From City-Cyborg to Ttmosphere-Cyborg: contributions to the analysis of urban space and climate

Abstract

e live in cities that are socio-natural hybrids marked, on one side, by social processes of production of space linked to the reproduction of capital, and, on the other side, by natural events arising from the own dynamics of the planet. We then propose a theoretical debate about the relations between the socio-natural hybridisation of the city and an integrative approach in climatology. To do so, we base the analysis in the seek for overcome some limitations in terms of theory and method in order to both emphasise the geographical feature of the analysis of atmospheric dynamics and reinforce the necessary environmental debate of the processes of production of urban space. The text is written in three parts. In the first one, we present the theoretical sources of the metaphors “city-cyborg” and “atmosphere-cyborg” shown in the article’s title. We then introduce some notes about the production of space and de processes of socio--spatial differentiation. Finally, we present the reflections on João Lima Sant’Anna Neto’s approach of the Geography of Climate as well as its importance to the study of urban climate in its interface with the social questions in cities located in countries of peripheral economy. This article is a theoretical effort of the authors, from their individual research trajectories and reflections, to integrate the analysis of some aspects of the reality that are commonly treated separately.