ABSTRACT
The idea that cities might be depleted of oil is, for many, a vision of the end of the world. At its most visceral, oil is an energy source that underpins everyday urban practices in the form of transport, lighting, heating and cooling networks and is the foundation of many of the products we use. Less clear, at least for some, are the multifarious ways that oil operates as resource capital through largely invisible circuits – to drive and sustain currently unsustainable and inequitable processes of ownership, production and consumption in the globalized city. As Jameson (2003: 76) argues, “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism.” At stake is not just the need for a radical transition away from petroleum-based urban environments but a fundamental shift away from the oil industry-supported urban economy, and associated patterns of power and privilege. Arguably, good planning is implicit for an equitable transition to build a post-petroleum urban future.
