Feral suburbs: Cultural topologies of social reproduction, Fort McMurray, Canada

• Published in: International Journal of Cultural Studies
• Main Author: Shields, Rob
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2012
• Subjects: Fort McMurray
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367877911433743; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1367877911433743; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/1367877911433743

Through case studies drawn from Fort McMurray (Alberta, Canada) near the Athabasca Tar Sands, builders’, residents’ and public officials’ attempts to develop neighbourhoods in the midst of an oil boom and bust economy are considered. Drawing on interviews with these actors, photographs and participant observation, this article considers the production of new suburbs through crown land release and development. Within a highly constrained planning context, the adaptation of land development policy and practice, as well as attempts to stabilize a highly dynamic economic environment, create ‘works-in-progress’; built environments that attempt to materially render the circuits and forces of a global petro-economy habitable in the name of social reproduction. The label ‘feral’ is advanced to highlight how these suburbs transfigure preconceptions of North American suburbia as a cultural form. Residents of Fort McMurray perform novel syntheses which impact on the actualization of cultural forms, including household and community.