Sustainability Versus Urbanism:
A Fear-formed Impasse
Author(s)
J. Callender
Abstract
The current interest in sustainability has created difficulties for those attempting
to rethink issues of urban form. Most challenging is the lack of consensus on
what is meant by a sustainable city. At first glance, this lack of consensus could
be pinned on our inability to define sustainability or to clarify the motives that
have spawned its remarkable rise. We intend to argue, however, that it is not a
failure of lexicon, but the fact that implicit definitions of, and seldom-articulated
motives for, sustainability are contrary to our notions of urban life.
When addressing sustainable issues, international design journals frequently
highlight single-family, detached housing using advanced technologies, recycled
and recyclable materials, and passive strategies as models. In America, LEED
checklists and the annual Solar Decathlon reinforce this nascent impression that
sustainability is first and foremost a matter of technological advance, which does
not necessitate a corresponding rethinking of land use, density or urban form.
Even when second and third looks reveal the deeper importance of land use
planning and life cycle analysis, seldom is perception of form broached. The
experiential appears outmoded in the face of such dire concerns.
This paper will relocate perceptual concerns to the forefront of developing a
sustainable city in two ways. Firstly, utilizing frameworks provided by Henri
Lefebvre and Doreen Massey, we will argue the primacy of the city in fostering
sustainable ways of life through proper land use, density, and consolidation of
resources. Secondly, turning to Hegel, Merleau-Ponty, and Judith Butler, I will
argue that the creation of a phenomenal city – a city rooted in the bodily
experience of desire – is the necessary trigger to spur human migration to
technologically sustainable cities.
Keywords: sustainability, urban issues, phenomenology, desire, density.
Keywords
sustainability, urban issues, phenomenology, desire, density.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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