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Cited by 19Urban Planning and GovernanceHousing, Finance, and NeoliberalismUrbanization and City Planning

‘All that is Solid … ’: Climate change and the lifetime of cities

Open access
Knuth, Sarah·2020·City
DOI 10.1080/13604813.2020.1739903
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Abstract

As critical urbanists confront climate change, and prospective climate responses, we must ask crucial questions about the ‘lifetime’ of today’s urban fabrics and metropolitan forms. How durable or ephemeral will existing urban geographies prove in the face of societal devaluations and destruction associated with climate change? Will breaks in and with existing urban forms be suffered through climate change impacts, or waged proactively in the name of deep decarbonization? Dystopian climate imaginaries present such material ruptures, mass stranding of real estate assets, and ‘premature death’ as an existential urban crisis. I maintain here that they are, rather, business as usual for urban capitalism, and its own longer-unfolding crisis. Property developers and appraisers have frequently truncated the lifetime of urban built environments, in how they have represented buildings and their long-term value—and non-value—and in how these representations have become material fact. I consider some bodies of critical urban scholarship necessary to exploring such processes and their climate significance, an important task for City going forward. I argue that in contexts like the United States, this charge demands creative engagements between cultural studies and political economy. I consider several relevant discussions now emerging in urban political economy. First, I explore Tapp and Kay’s (2019. “Fiscal geographies: ‘Placing’ taxation in urban geography.” Urban Geography 40 (4): 573–581.) call for new ‘fiscal geographies’ as a provocation for urban climate futures. Specifically, I discuss how property taxation and valuation practices have become central to the ‘disposability’ and premature degradation of US urban built environments, and the climate significance of this wasting. Second, I consider emerging critical geographies of insurance as a window into urban coastal futures under climate change. Following recent interventions such as Johnson (2015. “Catastrophic fixes: Cyclical devaluation and accumulation through climate change impacts.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 47 (12): 2503–2521) and Taylor (2020. “The real estate risk fix: Residential insurance-linked securitization in the Florida metropolis.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. OnlineFirst), urbanists must question how promised financial solutions for climate change’s threat to these spaces risk compounding mass devaluations and erasures to come.

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  • Wealthier, Whiter communities are more likely to receive support for seawalls, funding to elevate homes, or drainage infrastructure.

    “At the same time, wealthier, Whiter communities are more likely to receive support for seawalls, funding to elevate homes, or drainage infrastructure.203,204”

    From NPCC4: Advancing climate justice in climate adaptation strategies for New York City (2024) · cites this paper as [204]

  • The cost-burden pathway describes scenarios in which only high-income households can afford to remain in high-risk but desirable coastal areas, while rising costs force moderate- and low-income households to leave.

    “The cost-burden pathway describes scenarios in which only high-income households can afford to remain in high-risk but desirable (usually coastal) areas.As the cost of insurance, repairs, taxes, and so on rise, moderate and low-income households are forced to leave these areas.256”

    From NPCC4: Advancing climate justice in climate adaptation strategies for New York City (2024) · cites this paper as [256]

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Authors
Knuth, S.
Affiliations
Durham University (GB)
Corresponding author
Knuth, Sarah
ORCID
Knuth, Sarah
Venue
City
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2020-03-03
Volume
24
Issue
1-2
Pages
65-75
ISSN
  • 1360-4813 (ISSN-L)
  • 1470-3629
DOI
10.1080/13604813.2020.1739903
OpenAlex
W3015587156
Cited by
19
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2
FWCI
8.17
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • City (publishedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Finance › Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism
  • Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urbanization and City Planning
Keywords
climate change, urban built environment, property tax, property valuation, coastal cities, urban political economy, critical urban studies, urban capitalism, climate imaginaries, real estate developers

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