Ira Katznelson
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198279242
- eISBN:
- 9780191601910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279248.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Section I of this chapter discusses how, by not embarking on the journey linking city space, capitalist development, and class formation, Marxism denied itself a critical dimension in the material ...
More
Section I of this chapter discusses how, by not embarking on the journey linking city space, capitalist development, and class formation, Marxism denied itself a critical dimension in the material analysis both of the target it wished to confront and of the class it expected to be the agent of this successful engagement. Section II looks at how the separation between the social classes within the new social geography of the capitalist city in the nineteenth century helped assure the residential propinquity of members of the working class, as well as their isolation from other classes. However, with the elaboration of new networks made possible by the nationalization of labour markets, there was a growing sense that working classes shared a fate that transcended given localities, while advances in communications and transportation made the ties between class and space more complicated and tentative. Analyses are included of this break in working‐class history given in the work of Krishan Kumar and Craig Calhoun, and by Olivier Zunz and Richard Oestreicher in their studies of Detroit at the turn of the nineteenth century. Sections III–V show that the relationship of Marxism and the city and urban space now stands on unsure ground, since it is the politics and viability of class itself as the dominant form of collective identity that is currently under challenge; the discussion given here draws on the work of Mark Gottendiener and Eric Hobsbaum within the new urban Marxism.Less
Section I of this chapter discusses how, by not embarking on the journey linking city space, capitalist development, and class formation, Marxism denied itself a critical dimension in the material analysis both of the target it wished to confront and of the class it expected to be the agent of this successful engagement. Section II looks at how the separation between the social classes within the new social geography of the capitalist city in the nineteenth century helped assure the residential propinquity of members of the working class, as well as their isolation from other classes. However, with the elaboration of new networks made possible by the nationalization of labour markets, there was a growing sense that working classes shared a fate that transcended given localities, while advances in communications and transportation made the ties between class and space more complicated and tentative. Analyses are included of this break in working‐class history given in the work of Krishan Kumar and Craig Calhoun, and by Olivier Zunz and Richard Oestreicher in their studies of Detroit at the turn of the nineteenth century. Sections III–V show that the relationship of Marxism and the city and urban space now stands on unsure ground, since it is the politics and viability of class itself as the dominant form of collective identity that is currently under challenge; the discussion given here draws on the work of Mark Gottendiener and Eric Hobsbaum within the new urban Marxism.
François De Polignac
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263259
- eISBN:
- 9780191734618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263259.003.0003
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter examines the forms, process, and meaning of urbanization in the early Archaic Period in Greece. It explains that the Greek world is particularly suitable for a study of the processes of ...
More
This chapter examines the forms, process, and meaning of urbanization in the early Archaic Period in Greece. It explains that the Greek world is particularly suitable for a study of the processes of urbanization in the Archaic Mediterranean. Prime candidates for the essential traits of a Greek town are the clear functional distinctions between different types of space, and one such distinction is that between exterior and urban space.Less
This chapter examines the forms, process, and meaning of urbanization in the early Archaic Period in Greece. It explains that the Greek world is particularly suitable for a study of the processes of urbanization in the Archaic Mediterranean. Prime candidates for the essential traits of a Greek town are the clear functional distinctions between different types of space, and one such distinction is that between exterior and urban space.
Farah Jasmine Griffin
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195088960
- eISBN:
- 9780199855148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195088960.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
The need of the African Americans to resort to safe spaces is discussed in the chapter. Safe spaces manifested themselves as songs, memory, oral culture, and spirituality that reminded African ...
More
The need of the African Americans to resort to safe spaces is discussed in the chapter. Safe spaces manifested themselves as songs, memory, oral culture, and spirituality that reminded African Americans of their ancestral origins. Urban spaces were the places where different social classes struggled for control. These were created by urban power; migrants may either resist or subject themselves to urban power. The experiences of different African Americans from the migration narratives are described briefly in the chapter to show how each of them coped with the environment brought about by urban power.Less
The need of the African Americans to resort to safe spaces is discussed in the chapter. Safe spaces manifested themselves as songs, memory, oral culture, and spirituality that reminded African Americans of their ancestral origins. Urban spaces were the places where different social classes struggled for control. These were created by urban power; migrants may either resist or subject themselves to urban power. The experiences of different African Americans from the migration narratives are described briefly in the chapter to show how each of them coped with the environment brought about by urban power.
