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A cutting exploration of how cities drive climate change while being on the frontlines of the coming climate crisis

How will climate change affect our lives? Where will its impacts be most deeply felt? Are we doing enough to protect ourselves from the coming chaos? In Extreme Cities , Ashley Dawson argues that cities are ground zero for climate change, contributing the lion's share of carbon to the atmosphere, while also lying on the frontlines of rising sea levels. Today, the majority of the world's megacities are located in coastal zones, yet few of them are adequately prepared for the floods that will increasingly menace their shores. Instead, most continue to develop luxury waterfront condos for the elite and industrial facilities for corporations. These not only intensify carbon emissions, but also place coastal residents at greater risk when water levels rise.

In Extreme Cities , Dawson offers an alarming portrait of the future of our cities, describing the efforts of Staten Island, New York, and Shishmareff, Alaska residents to relocate; Holland's models for defending against the seas; and the development of New York City before and after Hurricane Sandy. Our best hope lies not with fortified sea walls, he argues. Rather, it lies with urban movements already fighting to remake our cities in a more just and equitable way.

As much a harrowing study as a call to arms Extreme Cities is a necessary read for anyone concerned with the threat of global warming, and of the cities of the world.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Introduction: Extreme City(p. 1)
• 1 Capital Sinks(p. 17)
• 2 Environmental Blowback(p. 69)
• 3 Sea Change(p. 117)
• 4 The Jargon of Resilience(p. 153)
• 5 Climate Apartheid(p. 189)
• 6 Disaster Communism(p. 233)
• Conclusion: Urban Futures(p. 275)
• Acknowledgments(p. 307)
• Notes(p. 311)
• Index(p. 361)

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Publishers Weekly Review

Dawson (Extinction: A Radical History), a professor of English at CUNY, takes aim at the empty rhetoric of "green cities" in this forcefully argued and eye-opening polemic. The book's locales are marked by "stark economic inequality"-the growing gap between those who can afford to insulate themselves from the consequences of climate change and those who cannot. Using New York City as his primary case study, Dawson argues that cities are both on the front lines of climate change and contribute disproportionately to it. Much-touted "fixes" to urban congestion and fragility, such as waterfront development and privately developed affordable-housing projects, serve only to reinforce social and economic inequalities while causing waves of what he dubs "environmental blowback." Moreover, rising sea levels will likely also necessitate a retreat from coastal cities. For Dawson, countering the threat of climate change must involve dismantling the system of global capitalism that has pushed civilization to the brink of "climate chaos." The book's synthesis of reportage, urban history, and climate science can result in the oversimplification of certain issues, but Dawson doesn't shy away from tough conclusions and makes clear that real climate justice must build "on anti-imperialist, antiracist, and feminist movements." Dawson makes a convincing case that, unless urban dwellers and civic leaders engage in a fundamental reconceptualization of the city and whom it serves, the future of urban life is dim. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

Dawson's Extreme Cities offers a refreshingly different perspective on climate change, primarily because it considers climate change resilience in cities through a broader lens than previous efforts. People traditionally think about climate change mitigation via reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other adaptations. Dawson (English, City Univ. of New York) does not discount these points but argues that climatic vulnerabilities intersect with, and are amplified by, social injustice. The ultimate impacts of climate change on cities therefore depend on both physical adaptation (e.g., building a sea wall) and on addressing societal problems that have come to plague cities worldwide (e.g., income inequality and access to housing, education, health care, and community resources). Invoking terms such as "climate apartheid," he greatly expands what people traditionally think of as relevant climate policy language. Recognizing that climate change mitigation and adaptation are interwoven with--and exacerbated by--social inequities and other problems plaguing modern cities is sobering, but this realization provides hope that humanity can move toward greater resilience to environmental problems by addressing non-climatic factors that will improve cities in the presence or absence of climate change. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. --Justin T. Schoof, Southern Illinois University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Ashley Dawson is a professor of English at the City University of New York, and the author of Extinction: A Radical History .