Reti e infrastrutture dei territori contemporanei ...

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by one of the largest megaprojects in Asia, Iskandar Malaysia. Indeed, ... redesigning the blue and green territories of Johor Bahru, the capital of the Johor state, ...
ISBN 978-88-7603-147-2 € 22,00

a cura di F. D. Moccia - M. Sepe

Reti e infrastrutture dei territori contemporanei

in copertina “Paesaggio di infrastrutture”, Rotterdam, foto di Marichela Sepe

Reti e infrastrutture dei territori contemporanei Networks and infrastructures of contemporary territories a cura di Francesco Domenico Moccia, Marichela Sepe

INU Edizioni

Il volume tratta del tema delle reti e infrastrutture approcciandolo attraverso una logica di integrazione. La messa a punto di soluzioni innovative sul sistema delle reti e delle infrastrutture materiali ed immateriali costituisce oggi una guida per orientare le politiche urbane investendo su opere dall’ampio respiro e che, pur se con una successione limitata d’interventi, progressivamente realizzano e procedono verso la completa rigenerazione urbana. Comunità, limiti, spessori richiedono una ridefinizione di pratiche, protocolli, politiche, strumenti urbanistici formali e informali. Decisori politici e cittadini hanno bisogno delle conoscenze che possono maturare nel solco della disciplina urbanistica, avvalendosi anche della sua tradizionale apertura ad altri saperi scientifici, per valutare costi e benefici del rinnovamento e dirigere l’investimento delle risorse assistiti da attendibili previsioni degli effetti. Per affrontare questi temi il volume è stato organizzato in tre parti. La prima parte illustra alcune delle questioni emergenti con uno sguardo particolare al panorama internazionale; la seconda parte è rivolta a inquadrare il tema delle reti e infrastrutture nell’ottica dell’integrazione e della complessità, sempre in una prospettiva internazionale; infine, la terza parte restituisce il dibattito che si è tenuto nel corso della IX Giornata di Studi INU da cui il Volume prende spunto. Il quadro che emerge dai saggi intende, da una parte, offrire una cornice attuale, senza voler comunque ritenere di essere esaustivi, e, dall’altra, stimolare il lettore a pensare a nuovi approcci per lo studio e il progetto delle infrastrutture in una logica di complessità e semplificazione ad un tempo.

INU Edizioni

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Reti e infrastrutture dei territori contemporanei

Problematizing green/blue infrastructures Agatino Rizzo

Overview - In this chapter, we aim at problematizing the use of the green/blue infrastructure concept in urban planning by considering its, often neglected, socio-political dimension. In order to do so, we will analyse the displacement of an indigenous fishermen community (the Orang Suku Laut) located in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, caused by one of the largest megaprojects in Asia, Iskandar Malaysia. Indeed, the green/blue infrastructure component in Iskandar Malaysia is only a small part of a much wider and ambitious strategy to spur economic development and growth in Southern peninsula Malaysia (Johor State). However, with its large scope, Iskandar Malaysia is dramatically redesigning the blue and green territories of Johor Bahru, the capital of the Johor state, to serve the expansion of its metropolitan area. Our argumentations are based on the results of a research project carried out from 2010 at University Technology Malaysia in Johor Bahru. The project aimed at analysing the impacts of both the rapid urbanization and urban political agenda in the Johor-Singapore transnational region. With a case-study approach, we carried out qualitative observations, interviews, and document analysis to map the biogeophysical and social displacements in Johor.

Parte 1

Humanizing green/blue infrastructures -

In recent years, the study of so-called green/blue infrastructures have promised a recipe to foster healthier lifestyles (e.g., walkability), resilient cities in the face of ever more frequent natural disasters (e.g., floods), and the mitigation of climate change’s impacts on cities (e.g., Urban Heat Islands). We have done a quick literature search to analyse the use of the green/blue infrastructure concept in urban planning. To do so, from the Google Scholar database, we have selected a sample of recently published (last ten years) articles in reputable journals, which were cited at least by thirty or more other papers. By using the keywords “green infrastructure” and “urban planning”, we have found twelve articles, six of which published in urban studies journals, two in economic journals, three in ecological journals, and one in a management journal. Since we were interested in the use of the green/blue infrastructure concept by urban planners, we have selected those articles published in urban studies journals. Five of the six1 selected articles were published in “Landscape and Urban Planning”, a well-known, high-impact factor journal in the field of landscape, environmental, and urban studies while the remaining one was published in the Journal of the American Planning Association. This small literature research has brought up interesting results. First, most of the literature on green infrastructures is based in the Global North and ignores greening programs in the South. Second, the backgrounds of the researchers working with the concept do vary: a number of them have an environmental background, being, for example, landscape ecologists while others have an economic/management or planning education. This latter observation confirms latest debates on the contamination of urban studies by non-traditional urban disciplines (such as ecology, management, etc.), this latter being the consequence, some argue (Gleeson, 2013), of the weakening of urban theory under neoliberism (Brenner & Schimdt, 2014).

