城市政治生态学:对西方社会城市化进程的反思

Urban Political Ecology: Critical Reflection on the Process of Urbanization in Western Society

在资本主义驱动下的西方社会城市化进程既是人与人、人与自然矛盾激发的原因、场合和手段,也是研究人类社会可持续发展的关键课题。20世纪90年代末,一门当代政治生态学的分支学科——城市政治生态学在英美社会问世。作为一种批判理论,它以马克思主义理论为指导分析西方社会城市化过程中的各种矛盾冲突,以"社会自然"等为核心概念探讨社会与自然之间的相互转化和创造过程,反思和批评由这些过程所导致的不平等权力关系,把城市生态与环境问题研究置于一个新的理论框架中来思考和推进。这一理论不仅为认知社会与自然关系提供新视角,也为分析和解决自然资源分配和城市发展所带来的社会矛盾和冲突提供有益的思路和启示。

The urbanization process of western society driven by capitalism is not only the cause, occasion and means of the contradiction between human and human, or human and nature, but the key subject for the sustainable development of human society. At the end of 1990s, urban political ecology, a branch of contemporary political ecology, came out in Anglo-American society. As a critical theory, urban political ecology analyzes different kinds of contradictions and conflicts in the process of urbanization in western society under the guidance of Marxist theory. Taking "social nature" as the core concept, this paper probes into the mutual transformation and creative process between society and nature, and reflects on and criticizes the unequal power relationship formed by the process of transformation and creation. Based on the theory, the study of ecology and environmental problems should be considered and promoted with a new theoretical framework. This theory can provide not only a new perspective on the relationship between society and nature,but also ideas and inspiration for understanding, analyzing and solving the social contradictions and conflicts caused by the allocation of natural resources and urban development in the process of urbanization.