Reorganizing public value for city life in the Anthropocene

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Gasparin, M., Quinn, M., Williams, M., Saren, M., Lilley, S., Green, W., Brown, S.D. ORCID: 0000-0001-7841-3225 and Zalawiesciz, J., 2024. Reorganizing public value for city life in the Anthropocene. Organization. ISSN 1350-5084 (Forthcoming)

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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 towards local ecosystems solutions to drive the global response to the environmental crisis we all face.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Organization

Creators:

Gasparin, M., Quinn, M., Williams, M., Saren, M., Lilley, S., Green, W., Brown, S.D. and Zalawiesciz, J.

Publisher:

SAGE Publications

Date:

14 February 2024

ISSN:

1350-5084