Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi

Gökçe Günel

Published by Duke University Press 2019

Spaceship in the Desert

Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi

Gökçe Günel

In the series Experimental futures : technological lives, scientific arts, anthropological voices

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478002406

Overview
Contents

About this book

Gökçe Günel examines the development and construction of Masdar City, a zero-carbon city built by Abu Dhabi that houses a research institute for renewable energy which implemented a series of green technologies and infrastructures as a way to deal with climate change and prepare for a post-oil future.

Author / Editor information

Gökçe Günel is Assistant Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

"Spaceship in the Desert is the fascinating story of a 'zero-carbon eco-city' that demonstrates the stark difference between vision and reality. . . . Günel’s first-hand reportage is insightful and objective."

-- Barry Silverstein Foreword Reviews

"The book is not only a rich ethnographic description of Masdar in all of its intricacies, but also a larger reflection on how global risks are framed according to the beliefs and situated actions of various interest groups."

-- Gerardo del Cerro Santamaría International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

"The global climate crisis is serious, but Günel shows that our attempts to tackle it are less so. . . . Our contemporary moral mess, from the GCC to Massachusetts, can be seen all too clearly through the pages of Günel’s account."

-- Deen Sharp Public Books

"Günel’s deft ethnographic sensibilities and creatively designed fieldwork further distinguish her contributions to anthropological studies of climate change, governance, knowledge production, infrastructure, materialism, and futurity more broadly. . . . Through fascinating and critical ethnographic descriptions, Günel offers a piercing glimpse into the front-lines of global climate change action."

-- Gebhard Keny Ethnos

"Spaceship in the Desert is a timely contribution to a growing field of anthropological scholarship on energy. . . . This book has the potential to attract readers from across the social sciences, not just within anthropology. The richness of ethnographic detail drawn in connection with the work of key thinkers may satisfy some readers."

-- Idalina Baptista Anthropological Quarterly

"Compelling and thought-provoking. . . . Günel encourages us as academics and as persons to rethink, renegotiate, and recreate our imaginations of the future through climate change technologies that do not preserve the status quo, but rather, alter it in the present."

-- Hai Ri (Sophia) Jeon Anthropology Book Forum

“[Günel’s] brilliant ethnography of Masdar reminds us of the limits of the third pilot of Spaceship Earth—the market.... Günel’s study also shows how the scope of climate change demands administrative bodies beyond corporations and states.”

-- Troy Vettese Viewpoint Magazine

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction: The Soul of Carbon Dioxide Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. KNOWLEDGE
1. Inhabiting the Spaceship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
65. Beautiful Buildings and Research Contracts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
II. TECHNOLOGY
3. Ergos: A New Energy Currency Publicly Available Download PDF	101
4. An Expensive Toy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
III. GOVERNANCE
5. Subsurface Workings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Epilogue: The Potential Futures of Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 272
Illustrations
- Other: 31 illustrations

eBook

Published: February 14, 2019
ISBN: 9781478002406