City of Flows : Modernity, Nature, and the City

Table of contents :
Cover
CITY OF FLOWS: MODERNITY, NATURE, AND THE CITY
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Part I
CHAPTER 1 Preface: Visions of Modernization
CHAPTER 2 The Urbanization of Nature
CHAPTER 3 The Phantasmagoria of the Modernist Dream
CHAPTER 4 Nature as the Urban Uncanny
Part II
CHAPTER 5 Awesome Nature: Modernizing as an Archaeological Project
CHAPTER 6 Tamed Nature: Late 19th and Early 20th Century
CHAPTER 7 Late 20th Century: Tamed Nature as a Source of Crisis
Epilogue
Endnotes
Index

Citation preview

CITVOF FLOWS

Published in 2005 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 711 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017 Published in Great Britain by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Contents

Acknowledgments

Vll

Part I Chapter 1 Preface: Visions of Modernization

3

Chapter 2 The Urbanization of Nature

11

Chapter 3 The Phantasmagoria of the Modernist Dream

27

Chapter 4

Nature as the Urban Uncanny

51

Awesome Nature: Modernizing as an Archaeological Project (Early 19th Century)

79

Part II ChapterS

Chapter 6 Tamed Nature (Late 19th and Early 20th Century)

107

Chapter 7 Tamed Nature as a Source of Crisis (Late 20th Century)

141

Epilogue

167

Endnotes

175

Index

195

v

Acknowledgments

The School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University as well as St. Edmund Hall, St. Peter's College, and Linacre College, Oxford provided a stimulating niche within which the ideas in this book developed. Among the many scholars whom I wish to thank, Erik Swyngedouw must be the first. His contribution to this endeavor is invaluable. He inspired and encouraged me, while being acutely critical through long discussions and animated arguments. He also helped me keep the research plan realistic each time the project threatened to veer off the rails. I am also most thankful to Gordon Clark for guiding, supporting and encouraging me, and for providing the space for this project to develop. I am grateful to Esteban Castro, whose meticulous research on London gave me a great insight. Much of the analysis in Part II draws upon his publications. Many thanks also to Grigoris Kafkalas for his encouragement and for helping me sharpen the intellectual task, but most of all for the lasting friendship which developed alongside this project. I am also grateful to my colleagues at the School of Geography and the Environment and St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. Particular thanks are owed to Robert Whittaker, without whose moral support I would not have been able to produce the final manuscript. Mike Mingos, Principal of St. Edmund Hall, provided valuable guidance on how to juggle teaching duties and research activities. Kay Anderson, on her visiting year at Oxford was there for me at moments of doubt, stimulating my interest in the subject, and showing me how to reconcile being a woman with being an academic. I also owe a big thank you to Tim Marshall, Gavin Williams, Renee Hirshon, Ben Page, Hartmut Mayer, and John Baron for their interest in the topic and for their support, and to Panos Getimis, Harry Coccossis, Giorgos Kallis and Kostas Bithas for their

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viii • Acknowledgments

encouragement. My graduate students, Federico Caprotti and Cindy Warwick provided buzz and stimulus, and David Dodman took good care of my undergraduate students while I was on leave. George Taylor's editorial help with the first draft was invaluable. David McBride of Routledge provided encouragement and fine editorship. The library and support staff of the School of Geography and the Environment were, as ever, extremely helpful. Special thanks to Linda Atkinson, Sue Bird, Ann Lewsey, and Juliet Blackburn for keeping me up-todate with publications. The assistance of Ruth Saxton, Jan Burke, Ailsa Allen, Jennie McKenzie, Jerry Lee, and Eric Anderson was also priceless. Special thanks to Martin Barfoot for helping me with the photographic work. Sylvia Boyce and Anne Heath of the Transport Studies Unit also deserve a special mention. They hosted me, lent me their ears, and fed me with chocolate and love when the going got tough. lowe many thanks to a great number of individuals and institutions "in the field" for allowing me access to valuable material: the Water Company of Athens (E.Y.6..A.TI) and in particular Mr Giannis Stevis; the Greek Ministry of Development (GMD); the Division of Water Resources Management within the GMD; the European Commission, DG Environment in particular; the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Stefan Scheuer in particular; Thames Water; Anglian Water; the Environment Agency, UK. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the staff at the National Library of Greece; the Greek National Archives; the Lambrakis Foundation; the Parliamentary Archives in Athens; the library of the National Technical University of Athens; the library of DG Environment, Brussels; and UNESCO'S International Hydrological Programme, Paris. I wish to thank my family and friends who sustained me during all the stages of this project. Thanks to my parents Athanassios and Androniki Kaika (A 8a lIaol or and AIIOpOII(Kl] KalKa) and my brother Dimitrios Kaikas (LJ.l]/lTjTplor KalKar) for their love and support. Thanks to George Shoterioo (nwpyor LWTl]p(OU) for his wit and sustaining love, and for allowing me to use his excellent photographs in this volume. Thanks to Georgia Basdani (hwpy(a MTTaOOalll]) for her love and encouragement. Lionel Mason and Alison Etheridge hosted me during periods of "homelessness" and Charis Christodoulou's (Xapt