The Power of Cities in International Relations by Simon Curtis

Author:Simon Curtis [Curtis, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General, International Relations, Social Science, Sociology, Urban
ISBN: 9780415728775
Google: L5llngEACAAJ
Goodreads: 18695637
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-01-15T12:43:10+00:00

Case Studies: Chicago, IL, and Seattle, WA

Chicago and Seattle are two major cities that have used urban greening to help weather the transition to the postindustrial economy, and have done so quite successfully. They have been particularly successful at using green urban entrepreneurialism and their commitment to urban sustainability more broadly as part of their postindustrial “branding” (Greenberg 2008; Pasotti 2009). Mayors of both cities have been very visible in their efforts to be leaders in urban sustainability, with Chicago’s Richard M. Daly (mayor from 1989 to 2011) frequently proclaiming his goal of making Chicago the greenest city in the country and Seattle’s Greg Nickels (mayor from 2002 to 2010) presided over the branding of the city as “metronatural,” proclaiming October 20, 2006 “Metronatural Day.”3 With a long list of environmental accomplishments, both cities rank high on the myriad lists of the country’s greenest cities (e.g., Alter 2008; Sanders 2010). In 2007, Chicago was called “the green star by which aspiring cities sail” (Schneider 2006). In 2011, Seattle was named greenest city in the United States by the city of Växjö, Sweden, on the basis of information from ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability (City of Seattle, 2011b). The success with which both cities have worked to transform themselves as cities of nature is closely connected to their successful engagement with the postindustrial knowledge economy. Seattle and Chicago both boast a strong presence of skilled, high-tech workers, business headquarters and executives, and a lifestyle that appeals to the highly coveted global creative class. Both cities have worked successfully to market their natural amenities as part of the desirable lifestyle opportunities provided by the city.

Despite their successes as leaders in urban environmental governance and renaturing of their urban cores, Seattle and Chicago also have areas that have been severely degraded by decades of heavy industry that have been less successfully transformed. In both cases, these areas include ecologically significant waterways, high concentrations of low-income residents, and ongoing, though greatly diminished, industrial activity. As such, leaders in both cities are trying to figure out how to transform these areas in a way that incorporates them into the city’s broader economic development goals while wrestling with different demands for social and environmental justice and environmental protection. In Seattle, the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition is working within the Superfund governance structure, but with its own agenda, to push for a participatory and inclusive renaturing of the Duwamish River Valley. In Chicago’s Calumet region, rehabilitation of wetlands is being accompanied by entrepreneurial efforts to create spaces of consumption in renatured industrial areas. Yet these efforts sit uneasily with initiatives to attract more heavy industry to the region, and the classic tension between jobs and the environment complicates questions of socioecological justice.

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