ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 of Planning Wild Cities is entitled ‘Seeking the good city’. This chapter turns the spotlight on the urban age as a quest for the ‘good life’ and human flourishment. In particular, does the premise of ‘the good’ city need to be re-thought or at least critically reflected on in the context of climate change? Good for whom – the poor, the earth, non-humans? Good when – now, in the past, in the future, in our imagination? Good by whose standards – the wealthy, the technocrats? The chapter argues that the planning quest for the good city has largely failed. That in holding on too tightly to an unsustainable good city ideal (or not tightly enough with the good enough city), we have lost more ground than we gained. We have avoided the root and branch re-assessment of resilient city thinking and practice that is needed in this climate of change. The chapter will be of particular interest to students and scholars of planning, urban studies, and sustainable development, and for all those invested in re-shaping our ‘wild’ city futures.
