Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

2-2026

Abstract

This paper considers how atmospheres can play a powerful role in troubling the management of nature in the multispecies city. It brings the cyclical nature of atmospheric effects, the affective values and il/logics that determine human responses to non-human threats, and the misguided and potentially deleterious health outcomes that ensue into one analytical frame. Drawing on the empirical case of urban mosquito management in Singapore, it considers how the creation of toxic atmospheres through fogging – blowing insecticides into the air in a bid to kill mosquitoes – is ineffective and sets in motion a cascading series of socio-environmental consequences. Our argument is that when decisions concerning environmental health are based on sensory governance, there is a propensity for affective illogics to complicate their outcomes. Central to our argument is an understanding of affect as having different registers of meaning and reasoning that do not necessarily align or cohere, and an understanding of the atmospheric as creating new planes of vulnerability, speculation, and control. By developing these understandings, we illustrate the important role of perception in the coproduction of urban atmospheres by humans and non-humans alike.

Keywords

toxic atmospheres; affective economy; urban political ecology; political ecology of health; zoonotic urbanisation; mosquito management

Discipline

Asian Studies | Nature and Society Relations | Urban Studies and Planning

Research Areas

Integrative Research Areas

Publication

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

First Page

1

Last Page

18

ISSN

2469-4452

Identifier

10.1080/24694452.2026.2621005

Publisher

Taylor and Francis Group

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2026.2621005

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