Journal Article

From resilience to multi-species flourishing

Connolly, Creighton

2020

Overview

This article uses the concept of multi-species flourishing to evaluate the potential of emergent urban governance initiatives in Penang, Malaysia, for achieving more socially and environmentally just forms of urban development. In doing so, the article offers an empirical examination of increasing development pressures on the forested hillsides of Penang, and the significant environmental and socio-cultural implications associated with this activity. This includes the significant flash-flooding and landslides in 2016 and 2017 that have been attributed to unscrupulous hillside developments and deforestation on the island for condominium and highway development. In tracing local responses to these developments, the article draws attention to the various more-than-human relationships that have been mobilised in preventing further degradation of the environment. It also re-visits the concept of environmental imaginaries to illustrate the close relationship between environmental and social wellbeing. The article 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. The research for this article has been conducted through participatory research with local civil society groups, and aims to evaluate the role of both governmental and non-state actors in these efforts and the challenges faced in doing so. The article concludes that research on urban resilience and urban governance must move beyond human-centred modes of thought and practice that regard cities as operating outside of ecological systems. 本文使用多物种繁荣的概念来评估马来西亚槟城新兴城市治理举措的潜力，以实现更具社会和环境公正性的城市发展形式。在此过程中，本文对槟城森林山坡日益增加的开发压力以及与此活动相关的重大环境和社会文化影响进行了实证研究。这包括2016年和2017年的重大洪水泛滥和山体滑坡，这些都是由于岛上肆无忌惮的山坡开发和森林砍伐（目的是共管公寓和高速公路开发）造成的。在追踪当地对这些发展的反应时，本文提请注意为防止环境进一步恶化而动员起来的各种超越人类范围的关系。本文还重新审视了环境想象的概念，以说明环境与社会福祉之间的密切关系。本文认为，重要的是超越复原性概念，倡导实施技术和工程措施，以适应而不是抵制与城市密集发展相关的环境冲击。本文的研究是通过与当地民间社会团体的参与性研究进行的，旨在评估政府和非国家行为者在这些努力中的作用以及这样做所面临的挑战。本文的结论是，关于城市复原性和城市治理的研究必须超越以人为中心的思想和实践模式（这种模式将城市视为在生态系统之外运作）。

• Publisher: Sage Publications, Ltd,SAGE Publications,Sage Publications Ltd
• Subject: Action research / Biodiversity / Civil society / Clean technology / Cultural factors / Deforestation / Degradation / Environmental degradation / Environmental governance / Environmental impact / Environmental policy / Environmental protection / Evaluation / Flash floods / Flooding / Floods / Forest management / Governance / Landslides / Non-state actors / Participatory research / R&D / Research & development / Resilience / Social relations / Social well being / Sociocultural factors / Special issue article: Environmental governance for urban resilience in the Asia-Pacific / Technology / Urban areas / Urban development / Urban environments / Well being