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Amongst them, there are the study of a park in Amsterdam by Chiesura; Maryland’s green infrastructure assessment by Weber, Sloan, and Wolf; a literature study by Tzoulas and others; a study of US’s green infrastructures by Schilling and Logan; a Belgian study by Vandermeulena and others; and an Italian study by La Rosa and Privitera.

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Figure1 Kampong Selantan in Nusajaya development (author’s picture, 2010)

Finally, most interestingly, none of the six selected papers discussed the socio-political aspects of green infrastructures i.e., the conditions of displacement and disempowerment of the green/ blue communities. Neither these articles discussed the politics and processes behind the implementation of green infrastructures, i.e. the role of the state and private stakeholders in the appropriation and commodification of such a space. Almost all of the papers in our sample framed green infrastructures with a very utilitarian perspective, often related to climate mitigation and adaptation or urban health. In this chapter, our hypothesis is that green/blue territories are not uninhabited; indeed within these areas a significant portion of non-urbanized or semi-urbanized communities live. This statement becomes clear when considering green and blue territories in the Global South i.e. developing countries and emerging markets. In these latter countries, blue and green areas are in many ways the space of exclusion of communities that have never been embedded in mainstream, post-colonial society (Rizzo & Khan, 2013).

Parte 1

Today these communities are under attack by local governments’ neo-liberal agendas that aim at commodifying green and blue spaces to serve the purposes of global capital accumulation (Hall et al, 2011). As the result of this trend, there is the need to look at the broader socio-political dimension of blue/green infrastructures, thus expanding the meaning and scope of such a concept. Gellert and Lynch (2003) have discussed the biogeophysical and social displacements generated by megaprojects. The term megaprojects for them (Gellert & Lynch, 2003) include “extraction”, “infrastructure”, “production” and “consumption” interventions that generate significant landscape transformations (e.g., the digging of a mine pit, the construction of a dam, a new power plant, or the development of new town) and trigger: (a) the displacement of the resident communities that are either absorbed by the city or forcedly moved into new peripheries; (b) the moving-in of the labor community charged with the development of the megaproject; (c) and the selling of the newly shaped areas to new residents. Biogeophysical and social displacements are thus at once an outcome of urban neoliberism and a tool for the forced urbanization of rural communities (Goonewardena, 2014). In green and blue infrastructure literature the categories of “infrastructure” and “network” are intertwined. A green/blue area is not only supposed to provide utility to the city and its citizens (i.e. the ecosystem service), but it needs to be connected with other areas in order to be easily accessible, encourage freedom of movement, and foster free association (Hauck & Czechowski, 2015). The green/ blue infrastructure theory is in a sense a “marriage” between ecological and system theory. System theory, which has been already introduced in planning by McLoughlin (1969), understands territories as complex systems that can be disarticulated in a discrete number of parts and then reconnected in a more efficient form. Ecological theory, on the other hand, stresses the importance of the biological relationships between the organisms of an ecological community and this latter degree of equilibrium (that in the long term becomes climax). According to Hauck & Czechowski (2015), the green/blue infrastructure discourse is permeated by what they call “green functionalism” much as, we would argue, city planning was dominated by

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functionalist thinking in the XX c. Hauck and Czechowski (2015: 24) argue that, although quantitative/functionalistic principles may be of importance in delivering a much-needed transparent process in assessing landscapes, understanding these latter solely in terms of ecosystem services ignores the importance of the historic, and we would add socio-political, “structures that gradually developed over the years”. As such in the green/blue infrastructure literature, we can find very limited reflections on the relationship between green/blue infrastructure and social segregation, exclusion, marginalization, etc. Green/blue infrastructures are seen merely from a functionalistic point of view, stripped from any problematic social reference; they are prescribed as a positive target to achieve in order to enhance, on the one hand, the livability of a virtually apolitical society and, on the other hand, manage the disasters caused by ever expanding urbanization.

