On οἶκος: The role of aesthetics in Félix Guattari’s urban ecosophy

This article examines Félix Guattari’s ecosophy as a transversalist framework articulating the interdependence of environmental, social, and subjective ecologies, with particular emphasis on its implications for urban theory and aesthetics. Drawing on Guattari’s concept of machines and autopoiesis, the study argues that ecosophy extends ecology beyond biological life to encompass technological, social, and semiotic processes, thereby situating subjectivity within transindividual assemblages rather than individualist models. The article clarifies three recurrent ambiguities in interpretations of ecosophy: its distinction from deep ecology, the problematic proliferation of additional “ecologies,” and the misconception of a nostalgic return to an original nature. It then explores Guattari’s analysis of the city as a megamachine that produces both flows and segmentations, shaping contemporary modes of subjectivation. Central to this reading is the role of the “new aesthetic paradigm,” understood not as aestheticization of the social but as an orientation toward sensibility, creativity, and heterogenization of values. By foregrounding urban stratification, media processes, and participatory practices, the article positions ecosophy as a political project aimed at fostering non-segregative, resingularized subjectivities capable of resisting capitalist homogenization.