Ida Susser
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195367317
- eISBN:
- 9780199951192
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367317.003.0000
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter opens with a brief discussion of the production of urban space and the historical contributions of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs to the structuring of New York City. The section that ...
More
This chapter opens with a brief discussion of the production of urban space and the historical contributions of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs to the structuring of New York City. The section that follows outlines the impact of globalization and the increasing inequalities that have framed the lives of New Yorkers over the past three decades. The next section focuses on the changing conditions of life in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, as well as the ongoing community organizing around environmental justice and affordable housing. It follows the long and concerted collaboration among many community groups, churches, local politicians, and others for a fair and sustainable Community Development Plan, which came to be known as 197A. It shows how, after 9/11/2001, in Greenpoint–Williamsburg, the Bloomberg administration introduced massive plans for rezoning, overruling the previously approved Community Development Plan 197A. The final section traces the immediate impact of the 2008 global economic crisis on the half-built new condominiums precipitated by the Bloomberg rezoning.Less
This chapter opens with a brief discussion of the production of urban space and the historical contributions of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs to the structuring of New York City. The section that follows outlines the impact of globalization and the increasing inequalities that have framed the lives of New Yorkers over the past three decades. The next section focuses on the changing conditions of life in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, as well as the ongoing community organizing around environmental justice and affordable housing. It follows the long and concerted collaboration among many community groups, churches, local politicians, and others for a fair and sustainable Community Development Plan, which came to be known as 197A. It shows how, after 9/11/2001, in Greenpoint–Williamsburg, the Bloomberg administration introduced massive plans for rezoning, overruling the previously approved Community Development Plan 197A. The final section traces the immediate impact of the 2008 global economic crisis on the half-built new condominiums precipitated by the Bloomberg rezoning.
Allen J. Scott
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199549306
- eISBN:
- 9780191701511
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199549306.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
This book is about the renaissance of cities in the 21st century and their increasing role as centers of creative economic activity. It attempts to put some conceptual and descriptive order around ...
More
This book is about the renaissance of cities in the 21st century and their increasing role as centers of creative economic activity. It attempts to put some conceptual and descriptive order around issues of urbanization in the contemporary world, emphasizing the idea of the social economy of the metropolis, which is to say, a view of the urban organism as an intertwined system of social and economic life played out through the arena of urban space. The book opens with a review of some essentials of urban theory. It aims to re-articulate the urban question in a way that is relevant to city life and politics in the present era. It then analyses the functional characteristics of the urban economy, with special reference to the rise of a group of core sectors such as media, fashion, music, etc. focused on cognitive and cultural forms of work. These sectors are growing with great rapidity in the world’s largest cities at the present time, and they play a major role in the urban resurgence that has been occurring of late. The discussion then explores the spatial ramifications of this new economy in cities and the ways in which it appears to be ushering in major shifts in divisions of labor and urban social stratification, as marked by a growing divide between a stratum of elite workers on the one side and a low-wage proletariat on the other.Less
This book is about the renaissance of cities in the 21st century and their increasing role as centers of creative economic activity. It attempts to put some conceptual and descriptive order around issues of urbanization in the contemporary world, emphasizing the idea of the social economy of the metropolis, which is to say, a view of the urban organism as an intertwined system of social and economic life played out through the arena of urban space. The book opens with a review of some essentials of urban theory. It aims to re-articulate the urban question in a way that is relevant to city life and politics in the present era. It then analyses the functional characteristics of the urban economy, with special reference to the rise of a group of core sectors such as media, fashion, music, etc. focused on cognitive and cultural forms of work. These sectors are growing with great rapidity in the world’s largest cities at the present time, and they play a major role in the urban resurgence that has been occurring of late. The discussion then explores the spatial ramifications of this new economy in cities and the ways in which it appears to be ushering in major shifts in divisions of labor and urban social stratification, as marked by a growing divide between a stratum of elite workers on the one side and a low-wage proletariat on the other.