Transforming rural areas in green/blue infrastructures: the case of Nusajaya in Malaysia - For centuries,

the islands spreading between today’s Indonesia and Malaysia, including Singapore, have been inhabited by indigenous fishermen communities sharing the same religious background, language, and lifestyle. The case portrayed by Chou (2006: 112) of the Orang Suku Laut (Malay words for “tribe of sea people”) community, today divided among three nations (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore), is indicative of the “conflicting demands on resources” across national borders. As a result of Portuguese, Dutch and British expansion policy in the Far East Asia, these communities have been divided to serve better the needs of the foreign rulers. After independence from European countries, indigenous communities of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have been affected by several waves of nation building policies that have progressively erased their shared cultural milieu to fit the new superimposed national identity of their respective countries. Also, the successive globalisation of the world economy lead by the integration of the world markets has had a dramatic impact on these tribes. Mowforth and Munt (2003) note that the real “face” of globalisation is that of “uneven and unequal development”, rather than cultural homologation and erosion of the sovereignty of nation states.

Parte 1

For them, globalisation is an “interesting story” (Mowforth & Munt, 2003) but a poor basis for analysis because, amongst other flaws, globalisation “fails to acknowledge which places and peoples are included in this process and which are excluded” (Mowforth & Munt: 17). Working in the field of tourism development Mowforth and Munt (2003) argue that the term of globalisation has been used by western politicians, businesspeople, and scholars to impose the inevitability of westernisation of the world rather than to explain the complexity and unevenness created by worldwide integration. Separated by a 1km-wide sea strait, Singapore and Johor Bahru (JB) are at the centre of a transnational economic region which extends from Southern Malaysia to North Indonesia, the Riau Archipelago in Sumatra. In this context, in 2006, the Federal Malaysian government decided to put forward a vision, known as Iskandar Malaysia, to create a dynamic growth corridor to attract industrial development and FDIs (Rizzo & Glasson, 2011). The bulk of the developments in Iskandar Malaysia will be concentrated in Nusajaya, a new green-field settlement for half a million inhabitants. In Nusajaya, the government hopes to attract companies, institutions, and people of the knowledge economy (ICT industries, R&D firms, universities, professionals, etc.) in order to raise the profile of JB to a global hub. Moser has noted that since the advent of Putrajaya, an integrated, new-town development in Kuala Lumpur, many “little Putrajayas are currently springing up around the country” and “many aspects of Putrajaya are replicated in Nusajaya” (Moser, 2010: 295). She notes, in particular, the Arabic architecture theme that is used to brand most public projects in other Asian Muslim-dominated countries (e.g., Indonesia and Pakistan). Bunnell (2002: 267) argues that behind such projects lies the European modernist belief that “...state-led urban planning can effect social as well as economic transformation in desired directions” rather than a new renaissance of Muslim cities. As Moser has argued “the primary objectives in master planning capital cities is to construct, communicate, and normalize national identity to the citizenry” (2010: 295). A useful comparison between Nusajaya and Putrajaya can be carried out by looking at the mechanism deployed to acquire land for development.

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Prior to 1996 the land on which Putrajaya is located today was owned by a large conglomerate and used for palm-oil plantation. A community of Malaysian-Indians brought into the area during British colonial rules inhabited the area of Perang Besar (today’s Putrajaya). In the mid 90’s the implementation of Putrajaya implied the end of the local palm-oil plantation economy and the displacement of its resident community elsewhere in the region (Bunnell, 2002). A similar story is today replicated in Nusajaya. Countryside villagers (orang kampong) and aboriginal fishermen communities (orang laut) are being relocated elsewhere in JB, including to the periphery of the metropolitan region, to facilitate Iskandar developments (figure 1). Bunnell (2002), recalling Kitchin’s work, points out that globalisation is never an egalitarian process. Globalisation works to reproduce effectively capital rather than to enhance better living standards to all the segments of an urban community. Interestingly the case of Nusajaya, among many other examples in the developing world, uncovers large discrepancies in Western-based urban thinking, and it urges urban scholars to critically re-discuss theory (Machimura, 1998). Nusajaya, in facts, sits at odds with Sassen’s global city theory (1994) since the implementation of neo-liberal policies in Johor Bahru is neither the result of the weakening of the nation-state nor of the overwhelming power of multinational corporations. In Malaysia, as in many parts of Asia, globalisation is achieved through top-down national policies such as unrestricted employment of local and foreign knowledge workers, exemption from local ownership requirements, freedom to source capital and borrow funds globally and attractive tax exemption schemes in an effort to divert Foreign Direct Investments (Bunnell, 2002) from other competitive locations (such as Vietnam and Thailand).

