Metropolitics

Post-Covid Mobilities: A Greener World for Tomorrow?

2026-01-13T06:00:00Z

Against the backdrop of the growing climate emergency, Covid-19 radically altered the way mobility is organized. But have the adaptations observed during the pandemic proved to be sustainable? In this series of articles, Metropolitics and the Mobile Lives Forum have joined forces to investigate our changing mobility habits.
---- ▼ Jump to the list of articles in this series ▼ Over the past 20 years, public policies have set ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions related to mobility,

- Series / Covid-19, public policy, mobility, practices, ecological transition, climate change, lifestyles

Can Universities Learn to Leave Behind Air Travel?

Tamara Ben Ari & Parke Wilde — 2024-10-22T05:00:00Z

At a time when global research is showing that aviation is a carbon-intensive form of transport whose growth absolutely must be stopped, shouldn't universities be the first to set an example? But can researchers, especially the youngest ones, do without these trips for their careers? How can researchers continue to work together, and what criteria should govern their behaviour?
Interview conducted by Thomas Évariste (for the Mobile Lives Forum), and Jean-Baptiste Frétigny, Maxime Huré and

- Interviews / aviation, mobility, university, Covid-19, climate change, research

Aéroports de Paris: A Strategic Lever for the French State?

Nathalie Roseau & translated by Oliver Waine — 2021-01-26T06:00:00Z

Following growing controversy surrounding the French government's plans to privatize the Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group, Nathalie Roseau looks back at the history of this organization and questions the wisdom of such a reform.
On April 11, 2019, France's lower house of parliament, the Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly) approved a law known as PACTE (Plan d'Action pour la Croissance et la Transformation des Entreprises – Action Plan for Growth and Transformation of Enterprises), paving

- Debates / climate change, Greater Paris, airport, sustainable development, Île-de-France, ADP, France, globalization, Paris region, Paris, transport, transport policy, environment, environmental protection, economic development, territorial development, privatization

Sentinel Territories: A New Concept for Looking at Environmental Change

2020-05-08T05:00:00Z

In this essay, the authors develop the concept of “sentinel territories,” or environments where humans can perceive early warning signs of environmental change. Sentinel territories can illuminate common features of spaces where environmental issues emerge and be used as a tool to advance environmental policies.
This paper attempts to broaden the notion of “sentinel devices,” borrowed from science and technology studies (STS) scholars, to develop the concept of “sentinel territories.”

- Essays / sentinel, sentinel territories, environment, climate change, environmental change, territory, risk, preparedness, mitigation

A Construction Boom in an Urban Floodplain: Long Island City, Queens, NYC

Christopher Ryan — 2020-02-11T06:00:00Z

New York City has encouraged development in Long Island City, Queens, even as the neighborhood has not recovered from damage due to Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and remains vulnerable to future flooding.
A high risk for flooding
With four of its five boroughs located on islands off the coast of the continental United States, New York City is particularly vulnerable to coastal impacts of climate change. The New York City Panel on Climate Change (2019) outlines multiple climate-change risks,

- From the Field / New York, Queens, resilience, vulnerability, flooding, natural risks, disaster, ecological disaster, catastrophe, environment, sea-level rise, climate change, transport, public transportation, Long Island City

How to Defend the Planet in Law

Valérie Cabanes & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-04-19T09:26:51Z

In the face of a growing raft of evidence that increasingly points to an imminent global catastrophe—the very self-destruction of humanity, even—one means of taking concrete action, as opposed to fatalism and denial, is to promote new legal frameworks that can structure debate and action on this issue. Valérie Cabanes shows that defining the concept of ecocide is the first key step along this road.
The destruction of the Earth's ecosystem by industrial technologies that show no respect for

- From the Field / international law, environment, global warming, climate change, anthropocène, law, NGOs, ecocide, environmental protection, ecology, nature, mobilization

Global Climate Crisis and the City: An Interview with Ashley Dawson

Ashley Dawson & Maura McGee — 2019-04-03T09:58:34Z

An interview with Ashley Dawson, professor of English at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, CUNY, about his most recent book Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change. He talks with Maura McGee about the global convergence of urbanization and climate change, strategies to confront climate chaos, and how communities and social movements can act.
Cities are the defining social and ecological form of the 21st century. They are home to the

- Interviews / global warming, environment, anthropocène, climate change, sustainable development, Global South, Global North, sea-level rise, crisis, environmental justice, just transition

Bare Mountaintops and Thirsty Cities: On California and its Snowpack

Sayd Randle — 2019-01-29T09:57:02Z

Figuring how to represent the oncoming effects of climate change is a common challenge faced by whistleblowers and policymakers attempting to alert populations. Sayd Randle shows how the state of California is trying to mobilize the monitoring of snow in the Sierra Nevada as a harbinger of a durable state of drought in the coastal cities.
“You're at the Phillips snow course for the April 1, 2015, measurement,” Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Survey program, told the

- From the Field / environment, United States, water, public policy, climate change, California, drought, snow, snowpack

Local Leadership and Global Goals: How City Sustainability Networks are Changing Progressive Policymaking

Emma French & Supraja Sudharsan & Jennifer Clark — 2018-09-18T09:47:41Z

While national governments often struggle to address global climate change, cities are in a better position to innovate, especially through peer networks that publicly value sustainability. However, challenges remain, notably in translating intention into action and building internal capacity. Here, we show how mayors have influenced policymaking in four southeastern US cities.
---- Series: Progressive Mayors and Urban Social Movements The global nature of environmental crises has

- Essays / urban policy, New Orleans, environment, United States, energy, networks, resilience, progressive urban politics, climate change, climate action plans, Atlanta, urban sustainability, capacity building, policymaking, Houston, Orlando, mayors, progressive mayors

Planning for the Unimaginable: Puerto Rico and Strategies for Climate-Change Adaptation

Cecelia Walsh-Russo — 2018-05-01T05:00:00Z

The damage from the two hurricanes that struck Puerto Rico was multiplied by US austerity plans that deprived the island of resources to implement its carefully crafted climate plans. Public debt and calls for privatization are further hampering Puerto Rico's recovery. Repairing damaged housing, utilities, and creating greater resilience requires major investment and community-based adaptation initiatives.
---- Series: Climate Change and Social Change During late September 2017, the island of

- From the Field / catastrophe, disaster, environment, inequalities, United States, hurricane, climate change, climate action plans, austerity, environmental justice, climate justice, storm recovery, social change, Puerto Rico, weather