Steampunk City Reimagined: Exploring China’s Ecological Civilization, Human-Nature Relations, and the Future of Urban Sustainability

In this essay, brief reflections about cities, sustainability and civilization are presented. Taking the example of the Southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that has been the starting point for many steampunk visions of a dystopian urban future that is dominated by technology, I argue that under the country’s vision for the Construction of an Ecological Civilization, as the next stage of development under Chinese socialism, the city presents an array of examples to reassess human-nature relations that, while making reference to philosophical and cultural roots, allow a rethinking of rural-urban relations that are present in the city’s development strategy that go far beyond the urban territory. I intend to show how a new understanding of our relation with technology and ecosystems will be necessary to achieve such a paradigm shift. En este ensayo se presentan breves reflexiones sobre las ciudades, la sostenibilidad y la civilización. Tomando como ejemplo la ciudad de Chongqing, en el suroeste de China, que ha sido punto de partida de muchas visiones steampunk de un futuro urbano distópico dominado por la tecnología, sostengo que bajo la visión del país para la Construcción de una Civilización Ecológica, como siguiente etapa de desarrollo bajo el socialismo chino, la ciudad presenta un abanico de ejemplos para reevaluar las relaciones humano-naturaleza que, al mismo tiempo que hacen referencia a raíces filosóficas y culturales, permiten repensar las relaciones rural-urbanas presentes en la estrategia de desarrollo de la ciudad que van mucho más allá del territorio urbano. Pretendo mostrar cómo será necesaria una nueva comprensión de nuestra relación con la tecnología y los ecosistemas para lograr ese cambio de paradigma. In this essay, brief reflections about cities, sustainability and civilization are presented. Taking the example of the Southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that has been the starting point for many steampunk visions of a dystopian urban future that is dominated by technology, I argue that under the country’s vision for the Construction of an Ecological Civilization, as the next stage of development under Chinese socialism, the city presents an array of examples to reassess human-nature relations that, while making reference to philosophical and cultural roots, allow a rethinking of rural-urban relations that are present in the city’s development strategy that go far beyond the urban territory. I intend to show how a new understanding o