Castán Broto, V;
(2015)
Contradiction, intervention and urban low carbon transitions.
Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
, 33
(3)
pp. 460-476.
10.1068/d13050p.
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Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of contradictions in urban low carbon transitions as engines of change. Following Kojéve’s reading of contradiction in Hegel's oeuvre, I argue that contradiction is a constitutive feature of low carbon interventions. This is an alternative to conventional readings of contradiction as a provisional encounter of opposites in which one will eventually cancel the other. I unpack the concept of contradiction in three ways: first, by displaying a Hegelian-inspired understanding of contradiction in relationship with change, time and desire; second, by explaining how inherent contradictions can be read in relation to the excesses that characterise the deployment of methods of calculation in low carbon interventions; and third, by situating these contradictions within the overall dynamics of carbon governance and purposive attempts to bring about a low carbon transition. The paper explores the practical implications of this analysis in a case of low carbon interventions in social housing in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The case study shows that contradictions are at the heart of low carbon interventions. In this context, contradiction analysis may provide a direction towards broader reconfigurations of social and technological practices and generate a desire to change.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Contradiction, intervention and urban low carbon transitions |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1068/d13050p |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/d13050p |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | Low carbon transitions, Carbon governance, Carbon calculus, Contradiction, Excess, Hegel, Kojeve, Bataille |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > UCL Institute for Global Prosperity |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1462649 |
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