Events

CHAIRPERSON

Prof Tim Bunnell, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

PROGRAMME

ABSTRACT

This roundtable discussion explores the possibilities of theorizing Critical Urban Geology (CUG) through/from Southeast Asia. It aims to foster a theoretical dialogue between urbanization studies and political geology. On one hand, contemporary urbanization studies emphasize the need to strengthen the connections between the human and the extra-human within and beyond the city. This discussion aligns with the agenda of urban political ecology, particularly through its concept of socionature, which underscores the inseparability of social or human nature from the extra-human. The sociospatial dynamics of the “city and beyond” are central to the planetary urbanization thesis. Planetary urbanization examines the interplay between areas of concentrated urbanization (the city) and extended urbanization (the non-city), as well as the continuous processes of production and destruction driven by differential urbanization. On the other hand, political geology seeks to establish a productive symmetry between geology and politics, encompassing both the politics of geology and the geology of politics. By engaging with Southeast Asia, CUG seeks to integrate these perspectives, addressing key political-geological questions of (1) the city, to understand human and geological intersection; (2) the city’s hinterland, to understand how distant geological resources are mobilized to serve urban functions; and (3) (in)justice, to examine how (beyond) the urban and geology shape, and in turn are shaped by, capital- and power-relations.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Adam Bobbette is a lecturer in Political Geology at the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow. He is the author of The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java (Duke University Press, 2023). For this roundtable, Adam will explore the relationship between political geology and urbanization.

Susan Herawati is the coordinator of The People’s Coalition for Fisheries Justice (KIARA), Indonesia. Alongside other Indonesian non-governmental organizations within the National Solidarity for Rempang, KIARA recently published a report on the Rempang Eco-City Project. Rempang, an island near Singapore on the Indonesian side, is the site of a project aimed at producing electricity through solar panels. Quartz sand, a key material for solar panel production, is central to this initiative. Susan will discuss the extraction of quartz sand for the Rempang Eco-City Project, which seeks to supply energy to various locations, including Singapore. In this context, Rempang serves as the geological hinterland for Singapore’s energy needs.

Bosman Batubara is a research fellow at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore. His research at ARI investigates the expansion of urban frontiers beyond the city by analyzing the flows of labor, rock, and energy for Indonesia’s new capital city, Nusantara. In this roundtable, Bosman will discuss rock mining in Central Sulawesi and its impacts, as it supplies materials for the development of Nusantara City in East Kalimantan.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this hybrid talk has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to ziqi@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the event.