Pollution of air, soil, and waterways has become a primary concern of urban environmental policy making, and over the past two decades there has emerged a new era of urban policy that links
development with ecological issues, based on the notion that both nature and the economy can be enhanced through technological changes to production and consumption systems. This book takes a new
look at this application of "ecological modernization" to contemporary urban political-ecological struggles. Considering policy processes around land-use in urban watersheds and pollution of
air and soil in two disparate North American "global cities," it criticizes the dominant belief in the power of markets and experts to regulate environments to everyone's benefit, arguing
instead that civil political action by local constituencies can influence the establishment of beneficial policies. The book emphasizes 'subaltern' environmental justice concerns as instrumental in
shaping the policy process. Looking back to the 1990swhen ecological modernization began to emerge as a dominant approach to environmental policy and theoryDesfor and Keil examine four
case studies: restoration of the Don River in Toronto, cleanup of contaminated soil in Toronto, regeneration of the Los Angeles River, and air pollution reduction in Los Angeles. In each case, they
show that local constituencies can develop political strategies that create alternatives to ecological modernization. When environmental policies appear to have been produced through solely technical
exercises, they warn, one must be suspicious about the removal of contention from the process. In the face of economic and environmental processes that have been increasingly influenced by
neo-liberalism and globalization, Desfor and Keil's analysis posits that continuing modernization of industrial capitalist societies entails a measure of deliberate change to societal relationships
with nature in cities. Their book shows that environmental policies are about much more than green capitalism or the technical mastery of problems; they are about how future urban generations live
their lives with sustainability and justice.
In terms of the rich detail of the cases and the engagement with conceptual debates, there is much for students and researchers . . . to admire, and to follow.