Places of nature in ecologies of urbanism

Twenty-first century urbanization signals unprecedented challenge as well as unprecedented transformative potential. Anchoring its case studies to Asia, this volume uses an “ecologies of urbanism” analytical approach to explore the environmental dimensions of urban life in selected cities and towns. It draws together ethnographic case studies and historical research, bridging the work of anthropologists, architects, planners, religion scholars, and art historians. Read together, the cases provide a nuanced understanding of the place, form, and stakes of urban nature, as well as its attendant human social dynamics, in contemporary Asian cities. If twenty-first-century urbanization is understood as a problem, its regional epicenter is the cities in Asia. Facing unprecedented diversity in scale, scope, and environmental dynamics in the Asian urban experience, scholars will need an approach that can truly capture the significance of place and context. The challenge, as this volume illustrates, can be met by the analytic of ecologies of urbanism. Eschewing a rigid, single ecology, the contributors identify multiple forms of nature-in biophysical, cultural, and political terms-that have discernable impact on power relations and human social action. The case studies in this book-including leopards in Mumbai, a network of tubewells in northern India, an island that grows through reclamation in Hong Kong, and a railway continuum linking Khon Kaen and Bangkok-all attest to the versatility of ecologies of urbanism. Guided by urban processes rather than geopolitical boundaries, Places of Nature in Ecologies of Urbanism offers a picture of urban Asia that is composed of varied ecologies of urbanism. Book jacket This publication has been generously supported by the Hong Kong Institute forthe Humanities and Social Sciences, and grows out of a conference convenedby the “Environmental Sustainability, Political Ecology, and Civil Society”research group in the Institute’s Inter-Asia Program.