Scanned

od

Extreme Cities The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change Ashley Dawson

rbanization are not natural; they are the pr ingly unrestrained capitalism, involving neoliberal efforts to abolish public regulation and to throttle the public sector while empowering private sector forces of various kinds. In addition, the last major disruptive factor mentioned by Rodin, climate s a planetary disruption inextrica- 72 As Naomi Klein has pointed out, efforts to reduce carbon emissions have failed so dramatically precisely because of the hegemony of neoliberal doctrines that skewer all regulatory efforts.73 The discussion of "resilience," just like the concepts of sustainable development change, should itself be seen a bly intertwined with carbon-based capitalism. 174

tuonullc markets as complex adaptive systems. Paralleling Holling, Hayek argued that it was ultimately impos- sible for central planners to control or even to predict the gyra- tions of the market effectively.7s In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, "The Pretense of Knowledge" (1974), Hayek argued that public expectations concerning the ability of science to analyze and then mold society were vastly exaggerated, partially as a result of the magnitude of achievement in the natural sciences during the modern period.76 Deep knowledge of society, Hayek argued, tends to dampen rather than stimulate aspira- tions for improvement. Yet the public is so hungry for hope that it is willing to believe virtually any flimflam pronounced in the name of "expert knowledge." While this might sound like a 175 ance and emerge with wyeater levels h cmpheriny, Yose fen Hayek the role of the state is on to ep aside, as some ih W colleagnes argued at the time. It was to radically tranetenm uni ery to better allow for free markets to organize themselves. "H man is to do more harm than god in his effeorts to impreve social ordes," he wrote in The Pretense of Knowledge, "he will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, nr to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiswork, but rather to cultivate growth by providing the appropriate envi- ronment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his art an plants," Today, these arguments, once considered marginal, are central to neoliberal discussions of resilience, where the role of the state is to create optimal conditions for individuals and companies to ente rather than trying to achieve centralized control. But inwere disqualified, denied, or gave up on receiving assistance.,$8 The inclusion of ICF International in Rockefeller's 1oo Resilient Cities initiative is a reminder of how disaster-relief efforts organ- ized under the brand of resilience actually work. Despite all of the shiny rhetoric concerning competition and effective service provision, such privatized relief and recovery cfforts are chiefly effective at developing inventive new forms of corruption, at lining the pockets of corporate executives and shareholders at the expense of the public and suffering disaster victims.89 Of course, many well-meaning individuals and organizations are involved in efforts to build community resilience. It is a I7