udap163-169.pdf (459.49 kB)
Planning for peak oil: learning from Cuba’s ‘special period’
journal contribution
posted on 2011-01-20, 16:36 authored by Emma Piercy, Rachel Granger, Chris GoodierChris GoodierIt is against recent experiences of proliferative consumption of the earth’s resources that
planners and politicians must confront the challenge of Peak Oil over the coming years.
With so few examples of Peak Oil available worldwide, this paper explores the realities
of this in Cuba after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989; the so-called Special
Period, which decimated the country’s imports of energy, food, and other vital supplies.
Drawing on primary research collected in Cuba during 2008, this paper examines the
policy responses implemented by Cuba in the field of transport, spatial planning,
agriculture, and energy, in order to stimulate debate about how western countries and
cities might respond to future losses of global resources. Despite the Cuban situation
being politically different from other countries, and the loss of resources during the
Special Period more abrupt and unplanned, it is argued that there is still considerable
scope for a wider application of the concepts to other towns and cities, if not countries
and cultures.
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Citation
PIERCY, E., GRANGER, R. and GOODIER, C.I., 2010. Planning for peak oil: learning from Cuba’s ‘special period’. Proceedings of the ICE - Urban Design and Planning, 163 (4), pp. 169-176.Publisher
© ICE Publishing / The authorsVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publication date
2010ISSN
1755-0793;1755-0807Publisher version
Language
- en