Planning for peak oil: learning from Cuba's 'special period' Cover Image

Felkészülés az olajcsúcsra: mit tanulhatunk Kuba "különleges időszakából"?
Planning for peak oil: learning from Cuba's 'special period'

Author(s): Emma Piercy, Rachel Granger, Chris Goodier
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Economy, National Economy, Energy and Environmental Studies, Political Theory, Civil Society, Governance, Sociology, Political economy, Geopolitics
Published by: Fordulat
Keywords: Cuba, oil peak;post-socialism;postsocialism;climate change;climate crisis;oil peak;

Summary/Abstract: It 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 and in an attempt to stimulate debate about how western countries and cities might respond to future losses of global resources, this paper examines the policy responses implemented in Cuba in the fields of transport, spatial planning, agriculture and energy. Despite the Cuban situation being politically different from other countries and the fact that the loss of resources during the special period were 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.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 25
  • Page Range: 218-236
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Hungarian