How are scholars going to write about cities in the era of global warming? The conceptual tools of urban environmentalism–such as ecological footprint, urban metabolism, or closed-loop economies–have had some influence on the “sustainable cities” movement, but the new demands for climate justice require us to show that what happens in any one city in the global North has direct consequences for populations in the global South. This lecture describes Andrew Ross’s ethnographic efforts in Phoenix, Arizona (one of the world’s most unsustainable cities) to respond to that demand. It focuses on some of the methodological challenges that have arisen in his research and suggests ways of meeting them.

Andrew Ross is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. Author of numerous books including Nice Work if You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times (NYU Press, 2009), Professor Ross' wide-ranging research interests include labour and work, urban and suburban studies, and intellectual history.

Please book now by emailing Stacey Vigars at stacey.vigars@manchester.ac.uk