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Green Urban Political Ecologies: Toward a Better Understanding of Inner-City Environmental Change

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  • Nik Heynen

    (Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Bolton Hall 410, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413, USA)

Abstract

This research uses a Marxist urban political ecology framework to link processes of urban environmental metabolization explicitly to the consumption fund of the built environment. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I argue in this paper that Marxist notions of metabolism are ideal for investigating urban environmental change and the production of uneven urban environments. In so doing, I argue that despite the embeddedness of Harvey's circuits of capital within urban political economy, these connected notions still have a great deal to offer regarding better understanding relations between consumption and metabolization of urban environments. From this theoretical perspective, I investigate urban socionatural metabolization as a function of the broader socioeconomic processes related to urban restructuring within the USA between 1962 and 1993 in the Indianapolis inner-city urban forest. The research examines the relations between changes in household income and changes in urban forest canopy cover. The results of the research indicate that there was a significant decline over time in the Indianapolis urban forest canopy and that median household was related to these changes, thus demonstrating a concrete example of urban environmental metabolization.

Suggested Citation

  • Nik Heynen, 2006. "Green Urban Political Ecologies: Toward a Better Understanding of Inner-City Environmental Change," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(3), pages 499-516, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:38:y:2006:i:3:p:499-516
    DOI: 10.1068/a37365
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    13. Bethany B. Cutts & Michael Minn, 2018. "Dead Grass: Foreclosure and the Production of Space in Maricopa County, Arizona," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(3), pages 16-25.
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