger notes (2023), even in the “incompossibility” of the perfect coexistence for all beings simultaneously in any space, planning can certainly act on reducing the degree of violence and segregation that its processes produce.
In reasoning about socio-ecological spatial justice, I argue that a multispecies justice framework can help unveil blind or overlooked injustices spots. Indeed, the landing of this sensibility into urban design practice questions us about its spatial repercussions. Where do the social and ecological demands create friction when we consider the interests of all the species and other-than-human actors involved, and not just human well-being?
Drawing on interviews and fieldwork in Brussels with people involved in projects using a more-than-human approach (students, engaged citizens, urban practitioners, university researchers, administration workers, etc.) I propose a critical reflection on the places of multispecies spatial injustice, helped by a radical ecological standpoint that seeks nothing less than the emancipation of the living (Ouassak, 2024). Alongside spaces where transspecies socio-ecological injustices are more evident (i.e. contested undeveloped abandoned land in the compact city), the research underpins how the major sites of violence were deliberately planned out-of-sight/out-of-town and still are often forgotten in the major discourse about city ecological transition, where the Brussels capital region is depicted as an island forgotten of its territory.
References
Celermajer, D., Schlosberg, D., Rickards, L., Stewart-Harawira, M., Thaler, M., Tschakert, P., Verlie, B., et al. (2021), “Multispecies justice: theories, challenges, and a research agenda for environmental politics”, Environmental Politics, Routledge, 30 (1–2), pp. 119–140.
Metzger, J. (2023), “The Cosmopolitics of Urban Planning in a More-than-Human World”, in Franklin, A. (Ed.), The Routledge International Handbook of More-than-Human Studies, Taylor & Francis, pp. 348–358.
Ouassak, F. (2024), Per un’ecologia pirata, Tamu, Napoli.
Secchi, B. (2015), Il futuro si costruisce giorno per giorno : riflessioni su spazio, società e progetto, Donzelli Editore, Roma.
Winter, C.J. (2022), “Introduction: What’s the value of multispecies justice?”, Environmental Politics, Routledge, 31 (2), pp. 251–257.
| Keywords | multispecies justice, radical ecologies, more-than-human cities |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