Bryant Simon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195167535
- eISBN:
- 9780199789016
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167535.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
During the first half of the 20th century, Atlantic City was the nation's most popular middle-class resort — the home of the famed Boardwalk, the Miss America Pageant, and the board game Monopoly. By ...
More
During the first half of the 20th century, Atlantic City was the nation's most popular middle-class resort — the home of the famed Boardwalk, the Miss America Pageant, and the board game Monopoly. By the late 1960s, it had become a symbol of urban decay and blight. Several decades and a dozen casinos later, Atlantic City is again one of America's most popular tourist spots, with thirty-five million visitors a year. Yet most stay for a mere six hours, the city doesn't have a single movie theater and its one supermarket is a virtual fortress. This book uses the case of Atlantic City to discuss the boundaries of public space in urban America. It argues that in the past public space was not about democracy but about exclusion. During Atlantic City's heyday, African Americans were kept off the Boardwalk and away from the beaches. Desegregation overturned this racial balance in the mid-1960s, making the city's public spaces more open and democratic and many middle-class Americans fled to suburban-style resorts such as Disneyworld. With the opening of the city's first casino in 1978, the urban balance once again shifted and tourists were deliberately kept away from the city's grim reality and its predominantly poor African American residents. The narrative of this book points to the troubling fate of urban America, and the observations and conclusions of this book to implications for those interested in urban studies, sociology, planning, architecture, and history.Less
During the first half of the 20th century, Atlantic City was the nation's most popular middle-class resort — the home of the famed Boardwalk, the Miss America Pageant, and the board game Monopoly. By the late 1960s, it had become a symbol of urban decay and blight. Several decades and a dozen casinos later, Atlantic City is again one of America's most popular tourist spots, with thirty-five million visitors a year. Yet most stay for a mere six hours, the city doesn't have a single movie theater and its one supermarket is a virtual fortress. This book uses the case of Atlantic City to discuss the boundaries of public space in urban America. It argues that in the past public space was not about democracy but about exclusion. During Atlantic City's heyday, African Americans were kept off the Boardwalk and away from the beaches. Desegregation overturned this racial balance in the mid-1960s, making the city's public spaces more open and democratic and many middle-class Americans fled to suburban-style resorts such as Disneyworld. With the opening of the city's first casino in 1978, the urban balance once again shifted and tourists were deliberately kept away from the city's grim reality and its predominantly poor African American residents. The narrative of this book points to the troubling fate of urban America, and the observations and conclusions of this book to implications for those interested in urban studies, sociology, planning, architecture, and history.
CARLOS MONSIVÁIS
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264461
- eISBN:
- 9780191734625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264461.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This chapter describes Mexico City through the observant eyes of Carlos Monsiváis, an influential and engaging commentator of the transformations of the city. This urban cronica offers snapshots of ...
More
This chapter describes Mexico City through the observant eyes of Carlos Monsiváis, an influential and engaging commentator of the transformations of the city. This urban cronica offers snapshots of the post-apocalyptic city. It looks at the different ways in which the ordinary people negotiate and appropriate urban space or the lack of space in the city and amusingly presents such snapshots of Mexico City as its source of pride. Blending humour with social criticism, the chapter discusses the ‘humanism of squeeze’ and the pluralism on the metro and subway of Mexico wherein singularity and anonymity is abolished by squeezing the nation into an entire square meter. The chapter also offers political criticisms for the travails of working and marginalized people with a sense of wit including the attempts for the Americanization of some of the cities of the nation.Less
This chapter describes Mexico City through the observant eyes of Carlos Monsiváis, an influential and engaging commentator of the transformations of the city. This urban cronica offers snapshots of the post-apocalyptic city. It looks at the different ways in which the ordinary people negotiate and appropriate urban space or the lack of space in the city and amusingly presents such snapshots of Mexico City as its source of pride. Blending humour with social criticism, the chapter discusses the ‘humanism of squeeze’ and the pluralism on the metro and subway of Mexico wherein singularity and anonymity is abolished by squeezing the nation into an entire square meter. The chapter also offers political criticisms for the travails of working and marginalized people with a sense of wit including the attempts for the Americanization of some of the cities of the nation.
