{"title":"Technomolecular flows in coastal cities: an anthropological approach to new materialist ethics of the anthropogenic microscale","authors":"Raúl Acosta","doi":"10.1007/s40152-024-00377-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Urban life is crisscrossed and affected by events and matter in various scales, of which the microscopic has been only partly addressed in scholarship and policymaking. In this article, I propose that it is urgent to incorporate new materialist ethics for a better urban governance of technomolecular flows, that is the multiple ways anthropogenically induced microscopic elements are affecting cities. Chemicals, minerals, fungi, viruses, bacteria, and other forms of life and matter affect human and environmental health as well as the shape and materials of the built environment. Coastal cities are particularly prone to such flows of chemical-, mineral- and bio-materials because of their location between sea and land. Existing legal and institutional frameworks tend to lag behind the uses of microscopic elements by industry and urban dwellers. A new materialist ethics would help rethink institutional architectures and responses to existing entanglements and the emerging risks they pose.</p>","PeriodicalId":45628,"journal":{"name":"Maritime Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Maritime Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-024-00377-x","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Urban life is crisscrossed and affected by events and matter in various scales, of which the microscopic has been only partly addressed in scholarship and policymaking. In this article, I propose that it is urgent to incorporate new materialist ethics for a better urban governance of technomolecular flows, that is the multiple ways anthropogenically induced microscopic elements are affecting cities. Chemicals, minerals, fungi, viruses, bacteria, and other forms of life and matter affect human and environmental health as well as the shape and materials of the built environment. Coastal cities are particularly prone to such flows of chemical-, mineral- and bio-materials because of their location between sea and land. Existing legal and institutional frameworks tend to lag behind the uses of microscopic elements by industry and urban dwellers. A new materialist ethics would help rethink institutional architectures and responses to existing entanglements and the emerging risks they pose.
期刊介绍:
Maritime Studies is an international peer-reviewed journal on the social dimensions of coastal and marine issues throughout the world. The journal is a venue for theoretical and empirical research relevant to a wide range of academic social science disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, geography, history and political science. Space is especially given to develop academic concepts and debate. We invite original research papers, reviews and viewpoints and welcome proposals for special issues that make a distinctive contribution to contemporary discussion around maritime and coastal use, development and governance. The journal provides a rigorous but constructive review process and rapid publication, and is accessible to new researchers, including postgraduate students and early career academics.