THE AESTHETIC AND THE ECOLOGICAL: SYMBOLIC RELATIONSHIPS TOWARDS A NEW IMAGINARY OF SUSTAINABLE CITY

Abstract

This article is part of an ongoing research project, whose main objective is to find symbolic
relationships in the aesthetic-ecological pair, within the urban social space. A theoretical review
is advanced here that, on the one hand, bases the importance of aesthetic experience in daily
living, locating it as a carrier of existential meaning, and on the other, seeks to understand the
current state of the ecological repercussions of the urban phenomenon and how these are
addressed by society. The complexity of this analysis lies in detecting points of intersection
between the subjectivity underlying the aesthetic imaginary, and the objectivity inherent in the
ecological catastrophe of cities. This analysis is developed from a critical position where the
oppressor-oppressed dialectic and its respective tensions in the urban space appear as elements
that operate to the detriment of the development of a truly sustainable city that glimpses the
aesthetic experience as a potential meaning of life. We are here, before subjectivities that are
creating serious objective problems, which justify the exploration of these relationships.

The article concludes by offering an eco-aesthetic imaginary in charge of dissolving such dialectical
tension, through theoretical reflections that wish to guide human thought, towards the emergence
of a new imaginary of a sustainable city.