Christine Hentschel
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694310
- eISBN:
- 9781452952475
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694310.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
The introductory chapter charts the rediscovery of space as a prime strategy of security governance and city making in post-apartheid urban South Africa and other cities around the world. It suggests ...
More
The introductory chapter charts the rediscovery of space as a prime strategy of security governance and city making in post-apartheid urban South Africa and other cities around the world. It suggests how to write Durban, a South African city with a dramatic history of spatial ordering, into urban and political theory – hence challenging the divisions still dominant in urban studies between cities of the North and cities of the South.Less
The introductory chapter charts the rediscovery of space as a prime strategy of security governance and city making in post-apartheid urban South Africa and other cities around the world. It suggests how to write Durban, a South African city with a dramatic history of spatial ordering, into urban and political theory – hence challenging the divisions still dominant in urban studies between cities of the North and cities of the South.
Diane Singerman (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774162886
- eISBN:
- 9781617970351
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774162886.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This cross-disciplinary, ethnographic, contextualized, and empirical book explores the meaning and significance of urban space, and maps the spatial inscription of power on the mega-city of Cairo. ...
More
This cross-disciplinary, ethnographic, contextualized, and empirical book explores the meaning and significance of urban space, and maps the spatial inscription of power on the mega-city of Cairo. Suspicious of collective life and averse to power-sharing, Egyptian governance structures weaken but do not stop the public's role in the remaking of their city. What happens to a city where neo-liberalism has scaled back public services and encouraged the privatization of public goods, while the vast majority cannot afford the effects of such policies? Who wins and losses in the “march to the modern and the global” as the government transforms urban spaces and markets in the name of growth, security, tourism, and modernity? How do Cairenes struggle with an ambiguous and vulnerable legal and bureaucratic environment when legality is a privilege affordable only to the few or the connected? This companion to Cairo Cosmopolitan (AUC Press, 2006) further develops the central insights of the Cairo School of Urban Studies.Less
This cross-disciplinary, ethnographic, contextualized, and empirical book explores the meaning and significance of urban space, and maps the spatial inscription of power on the mega-city of Cairo. Suspicious of collective life and averse to power-sharing, Egyptian governance structures weaken but do not stop the public's role in the remaking of their city. What happens to a city where neo-liberalism has scaled back public services and encouraged the privatization of public goods, while the vast majority cannot afford the effects of such policies? Who wins and losses in the “march to the modern and the global” as the government transforms urban spaces and markets in the name of growth, security, tourism, and modernity? How do Cairenes struggle with an ambiguous and vulnerable legal and bureaucratic environment when legality is a privilege affordable only to the few or the connected? This companion to Cairo Cosmopolitan (AUC Press, 2006) further develops the central insights of the Cairo School of Urban Studies.
Michael Edema Leary-Owhin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781447305743
- eISBN:
- 9781447311454
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447305743.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Social Policy
This important book presents new international comparative research that engages critically with Lefebvre’s spatial theories and challenges recent thinking about the nature of urban space. The book ...
