Fixing a swamp of cobras: the clash between capital and water in shaping urban vulnerabilities

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fixing a swamp of cobras

T2 - the clash between capital and water in shaping urban vulnerabilities

AU - Friend, Richard Morris

AU - Hutanuwatr, Khanin

N1 - © 2020 The Authors

PY - 2020/11/25

Y1 - 2020/11/25

N2 - This paper addresses how capital can refashion landscapes and patterns of risk and vulnerability. Drawing on the emblematic case of the conversion of Thailand’s Cobra Swamp into Suvannabhumi International Airport we argue that there is a fundamental clash between the internal logic of capital accumulation and the ecology of water that occurs in places in which land is under water for much of the year. Counterintuitively investment in public infrastructure such as airports targets locations that are exposed to flood risks. While the literature on capital fixes tends to treat ‘land’ writ large, this paper adds a dimension that has been overlooked in the theoretical work, by highlighting the significance of the ecology of the land in which such fixes occur as a means of understanding patterns of investment, land use change and vulnerability. Our analysis draws on three separate but related concepts of capital ‘fixes’ – spatial, technological and high/low road fixes. We argue the importance of recognising the specific ecological characteristics of land that capital ‘fixes’. This perspective has global significance in providing critical insight into the ways in which capital creates and accommodates the kinds of vulnerabilities and risks associated with climate change.

AB - This paper addresses how capital can refashion landscapes and patterns of risk and vulnerability. Drawing on the emblematic case of the conversion of Thailand’s Cobra Swamp into Suvannabhumi International Airport we argue that there is a fundamental clash between the internal logic of capital accumulation and the ecology of water that occurs in places in which land is under water for much of the year. Counterintuitively investment in public infrastructure such as airports targets locations that are exposed to flood risks. While the literature on capital fixes tends to treat ‘land’ writ large, this paper adds a dimension that has been overlooked in the theoretical work, by highlighting the significance of the ecology of the land in which such fixes occur as a means of understanding patterns of investment, land use change and vulnerability. Our analysis draws on three separate but related concepts of capital ‘fixes’ – spatial, technological and high/low road fixes. We argue the importance of recognising the specific ecological characteristics of land that capital ‘fixes’. This perspective has global significance in providing critical insight into the ways in which capital creates and accommodates the kinds of vulnerabilities and risks associated with climate change.

KW - capital fixes

KW - urban vulnerability

U2 - 10.1111/anti.12682

DO - 10.1111/anti.12682

M3 - Article

SN - 0066-4812

JO - Antipode

JF - Antipode

ER -