Urban political ecology as an expanded field

In what sense might urban political ecology be regarded as an expanded field? In this brief article, I emphasize how urban political ecology has the capacity to build conceptual bridges between the bio-physical sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. I suggest that urban political ecology is uniquely positioned to bring together material insights at different spatial scales, linking intricate local topographies with more distant extractive frontiers and zoonotic transfer zones. If urban political ecology wishes to engage with pluriversal ecologies, however, it will need to adopt a more eclectic and less deterministic conceptual framework. A more embodied vantage point can also develop links between neo-Marxian approaches and newly emerging fields such as critical phenomenology, critical toxicology, and multispecies ethnographies.

Publication Details

Journal
Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Published
2025-05-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17863/cam.118701
Primary Topic
Geographies of human-animal interactions
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Urban political ecology as an expanded field

Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Geographies of human-animal interactions
article

Urban political ecology as an expanded field

article en

Abstract

In what sense might urban political ecology be regarded as an expanded field? In this brief article, I emphasize how urban political ecology has the capacity to build conceptual bridges between the bio-physical sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. I suggest that urban political ecology is uniquely positioned to bring together material insights at different spatial scales, linking intricate local topographies with more distant extractive frontiers and zoonotic transfer zones. If urban political ecology wishes to engage with pluriversal ecologies, however, it will need to adopt a more eclectic and less deterministic conceptual framework. A more embodied vantage point can also develop links between neo-Marxian approaches and newly emerging fields such as critical phenomenology, critical toxicology, and multispecies ethnographies.

Apollo (University of Cambridge)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 49%
Geographies of human-animal interactions
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