Risky Cities The Physical and Fiscal Nature of Disaster Capitalism

ALBERT S. FU

“I see Risky Cities becoming the landmark work on how ‘everyday’ urban risks are produced and then commodi ed—and what we might do to arrest this process.”

—Tim Haney, Board of Governors Research Chair in Resilience & Sustainability, Mount Royal University, Calgary

“

Risky Cities is a critical examination of global urban development, capitalism, and its relationship with environmental hazards. It is about how cities live and pro t from the threat of sinkholes, garbage, and re. Risky Cities is not simply about post-catastrophe pro teering. This book focuses on the way in which disaster capitalism has gured out ways to commodify environmental bads and manage risks. Notably, capitalist city-building results in the physical transformation of nature.”

—ASA Environmental Sociology Section Newsletter

Over half the world’s population lives in urban regions, and increasingly disasters are of great concern to city dwellers, policymakers, and builders. However, disaster risk is also of great interest to corporations, nanciers, and investors. Risky Cities is a critical examination of global urban development, capitalism, and its relationship with environmental hazards. It is about how cities live and pro t from the threat of sinkholes, garbage, and re. Risky Cities is not simply about post-catastrophe pro teering. This book focuses on the way in which disaster capitalism has gured out ways to commodify environmental bads and manage risks. Notably, capitalist city-building results in the physical transformation of nature. This necessitates risk management strategies—such as insurance, environmental assessments, and technocratic mitigation plans. As such capitalists redistribute risk relying on short-term xes to disaster risk rather than addressing long-term vulnerabilities.

ALBERT S. FU is professor of sociology at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He has previously published articles in Cities, City & Community, Critical Sociology, International Journal of Urban & Regional Research, and Urban Studies

Nature, Society, and Culture

190 pp 7 b/w images 6 x 9 978-1-9788-2030-2 paper $29.95S

978-1-9788-2031-9 cloth $120.00SU

March 2022

Environment • Urban Studies • Economics

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1: Living with Disaster & Capitalism

Chapter 2: Sinkholes and the Risky Foundations of Cities

Chapter 3: The Logistical Nightmare of Trash & Urban Nature

Chapter 4: Fire, the Wildland-Urban Interface, and Feedback Loops

Chapter 5: Assessing and Managing Risk

Conclusion: Regenerative Urbanism

References

Index

232 pp 11 b/w images, 1 table 6 x 9

978-1-9788-2612-0 paper $29.95S

978-1-9788-2613-7 cloth $120.00SU

July 2022

Environmental Studies • Public Policy Latin American Studies