More
This important book presents new international comparative research that engages critically with Lefebvre’s spatial theories and challenges recent thinking about the nature of urban space. The book elucidates the production of urban public space and in so doing stimulates a rethinking of Lefebvre’s spatial theories and the essence of public space. The two main research objectives are to tease out the implications of the production of space for post-industrial city transformation and to unravel the role of differential space in such transformation. Empirically the research is grounded in three iconic post-industrial cities: Vancouver, Canada; Lowell, Massachusetts, US; and Manchester, England. Although strongly rooted theoretically, the book locates the conceptual ideas in the practice of urban policy making, urban planning and the politicised everyday use of public space. Extensive original archival research and interview research in the three cities forms the basis for an exploration of how urban public spaces, especially what Lefebvre calls differential space, are socially produced. Spatial coalitions, counter-representations and counter-projects are seen as vital elements in such processes. Differential space is shown to erupt through the vulnerabilities of neo-capitalist abstract space. The book demonstrates the importance of inclusive differential space for everyday democratic life in cities. The book contributes critically to the post-industrial city comparative analysis literature and provides an accessible guide for those who care about cities, public space, city planning and urban policy.Less
This important book presents new international comparative research that engages critically with Lefebvre’s spatial theories and challenges recent thinking about the nature of urban space. The book elucidates the production of urban public space and in so doing stimulates a rethinking of Lefebvre’s spatial theories and the essence of public space. The two main research objectives are to tease out the implications of the production of space for post-industrial city transformation and to unravel the role of differential space in such transformation. Empirically the research is grounded in three iconic post-industrial cities: Vancouver, Canada; Lowell, Massachusetts, US; and Manchester, England. Although strongly rooted theoretically, the book locates the conceptual ideas in the practice of urban policy making, urban planning and the politicised everyday use of public space. Extensive original archival research and interview research in the three cities forms the basis for an exploration of how urban public spaces, especially what Lefebvre calls differential space, are socially produced. Spatial coalitions, counter-representations and counter-projects are seen as vital elements in such processes. Differential space is shown to erupt through the vulnerabilities of neo-capitalist abstract space. The book demonstrates the importance of inclusive differential space for everyday democratic life in cities. The book contributes critically to the post-industrial city comparative analysis literature and provides an accessible guide for those who care about cities, public space, city planning and urban policy.
Cristina D’Alessandro
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781447335702
- eISBN:
- 9781447335740
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447335702.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter examines integrated urban resource management, flows, governance, and hubs in developing countries given how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have brought an increased attention ...
More
This chapter examines integrated urban resource management, flows, governance, and hubs in developing countries given how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have brought an increased attention to urban natural resources and sustainable development worldwide. Focusing on spaces and spatial dynamics, it offers policy guidance on the implementation of urban sustainability within the context of the post-2015 global agenda and the SDGs. The chapter first considers urban sustainable development before discussing the urbanisation and metropolisation processes and explaining the definition of ‘resources’. It then explores resource governance in urban spaces by drawing on resource geography as a framework. It also presents examples and insights of cities in the developing world to elucidate what is actually done and the role that resources have in these processes. It concludes with policy recommendations, arguing that the sustainability framework can be used to foster positive and realistic change in metropolises and capital cities.Less
This chapter examines integrated urban resource management, flows, governance, and hubs in developing countries given how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have brought an increased attention to urban natural resources and sustainable development worldwide. Focusing on spaces and spatial dynamics, it offers policy guidance on the implementation of urban sustainability within the context of the post-2015 global agenda and the SDGs. The chapter first considers urban sustainable development before discussing the urbanisation and metropolisation processes and explaining the definition of ‘resources’. It then explores resource governance in urban spaces by drawing on resource geography as a framework. It also presents examples and insights of cities in the developing world to elucidate what is actually done and the role that resources have in these processes. It concludes with policy recommendations, arguing that the sustainability framework can be used to foster positive and realistic change in metropolises and capital cities.
Valentina Napolitano
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233188
- eISBN:
- 9780520928473
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233188.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter explores the prisms of belonging that emerge in the relationship between urban and rural space in Mexico. It presents people's narratives about the home, the neighborhood, the city and ...
More
This chapter explores the prisms of belonging that emerge in the relationship between urban and rural space in Mexico. It presents people's narratives about the home, the neighborhood, the city and places of origin and also describe ways in which these places and sites of affectivity are revisited. It suggests that spaces are associated with particular ways of being and moral beliefs, which shift in relation to the contexts in which they are perceived.Less
This chapter explores the prisms of belonging that emerge in the relationship between urban and rural space in Mexico. It presents people's narratives about the home, the neighborhood, the city and places of origin and also describe ways in which these places and sites of affectivity are revisited. It suggests that spaces are associated with particular ways of being and moral beliefs, which shift in relation to the contexts in which they are perceived.
Christine Hentschel
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694310
- eISBN:
- 9781452952475
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694310.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
Security in the Bubble is about the struggles of urbanites to come to terms with life in the city as dangerous. This book examines newly emerging aesthetic, affective and inclusionary spatialities of ...
