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Black and white photo of Thomas Hickmann. Photo.

Thomas Hickmann

Associate Professor | Associate Senior Lecturer

Black and white photo of Thomas Hickmann. Photo.

Compound Urban Crises

Author

  • Linda Westman
  • James Patterson
  • Rachel Macrorie
  • Christopher J. Orr
  • Catherine M. Ashcraft
  • Vanesa Castán Broto
  • Dana Dolan
  • Mukesh Gupta
  • Jeroen van der Heijden
  • Thomas Hickmann
  • Robert Hobbins
  • Marielle Papin
  • Enora Robin
  • Christina Rosan
  • Jonas Torrens
  • Robert Webb

Summary, in English

The crises that cities face—such as climate change, pandemics, economic downturn, and racism—are tightly interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. This paper addresses compound urban crises as a unique type of problem, in which discrete solutions that tackle each crisis independently are insufficient. Few scholarly debates address compound urban crises and there is, to date, a lack of interdisciplinary insights to inform urban governance responses. Combining ideas from complex adaptive systems and critical urban studies, we develop a set of boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, and unbounding) to understand the complexities of compound urban crises from an interdisciplinary perspective. We employ these concepts to set a research agenda on compound urban crises, highlighting multiple interconnections between urban politics and global dynamics. We conclude by suggesting how these entry points provide a theoretical anchor to develop practical insights to inform and reform urban governance.

Department/s

  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2022

Language

English

Pages

1402-1415

Publication/Series

Ambio

Volume

51

Issue

6

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Human Geography

Keywords

  • Cities
  • Complex adaptive systems
  • Compound urban crises
  • Critical urban studies
  • Governance

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0044-7447