Urban geography II: Materially important cities

Abstract

This report reviews recent literature that provides a new understanding of the material formation of urban space in the context of carbon/post-carbon urbanism. First, it discusses the concept of extractivist urbanization, which links the excavation of terrestrial materials to a wider agenda of data mining. Second, it considers the relationship of cities to material flows, including debates around how ports and corridors might relate to the urbanization of both ‘circular’ and waste intensive commodity chains and consumption spaces. Third, it traces the relationship between climate change, the redesign of cities and the topographic profile of the Anthropocenic city.