Vol. 64 · No. 4 · 343–354 2010 DOI: 10.3112/erdkunde.2010.04.04 http://www.erdkunde.uni-bonn.de ISSN 0014-0015 URBAN POLITICAL ECOLOGY Theoretical concepts, challenges, and suggested future directions AnnA Zimmer With 1 igure Received 06. July 2010 · Accepted 04. November 2010 Summary: Political Ecology is a highly dynamic research ield within geographical studies on development. Since BlAikie and Brookfield (1987) laid the foundations of the approach and formulated its irst deinition, the ield has evolved in many different directions (among others, see BlAikie 1999). Only in recent years, however, have we seen a tendency, espe- cially within Anglo-American geography, of applying political ecological concerns to other contexts than the traditionally rural ones: A still relatively new Urban Political Ecology has formed (Heynen et al. 2006). While it has brought into focus a whole range of new research objects, it has also used other concepts in a fruitful manner. Particularly promising is the con- cept of hybridity, which rejects the idea of any unnaturalness of the city. The entry point for investigations is the concept of metabolism, which allows asking classical questions of Political Ecology concerning power relations. Some theoretical and methodological challenges, however, remain for the further development of the ield. Moreover, this article argues in favour of recognising diversiied urban environments, of addressing the role of power relations in Urban Political Ecologies, and of including environmental imaginaries into the analysis. Zusammenfassung: Die Politische �kologie ist ein h�chst dynamisches �orschungsfeld der geographischen Entwicklungs- Die Politische �kologie ist ein h�chst dynamisches �orschungsfeld der geographischen Entwicklungs- forschung. Seit BlAikie and Brookfield (1987) die Grundsteine des Ansatzes gelegt und eine erste Deinition vorgestellt haben, ist die Politische �kologie in viele verschiedene Richtungen weiterentwickelt worden (vgl. u.a. BlAikie 1999). Neu sind jedoch Versuche der letzten Jahre besonders durch die angelsächsische Geographie, die vormals auf den ländlichen Raum fokussierten �ragen der Politischen �kologie auch in städtischen Kontexten zu stellen: Es hat sich eine noch junge Urban Political Ecology gebildet (Heynen et al. 2006). Während einerseits neue Themenfelder für die Analyse erschlossen werden, werden andererseits neue Konzepte fruchtbar gemacht. Besonders vielversprechend ist das Konzept der Hybridität, welches der Stadt jeglichen Mangel an Natürlichkeit abspricht. Als Eintrittspunkt in die Analyse wird der Begriff des Meta- bolismus gewählt, um klassische politisch-ökologische Fragen nach Machtverhältnissen zu stellen. Derzeit bestehen jedoch noch theoretische wie methodologische Herausforderungen für die Weiterentwicklung des �orschungsfeldes. Der Artikel plädiert daher dafür, die Vielfalt urbaner Umwelten anzuerkennen und die Frage von Machtverhältnissen konsequenter zu stellen. Schließlich wird angeregt, diskursive Konstruktionen von Umwelt in die Analyse einzubeziehen. Keywords: Urban Political Ecology, hybridity, metabolism 1 Introduction In their introduction to “In the Nature of Cities. Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism”, Heynen et al. (2006, 2) state: “the ur- ban environment is often neglected”. This statement arguably applies to the majority of analyses which have been published under the label of ‘Political Ecology’. Starting from investigating soil degradation in rural areas, this approach has only recently turned towards ecological problems in the city (i.a. Keil 2003; Pelling 2003; �orsytH 2004; Swyngedouw 2004; Keil 2005; Heynen 2006a; Heynen et al. 2006; V éron 2006; �litner 2008; Myers 2008; Zimmer 2009). This paper intends to present this turn and, at the same time, to strengthen it. �irst of all, Urban Political Ecology discusses new concepts next to the classical theoretical foundations of political ecol- ogy as presented by krings (2007a), which seem quite promising. Yet more important still, the fact that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities since the year 2008 ( UN�PA 2007, n. pag.) calls for an analysis of these spaces from a politi- cal-ecological perspective. Excluding them further would imply that the classical questions of Political Ecology are irrelevant in cities. This, however, would be a fatal error, as this would entail ignoring a grow- ing range of ecological problems and putting aside conlicts around the environment in which more and more people live, and which more and more people endure and shape in their everyday lives. This article therefore agrees with keil (2003, 728): „UPE [Urban