Concrete Mirage - (Environment and Society) by Erin Heinz (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book explores how sustainable development is socially constructed and implemented in desert cities.

Book Synopsis

Daily headlines of wildfires, drought, and record-breaking heat waves have brought climate change into our cities. The urgent challenge is to build cities that can adapt and thrive in the tumult of climate change. This is especially critical for growing cities in the Southwestern United States where rising temperatures and water scarcity threaten sustainability. Concrete Mirage is a timely discussion for those who have ever wondered, "what does it mean to be a sustainable desert city?" Erin Heinz critically examines sustainability as a goal, certification, and a consoling narrative shaping the future of desert cities. Drawing on interviews with sustainability experts from Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, Concrete Mirage reveals how economic primacy touted by third party governance and city decision-making falls short in fostering long-term viability. By confronting the mirage of sustainable development, it delivers a stark message: desert cities must adopt strategies of collective austerity if they hope to survive.

Review Quotes

"In Concrete Mirage: Governance, Equity, and Sustainable Cities in the United States Southwest, sociologist Erin Heinz offers a compelling investigation into the promises and challenges of implementing the principles of sustainable development in the creation of sustainable cities in the American Southwest. But much like the shimmering distortions the intensive desert heat reflects upon our asphalt highways, the certification of these sustainable cities may be more illusion than concrete fact. Importantly, Heinz unpacks the challenges cities and third-party certification agents face in achieving the critical aspects of social sustainability in addition to the better-understand environmental and economic aspects." --Brian Mayer, Professor, School of Sociology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Arizona, USA

"Heinz brings a much-needed critical eye to LEED and similar sustainability-branding exercises. Concrete Mirage provides a necessary corrective to the commodified sustainability practices that dominate North American urbanism." --David A. Banks, Author of The City Authentic and Lecturer, Department of Geography, Planning, and Sustainability at University at Albany, SUNY, USA

"Cities are front-line actors in addressing climate change and its consequences. As such, Concrete Mirage is a timely work that examines the often-paradoxical ways sustainability experts navigate the American Southwest's political, economic, and environmental realities. Importantly, Heinz critically examines the use of sustainability metrics, financial risk assessment, and the quantification of equity that impact this sort of work. To that end, Concrete Mirage is also a powerful call for us to imagine real alternatives that can bring us to a more sustainable and just future." --Albert S. Fu, Professor of Sociology, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, USA

About the Author

Erin Heinz is a sociologist and research associate at Boston University's Institute for Global Sustainability.