Welcome to my blog! In the next series of posts I will be critically examining the urban environmental struggles being faced in Las Vegas, whilst playing close attention to the political and social repercussions that these have.
Located in the state of Nevada, Las Vegas is the most populated city within the state.(US Census Bureau, 2018). Las Vegas (or Vegas as it is simply known) is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with people coming from far and wide to visit the city’s mega casino-hotels, world renowned eateries and luxury designer shopping villages.
I have chosen to base my blog on Las Vegas as it is one of my favourite cities to visit in the world. After researching it thoroughly I have found that it faces a host of issues, often these issues have a disproportionate impact on the poorest in the city – this is in agreeance with Heyen (2014), that social unevenness in a city can be uncovered through looking at its urban political ecology.
Nature and society are bound more so than ever. This hybrid of the social and the natural has created the modern day city (Swyngedouw, 1996). Expect to see posts on a variety of issues both contemporary and some historical! Air pollution, water management, waste management and long term impacts of nuclear testing are just some of the themes to be covered!
Word Count: 232
Reference:
Heynen, N. (2014) Urban political ecology I: The urban century. Progress in Human Geography 38(4): 598-604
Swyngedouw E (1996) The city as a hybrid: On nature, society and cyborg urbanization. Capitalism Nature Socialism 7(2): 65–80
US Census Bureau (2018) Quick Facts: Las Vegas, Nevada (WWW) US Dept. of Commerce: Washington DC (https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/lasvegascitynevada, last accessed 13/02/2020)
Urban Political Ecology 