Absent Environments

"Absent Environments" offers a novel approach to environmental law, its principles, its mechanics and its context, as tested in its application to the urban environment. The book proposes a new theory of environmental law whose starting point is a description of a society effectively closed to environmental considerations, where the environment is essentially 'absent'. The book introduces the reader to the key concept of closure as it is described in Luhmann's theory of autopoiesis. In contrast to previous discussions on autopoiesis, however, this book proposes a radically different reading of the theory, in line with postmodern legal, political, sociological, urban and ecological theories, and emphasising the paradox of the (absent) environment. In terms of environmental law, the examined concepts include environmental risk, environmental rights, the precautionary principle and urban waste, as well as discourses on community, proceduralisation and identity.
In terms of urban geography, the city is submitted to a phenomenological analysis, which identifies the role of space and body in the urban and legal systems, and repositions the city with regard to utopia, language, memory, essence, and so on. The book redefines the traditional foundations of environmental law and urban geography and suggests a new way of dealing with scientific ignorance, cultural differences and environmental risk within the perceived need for legal delivery of certainty.