More
Security in the Bubble is about the struggles of urbanites to come to terms with life in the city as dangerous. This book examines newly emerging aesthetic, affective and inclusionary spatialities of security governance. Urban South Africa is an especially pertinent site for such an endeavour: post-apartheid South Africa has reinvented space, using it as a technique of governance in more “positive” and sophisticated ways that ultimately alter the landscape of urban fragmentation. No longer reducible to the after-pains of racial apartheid nor to a new class segregation, this fragmentation is now better conceptualized as a heterogeneous ensemble of bubbles of (imagined) safety. Security in the Bubble is about the political dilemma that this landscape of bubbles creates: Security can only be achieved through particularistic strategies against the commons of the city. The book traces two emerging urban regimes of governing security in contemporary Durban: handsome space and instant space. Handsome space is about aesthetic and affective communication as means to make places safe. Instant space addresses the personal crime-related “navigation” systems of urban residents as they circulate through the city. In both regimes, security is not conceived as a public good, but as a situational experience. The logic of these regimes cuts across distinctions of private and public places or informal and formal actors of security governance and follows remarkably similar rationales of ordering, whether in a bar, a city improvement district, or an informal parking lot.Less
Security in the Bubble is about the struggles of urbanites to come to terms with life in the city as dangerous. This book examines newly emerging aesthetic, affective and inclusionary spatialities of security governance. Urban South Africa is an especially pertinent site for such an endeavour: post-apartheid South Africa has reinvented space, using it as a technique of governance in more “positive” and sophisticated ways that ultimately alter the landscape of urban fragmentation. No longer reducible to the after-pains of racial apartheid nor to a new class segregation, this fragmentation is now better conceptualized as a heterogeneous ensemble of bubbles of (imagined) safety. Security in the Bubble is about the political dilemma that this landscape of bubbles creates: Security can only be achieved through particularistic strategies against the commons of the city. The book traces two emerging urban regimes of governing security in contemporary Durban: handsome space and instant space. Handsome space is about aesthetic and affective communication as means to make places safe. Instant space addresses the personal crime-related “navigation” systems of urban residents as they circulate through the city. In both regimes, security is not conceived as a public good, but as a situational experience. The logic of these regimes cuts across distinctions of private and public places or informal and formal actors of security governance and follows remarkably similar rationales of ordering, whether in a bar, a city improvement district, or an informal parking lot.
Alison Stenton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199280728
- eISBN:
- 9780191700149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280728.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
In considering John Gay's poem Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716), with its descriptions of London street life at the turn of the eighteenth century, a geographic approach ...
More
In considering John Gay's poem Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716), with its descriptions of London street life at the turn of the eighteenth century, a geographic approach might focus on how this urban space is represented by one contemporary writer; alternatively, the literary critic might be interested in how London is represented in a poetic mode. To look at the poem through the lens of cultural geography, however, is not simply to fillet the text for detail of particular places; rather it is to take a more critical approach to representation, and in doing so, to refocus attention from specific places to spaces. As the city space of Trivia is forever in motion, the walker's own movements join forces with the swarming people and changing scenes, and, at the same time, plot a single course through the crowds. For the walker, maintaining order by avoiding physical contact is one way of occupying urban space by placing the individual's course over and above the movements of everyone else.Less
In considering John Gay's poem Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716), with its descriptions of London street life at the turn of the eighteenth century, a geographic approach might focus on how this urban space is represented by one contemporary writer; alternatively, the literary critic might be interested in how London is represented in a poetic mode. To look at the poem through the lens of cultural geography, however, is not simply to fillet the text for detail of particular places; rather it is to take a more critical approach to representation, and in doing so, to refocus attention from specific places to spaces. As the city space of Trivia is forever in motion, the walker's own movements join forces with the swarming people and changing scenes, and, at the same time, plot a single course through the crowds. For the walker, maintaining order by avoiding physical contact is one way of occupying urban space by placing the individual's course over and above the movements of everyone else.
Lederhendler Eli
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195134681
- eISBN:
- 9780199848652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134681.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter argues that it is only the Jewish neighborhood that has been cast in the Jewish imagination as an urban Jewish space, as if not much about the urban experience is pertinent to Jewish ...
