Urban Ecologies

Schliephake’s Urban Ecologies proposes thereby an inspiring and new field of ‘urban material ecocriticism’ based on the interdisciplinary merging of urban studies and ecocriticism. . . .This is a book with relevance for anyone interested in cities, the environment, the environmental humanities, and/or ecocriticism, but also for agents both human and non-human alike. * Anglia: Journal of English Philology *
Christopher Schliephake's excellent book urban Ecologies: City Space, Mateial Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Cutture stands as a compelling example of the value of the environmental humanities beyond the bounds of the humanities as such. Specifically, this carefully researched, thought-provoking study demonstrates the potential importance of ecocriticism for the fields of urban ecology, urban policy and planning, landscape architecture, and more. * Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism *
In thinking together urban environments, their cultural representations, and a great number of current theoretical notions, from ecocriticism to the new materialism, Schliephake's book develops an approach of 'cultural urban ecology’ which broadens the perspective of the fields of cultural ecology and cultural urban studies alike, and makes this book a must-read for everyone interested in ecocritical approaches to the city and the environmental humanities in general. -- Roman Bartosch, University of Cologne
This highly innovative study explores new terrain in the fields of Ecocriticism and the Environmental Humanities by combining the approaches of Material Ecocriticism, Cultural Ecology, and Urban Ecology into a complex framework of interdisciplinary inquiry. The book renders important new insights into the emerging field of a cultural urban ecology as reflected in a broad spectrum of textual and cultural media between realist and imaginative modes. -- Hubert Zapf, University of Augsburg
This timely study combines insights from ecology, geography, and cultural studies to develop an environmental perspective on the city. Instead of pining for elusive country idylls, it asks how we can understand and improve the places in which most of us actually live. Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Culture is required reading for environmentalists across the disciplines, and it will be of great interest to anyone thinking about cities today—including fans of Treme and The Wire. -- Timo Müller, University of Augsburg
Urban Ecologies is ecocritical cultural studies at its finest with a welcome focus on urban ecology. Schliephake masterfully develops his argument through studies of nonfiction reportage, The Wire and Treme television series, documentary films, and cinema, with an especially clear exposition of how so-called ‘natural’ events are rarely natural, but rather technological disasters. -- Patrick D. Murphy, author of Transversal Ecocritical Praxis