5 The Forests in the City: Building Participatory Approaches to Urban-Environmental Governance
-
Creighton Connolly
Abstract
This chapter moves out to the hills of the city, to document the growing development pressures on Penang’s hills, which have been increasingly threatened by new development projects associated with the PTMP, including the PIL1 highway. It also discusses how the state government’s approach to the compounding effects of hillside development has been premised upon mitigation strategies to enable further development. It thereby points out the contradictions in Penang’s vision of becoming a ‘green and smart state’, by illustrating how this has acted as a facade to veil the continued degradation of the broader urban ecosystem through development. The chapter argues that it is important to move beyond concepts of resilience, which advocate the implementation of technology and engineering measures to adapt to, rather than resist, the environmental shocks associated with intensive urban development.
Abstract
This chapter moves out to the hills of the city, to document the growing development pressures on Penang’s hills, which have been increasingly threatened by new development projects associated with the PTMP, including the PIL1 highway. It also discusses how the state government’s approach to the compounding effects of hillside development has been premised upon mitigation strategies to enable further development. It thereby points out the contradictions in Penang’s vision of becoming a ‘green and smart state’, by illustrating how this has acted as a facade to veil the continued degradation of the broader urban ecosystem through development. The chapter argues that it is important to move beyond concepts of resilience, which advocate the implementation of technology and engineering measures to adapt to, rather than resist, the environmental shocks associated with intensive urban development.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of Figures vi
- List of Abbreviations vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface xi
- Introduction: Governing Urban Transformations in Penang 1
- Towards a Landscape Political Ecology 20
- Megapolitan Explosions: Reworking Urban and Regional Metabolisms 38
- Competing Visions of Landscape Transformation in a Worlding City 57
- The Forests in the City: Building Participatory Approaches to Urban-Environmental Governance 77
- Integrating Cultural and Natural Heritage on Penang Hill 96
- Artificial Islands and the Production of New Urban Spaces 114
- Conclusion: An Island on an Urbanizing Frontier 135
- Notes 145
- References 148
- Index 185
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of Figures vi
- List of Abbreviations vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface xi
- Introduction: Governing Urban Transformations in Penang 1
- Towards a Landscape Political Ecology 20
- Megapolitan Explosions: Reworking Urban and Regional Metabolisms 38
- Competing Visions of Landscape Transformation in a Worlding City 57
- The Forests in the City: Building Participatory Approaches to Urban-Environmental Governance 77
- Integrating Cultural and Natural Heritage on Penang Hill 96
- Artificial Islands and the Production of New Urban Spaces 114
- Conclusion: An Island on an Urbanizing Frontier 135
- Notes 145
- References 148
- Index 185