More
This chapter argues that it is only the Jewish neighborhood that has been cast in the Jewish imagination as an urban Jewish space, as if not much about the urban experience is pertinent to Jewish social history once we have stepped outside the residential or occupational ethnic niche. With the exception of New York City, no city as a whole has been imagined as a Jewish space: a “home,” in the way that a shtetl or neighborhood is conceived as a home. The fact that urban space as such is not “worthy” of historicizing or folklorizing in the modern Jewish imagination is reflected in the virtual lack of Jewish monuments in American cities.Less
This chapter argues that it is only the Jewish neighborhood that has been cast in the Jewish imagination as an urban Jewish space, as if not much about the urban experience is pertinent to Jewish social history once we have stepped outside the residential or occupational ethnic niche. With the exception of New York City, no city as a whole has been imagined as a Jewish space: a “home,” in the way that a shtetl or neighborhood is conceived as a home. The fact that urban space as such is not “worthy” of historicizing or folklorizing in the modern Jewish imagination is reflected in the virtual lack of Jewish monuments in American cities.
Elke Beyer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449918
- eISBN:
- 9780801463211
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449918.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter examines how planning for mobility, especially automobility, shaped designs for city centers in the USSR and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) during the 1960s. Taking the first ...
More
This chapter examines how planning for mobility, especially automobility, shaped designs for city centers in the USSR and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) during the 1960s. Taking the first All-Union Conference on Urban Planning held in Moscow in 1960, it traces the evolution of urbanist debates in the architectural press and the urban design practice of the two countries. It discusses the general plans for Togliatti in 1968 and Moscow in 1971, both of which represented official approval of a definitive model for the modern Soviet city, and situates the fragmentary realization of these plans within the context of urbanism. The chapter also considers conceptions of space and “utopias of usage” at the root of urban planning and how central urban spaces were engineered and represented as spaces of movement.Less
This chapter examines how planning for mobility, especially automobility, shaped designs for city centers in the USSR and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) during the 1960s. Taking the first All-Union Conference on Urban Planning held in Moscow in 1960, it traces the evolution of urbanist debates in the architectural press and the urban design practice of the two countries. It discusses the general plans for Togliatti in 1968 and Moscow in 1971, both of which represented official approval of a definitive model for the modern Soviet city, and situates the fragmentary realization of these plans within the context of urbanism. The chapter also considers conceptions of space and “utopias of usage” at the root of urban planning and how central urban spaces were engineered and represented as spaces of movement.
SanSan Kwan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199921515
- eISBN:
- 9780199980390
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199921515.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Kinesthetic City takes as its premise the idea that moving bodies, place, history, and identity are mutually productive. Analyzing both everyday movement and contemporary concert dance ...
More
Kinesthetic City takes as its premise the idea that moving bodies, place, history, and identity are mutually productive. Analyzing both everyday movement and contemporary concert dance in five Chinese urban sites – Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, New York's Chinatown, and the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles – this book explores transnational formations of Chineseness. Not definable by national boundaries, biological essences, central political systems, or even shared cultural norms, Chineseness is a mobile yet abiding idea. This book examines the ways that Chineseness is, at key historical moments, highly contested in each of these cities while paradoxically sustained as a collective consciousness across all of them. It argues that global communities can be studied through an investigation of dance and everyday movement practices as they are situated in particular places and times. This project claims choreography not only as an object of study, however. That is, it relies not merely upon movement analyses of concert dance in these Chinese cities, but also upon kinesthesia — one dancer-scholar's somatic sensation of movement — as a way to analyze these urban spaces. Choreography serves as both subject and method in this book. Kinesthetic City expands the fields of dance studies and Asian/Asian American studies by placing personal kinesthetic experience of city space in dialogue with a study of aesthetic movement practices in order to theorize the ways in which choreography, broadly conceived, is productively intertwined with processes of space, time, and community formation in a globalized era.Less
Kinesthetic City takes as its premise the idea that moving bodies, place, history, and identity are mutually productive. Analyzing both everyday movement and contemporary concert dance in five Chinese urban sites – Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, New York's Chinatown, and the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles – this book explores transnational formations of Chineseness. Not definable by national boundaries, biological essences, central political systems, or even shared cultural norms, Chineseness is a mobile yet abiding idea. This book examines the ways that Chineseness is, at key historical moments, highly contested in each of these cities while paradoxically sustained as a collective consciousness across all of them. It argues that global communities can be studied through an investigation of dance and everyday movement practices as they are situated in particular places and times. This project claims choreography not only as an object of study, however. That is, it relies not merely upon movement analyses of concert dance in these Chinese cities, but also upon kinesthesia — one dancer-scholar's somatic sensation of movement — as a way to analyze these urban spaces. Choreography serves as both subject and method in this book. Kinesthetic City expands the fields of dance studies and Asian/Asian American studies by placing personal kinesthetic experience of city space in dialogue with a study of aesthetic movement practices in order to theorize the ways in which choreography, broadly conceived, is productively intertwined with processes of space, time, and community formation in a globalized era.
