The ecology of citizenship: understanding vulnerability in urban Brazil

Abstract

This article calls into question the relationship between citizenship, space and ecological stability. Drawing on case study research from urban Brazil, we argue that while space may be crucial to Western perspectives of citizenship - particularly in urban areas - the ecological coproduction of these very same spaces is regularly overlooked. By not accounting for these processes, citizenship's promises continually fall short: though greater access to citizenship and its attenuating spaces may help to reduce one set of vulnerabilities (e.g. hunger, healthcare, informal housing), such change can further embed and even produce additional vulnerabilities for urban residents (e.g. disaster risk, ..