THE ZOONOTIC CITY: Urban Political Ecology and the Pandemic Imaginary
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Authors
Publication Date
2021-12-07Journal Title
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
ISSN
0309-1317
Publisher
Wiley
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
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Gandy, M. (2021). THE ZOONOTIC CITY: Urban Political Ecology and the Pandemic Imaginary. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13080
Abstract
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic this article takes a longer view of the evolving relationship between urbanization and the range of zoonotic diseases that have spread from animals to humans. I suggest that the existing interpretation of epidemiological transitions remains overly Eurocentric and requires a more nuanced conception of global environmental history. Similarly, the conceptualization of urban space within these teleological schemas has relied on a narrow range of examples and has failed to fully engage with networked dimensions to urbanization. At an analytical level I consider the potential for extending the conceptual framework offered by urban political ecology to take greater account of the epidemiological dimensions to contemporary urbanization and its associated pandemic imaginary. I examine how contemporary health threats intersect with complex patterns of environmental change, including the destruction of biodiversity (and trade in live animals), the co-evolutionary dynamics of viruses and other pathogens, and wider dimensions to the global technosphere, including food production, infrastructure networks, and the shifting topographies of peri- or ex-urban contact zones.
Sponsorship
European Research Council (340077)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13080
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/331320
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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