Conclusions - The bottom line of this paper is that the field of

urban planning is in crisis. The crisis is the result of the increased importance of neoliberal rhetoric in urban development. In principle, this crisis is not necessarily a bad news as it pushes scholars to critically re-assess the existing body of knowledge and renew it with new theories and tools.

Parte 1

However, in this chapter we have criticized the unquestioned appropriation of functionalistic concepts such as the green/blue infrastructure one without considering the socio-political and historical dimensions embedded in such areas. By discussing the biogeophysical and social displacements caused by Nusajaya in Johor Bahru, we have attempted to exemplify the importance of socio-political questions when studying blue/green territories. Forgoing such questions would equal to resuscitate ancient, failed paradigms such as reductionism and functionalism. For urban planners to avert this latter threat, efforts should be paid to develop new frameworks for expanding the meaning of green/blue infrastructures as well as to help empower non-urbanized and semi-urbanized communities in the transformation of their territories.

References •

Brenner, N. and Schmid, C. (2014), The “Urban Age” in question, in Brenner, N. (ed.), Implosions/explosions: towards a study of planetary urbanization. Jovis, Berlin.



Bunnell, T. (2002) Cities for Nations? Examining the City–Nation-State Relation in Information Age Malaysia, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 26.2, pp. 284–98.



Chou, C. (2006) Borders and Multiple Realities: The Orang Suku Laut of Riau, Indonesia. In Horstmann, A. & Wadley R. L. (Eds) Centering The Margin: Agency And Narrative In Southeast Asian Borderlands. Berghahn Books.



Gellert, P. K., & Lynch, B. D. (2003). Mega‐projects as displacements. International Social Science Journal, 55(175), 15-25.



Gleeson, B. (2013). What Role for Social Science in the ‘Urban Age'?. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(5), 1839-1851.



Goonewardena, K. (2014), The country and the city in the urban revolution. In Brenner, N. (ed.), Implosions/Explosions: Towards a study of planetary urbanization. Jovis, Berlin.

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Hall, D., Hirsch, P., & Li, T. M. (2011), Powers of Exclusion: Land Dilemmas in Southeast Asia, NUS Press, Singapore.



Hauck, T., & Czechowski, D., (2015), Green Functionalism: A Brief Sketch of Its History and Ideas in the United States and Germany, in Czechowski, D., Hauck, T., Hausladen, G. (edited by), Revising Green Infrastructure: Concepts Between Nature and Design, CRC Press, Florida.



Machimura, T. (1998) Symbolic Use of Globalization in Urban Politics in Tokyo, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 22.2, pp. 183-194.



McLoughlin, J. B. (1969). Urban & regional planning: a systems approach. Faber & Faber Ltd, Bristol.



Moser, M. (2010) Putrajaya: Malaysia’s new federal administrative capital. Cities 27, 285–297.



Mowforth, M. & Munt, I. (2003) Tourism and Sustainability. New Tourism in the Third World. Taylor & Francis e-Library.



Rizzo, A., & Glasson, J. (2011). Conceiving transit space in Singapore/Johor: a research agenda for the Strait Transnational Urban Region (STUR).International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 3(2), 156-167.



Rizzo, A., & Khan, S. (2013). Johor Bahru's response to transnational and national influences in the emerging Straits Mega-City Region. Habitat International, 40, 154-162.



Sassen, S. (1994) Cities in a World Economy. Pine Forge Press



Taylor-Lovell, S., & Taylor, J.R. (2013), Supplying urban ecosystem services through multifunctional green infrastructure in the United States, Landscape Ecology, 28:1447–1463.