Table of Contents

1. Introduction; Part I. Understanding Urban Energy Landscapes: 2. Energy transitions and urban infrastructure; 3. Urban energy landscapes as connective tissue; 4. Change and agency in landscapes of dwelling; Part II. Heterogeneous Urban Energy Landscapes: 5. Modernity promises and the quest for autonomy: urban energy landscapes in Maputo, Mozambique; 6. Continuous heterogeneity and private strategies for energy provision: urban energy landscapes in Bangalore, India; 7. When equal access to energy causes injustice: urban energy landscapes in Hong Kong, PR China; 8. Industrial legacy and governance through activism: urban energy landscapes in Concepción, Chile; Part III. Change and Transformation in Urban Energy Landscapes: 9. Exploring connective tissues through walking different urban energy landscapes; 10. Imagining urban energy futures; References; Index.

Promotional Information

Research volume on urban energy transition that will have wide interdisciplinary appeal to researchers in energy, urban and environmental studies.

About the Author

Vanesa Castán Broto is an interdisciplinary researcher studying climate change governance and urban transitions. In 2016, she was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize for contributions to geography. In 2013, her project on Participatory Planning for Climate Change in Mozambique was recognized as a 'Lighthouse Activity for the Urban Poor' by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Castán Broto's recent books include An Urban Politics of Climate Change (with G. Edwards and H. Bulkeley, 2014) and Urban Sustainability Transitions (with N. Frantzeskaki, L. Coenen and D. Loorbach, 2017). Vanesa was a lead chapter author for UN-Habitat's World Cities Report 2016.

Reviews

'In this remarkable book of conceptual rigor, empirical breadth and methodological creativity, Castán Broto brings to life the situated practices and contextualized histories which - she convincingly argues - are so critical to understanding how urban energy transitions really happen.' Timothy Moss, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

'Urban Energy Landscapes provides a compelling framework and set of cases through which to encounter the global heterogeneity of infrastructures. Ranging from household interviews to contextualization of governance within long histories of colonization, Castán Broto expresses energy infrastructures as lively 'connective tissues', as symbols of modernity, and as emblematic of the aspirations of cityhood itself. The cases evidence multiple entry points through which to imagine energy transitions as well as the difficulty of theorizing across global urban experiences, defying any possibility for a unified theory or global political plan of action. Castán Broto's apprehensiveness at the scale of change required is alternated with auspicious gestures at sites where, sometimes, change is already deeply underway. Whether one reads this text cynically as a glimpse at the limitations of global action or hopefully as a glance at emergent alternatives, Urban Energy Landscapes provides a crucial intervention for its attention to the plurality of global urban infrastructures.' Mary Lawhon, University of Oklahoma

“From charcoal fires in Maputo to Hong Kong's riot of neon light, Urban Energy Landscapes provides a conceptually sophisticated and empirically grounded street level view of the possibilities for radical transformation in urban energy landscapes. Through the lens of urban infrastructure and the looming realities of climate change, Castán Broto sheds new light on our understanding of what cities are and how they work in the daily lives of urban citizens.' Caroline Knowles, Goldsmiths, University of London