Reorganizing Public Value for City Life in the Anthropocene

Marta Gasparin, Martin Quinn*, Mark Williams, Michael Saren, Simon Lilley, William Green, Steven D. Brown, Jan Zalasiewicz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Public value and city governance are fundamental notions in contemporary settings, but, currently conceived, they are not fit for the challenges presented by the proposed new epoch of geological time—the Anthropocene. Walking through the locked-down streets or calle of Venice, we face the sudden emptiness that starkly reveals the impact of human activity on the city and its waterways. Reflecting on the walk, our starting point is to problematize how a city organizes and manages public value and what actually constitutes public value. In this, we develop a new definition, “New Public Value for the Anthropocene Epoch” (NPVA), which expands the notion of public value through the questions: “who” is it valuable to do things for, beyond humans and economic actors, building on a relational epistemology to incorporate the planet and its biosphere; and “what” is valuable to do, in order to ensure the inclusion of social, environmental, and cultural values alongside economic values. We conclude by arguing that NPVA is organized across scales in a manner that embeds global attentiveness toward local ecosystems solutions to drive the global response to the environmental crisis we all face.
Original languageEnglish
JournalOrganization
Volume31
Issue number7
Pages (from-to)1070-1091
Number of pages22
ISSN1350-5084
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Published online: October 16, 2024.

Keywords

  • Anthropocene
  • Cities
  • Leadership
  • Pluriverse
  • Public value
  • Relational epistemology
  • Value
  • Walking as method

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