Abstract
The dawn of a global urban age is the beginning not the end of a challenging journey. Industrial capitalism it seems is finally mired in insuperable contradictions, and transition to a new human dispensation is inevitable and desirable. A two-stage transition awaits: first, a time of uncertainty and painful adjustment as the retrenchment of carbon capitalism begins in earnest, followed, it is to be hoped, by a new political economic order that provides humanity and the biosphere with the means for a safe and sustainable coexistence. My interest in this chapter is with the first stage – of painful adjustment – which will surely necessitate repurposing of state rationale and scope. My controversial submission is that we may need a strong ‘Guardian’ State to guide the transition and forestall attempts to reinstate the ruinous conditions that have caused the present crisis. In the neoliberal present, this idea is perhaps unthinkable, but neoliberalism is collapsing and the time for radical action has surely arrived. The Guardian State would seek a new human dispensation and represents therefore a postcapitalist response to the dissolution of neoliberalism.
Keywords
An earlier version of this chapter appeared in Gleeson (2014).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Albergotti R (2013) ‘Facebook’s company town’, Wall Street J, 3 October, Accessed at: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303492504579111792834660448, on 10 Oct 2013
Amin A (2013a) Surviving the turbulent future. Environ Plan D: Society and Space 31(1):140–156
Amin A (2013b) The urban condition: a challenge to social science. Publ Cult 25(2):201–208
Arendt H (1998[1958]) The human condition. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Barry J (2012) The politics of actually existing unsustainability. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Beck U (1993) The reinvention of politics. Polity, Cambridge
Beck U (2009) World at risk. Polity, Cambridge
Berry M (2013) Neoliberalism and the city: or the failure of market fundamentalism. Housing Theory Soc 31(1):1–18
Brown L (2009) Plan B 4.0: mobilizing to save civilization. W. W. Norton & Company, New York
Brown K, Eriksen S (2011) Sustainable adaptation to climate change: prioritising social equity and environmental integrity. Routledge, London
Brugmann J (2009) Welcome to the urban revolution. University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia (also Bloomsbury Press USA)
Crutzen PJ, Stoermer EF (2000) The “Anthropocene”. Glob Chang News Lett 41:17–18
Davis M (2006) Planet of slums. Verso, London
Heinberg R (2009) Blackout: coal, climate and the last energy crisis. New Society, Gabriola Island
Davis M (2010) Who will build the ark? New Left Rev, 61 (January–February):29–46
Galbraith JK (2009) The predator state: how conservatives abandoned the free market and why liberals should too. Free Press, New York
Glaeser E (2011) The triumph of the city. Penguin, Harmondsworth
Gleeson BJ (2010) Lifeboat cities. UNSW Press, Sydney
Gleeson BJ (2014) The urban condition. Routledge, London
Gorz A (2010) Ecologica. Seagull Books, London
Hamlin K (2013) Soviet-style suburbia heralds environmental disaster. Aust Financ Rev 8(November):36
Harvey D (2010) The enigma of capital. Profile Books, London
Harvey D (2012) Rebel cities. Verso, London
Hollis L (2013) Cities are good for you: the genius of the metropolis. Bloomsbury Press, London
Hopkins R (2008) The transition handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience. Green Books, Cambridge
Jacobs J (2004) Dark age ahead. Random House, New York
Kahn ME (2010) Climatopolis. Basic Books, New York
Lomborg B (2012) Simple solutions to superstorm sandy. The Australian, 19 November, Accessed at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/simple-solutions-to-superstorm-sandy/story-e6frgd0x-1226519124440, on 23 Aug 2013
Loorbach D (2010) Transition management for sustainable development: a prescriptive, complexity-based governance framework. Govern Int J Policy Admin Inst 23(1):161–183
Lovelock J (2009) The vanishing face of Gaia: a final warning. Penguin, London
Mora C, Frazier A, Longman R, Dacks R, Walton M, Tong E, Sanchez J, Kaiser L, Stender Y, Anderson J, Ambrosino C, Fernandez-Silva I, Giuseffi L, Giambelluca T (2013) The projected timing of climate departure from recent variability. Nature 502:183–187
OECD (2010) Cities and climate change. OECD Publishing, Paris
Pusey M (2008) In the wake of economic reform …new prospects for nation-building? In: Butcher J (ed) Australia under construction. Nation-building – past, present and future. ANU E-Press, Canberra, pp 17–31
Spratt D (2013) Is climate change already dangerous? Climate Code Red, Melbourne, Accessed at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/168483927/Already-Dangerous-1, on 27 Sept 2013
Streeck W (2014) How will capitalism end? New Left Rev 87:35–64
Stretton H (2005) Australia fair. New South Press, Sydney
UN-Habitat (2012) State of the world’s cities 2012/2013. UN Human Settlements Programme, Nairobi
Urry J (2011) Climate change and society. Polity, Cambridge
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gleeson, B.J. (2018). A Dangerous Transition to Hope. In: Moore, T., de Haan, F., Horne, R., Gleeson, B. (eds) Urban Sustainability Transitions . Theory and Practice of Urban Sustainability Transitions. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4792-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4792-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4791-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4792-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)