Metropolitics

From non-planning to cutting-edge policy: the transformation of waste management in Boston since the 1980s

Lily Baum Pollans — 2019-06-11T05:00:00Z

Recycling and composting are hot topics. Lily Baum Pollans argues that Boston's changing approach to waste management represents a more radical shift than some might think.
In 2018, the city of Boston banned plastic bags and launched a zero-waste initiative. In doing so, Boston joined a growing list of cities using solid-waste management to advance sustainability and climate goals by closing material loops and reducing consumption. Despite recent setbacks in the global recycling market, these

- Essays / United States, Boston, environment, waste, waste management, recycling, sanitation, hygienism

Recyclable City or Disposable City? A Century of Urban Waste in Naples

Sabine Bognon & translated by Oliver Waine — 2018-11-09T06:00:00Z

Inspired by the study of living ecosystems, research into the notion of urban metabolism seeks to break with the linear process—extract, produce, throw away—of resource consumption. This means reducing the amount of materials used, energy expended and waste produced, in order to conserve natural resources. Roberto D'Arienzo uses this concept to examine the case of Naples in Italy.
In Métabolismes urbains, Roberto D'Arienzo publishes the results of his PhD thesis (defended in 2015), retracing

- Reviews / urban planning, Italy, waste, sustainable urban planning, hygienism, urban technical networks, wasteland, Naples, recycling, urban metabolism

The Wrecker's Pick. The Rationales and Hidden Agendas of Urban Renewal in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Alain Faure & translated by Christina Mitrakos — 2016-06-07T05:00:00Z

Alain Faure, a scholar of the social history of cities, puts urban renewal into perspective. He questions the concerns with security, the obsession with hygiene, the legal rationales, and the speculative plans of this era. His analysis sheds light on the history of the planning and construction of settlements for “rich and financially solvent clients—the only ones, in fact, who ever mattered for real-estate capitalism.” He reminds us that urban renewal is a history of power relations between

- Essays / France, gentrification, housing, urban renewal, safety, Paris, land, Haussmann, hygienism, settlement, population, public works

Cities transformed by hygienism: 100 years of local innovation

Sabine Barles & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-03-27T05:55:00Z

Hygiene is a “battle”, and the “hygienist revolution” of the 19th and early 20th centuries transformed our urban societies. This battle, which has been charted by the historian Stéphane Frioux, spread from city to city, based on “applied science” that was taken up by a variety of public and private stakeholders, reflecting the inventiveness and competence of the local authorities of the time.
Hygiene and hygienism have long attracted the attention of historians – historians of urban issues,

- Reviews / France, innovation, environment, water, sanitation, waste, utilities, urban public service, hygienism, salubrity, urban technical networks, urban services, health