Heba Salem and Kantaro Taira
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789774165337
- eISBN:
- 9781617971303
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774165337.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Draws on the concepts of striated and smooth space in Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus to translate the politics of street art of the revolution as “a performance and product ...
More
Draws on the concepts of striated and smooth space in Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus to translate the politics of street art of the revolution as “a performance and product of aesthetic smoothing that resists the dominant striated narratives of the state.” As the author argues, street art becomes a way for Egyptians to reclaim and re-appropriate urban space. From the first tags that called for the downfall of the regime, to the rock formations made from crumbles of broken pavement in Tahrir, and the elaborate murals memorializing the martyrs, street artists have challenged the state's instruments of monopolizing public space and homogenizing Egyptian life and identity. Over the past months, Egypt's Military Council has mounted a “war on graffiti” targeting political artwork that is now widespread in Egyptian cities. Graffiti works inciting protest, or critiquing the military junta and the state security forces, or articulating the demands of the revolution, have systematically been painted over, dismantled, or “cleaned up” and several artists have been harassed and arrested by the Military Council for bringing art to the street in a clear show-down and contest over both public space and the space of visual consumption.Less
Draws on the concepts of striated and smooth space in Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus to translate the politics of street art of the revolution as “a performance and product of aesthetic smoothing that resists the dominant striated narratives of the state.” As the author argues, street art becomes a way for Egyptians to reclaim and re-appropriate urban space. From the first tags that called for the downfall of the regime, to the rock formations made from crumbles of broken pavement in Tahrir, and the elaborate murals memorializing the martyrs, street artists have challenged the state's instruments of monopolizing public space and homogenizing Egyptian life and identity. Over the past months, Egypt's Military Council has mounted a “war on graffiti” targeting political artwork that is now widespread in Egyptian cities. Graffiti works inciting protest, or critiquing the military junta and the state security forces, or articulating the demands of the revolution, have systematically been painted over, dismantled, or “cleaned up” and several artists have been harassed and arrested by the Military Council for bringing art to the street in a clear show-down and contest over both public space and the space of visual consumption.
Christine Hentschel
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694310
- eISBN:
- 9781452952475
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694310.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
“The Politics of Crime and Space in South Africa” builds a historical framework for understanding the politics of crime and space in urban South Africa and contextualizes themes crucial to the ...
More
“The Politics of Crime and Space in South Africa” builds a historical framework for understanding the politics of crime and space in urban South Africa and contextualizes themes crucial to the empirical analysis discussed later in the book, namely security deficits, segregation, plural policing, as well as information and communication politics. Handsome space reconstructs city makers’ and security experts’ taste for aesthetic and affective communication as a means of making their places safe.Less
“The Politics of Crime and Space in South Africa” builds a historical framework for understanding the politics of crime and space in urban South Africa and contextualizes themes crucial to the empirical analysis discussed later in the book, namely security deficits, segregation, plural policing, as well as information and communication politics. Handsome space reconstructs city makers’ and security experts’ taste for aesthetic and affective communication as a means of making their places safe.
Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151762
- eISBN:
- 9781400842599
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151762.003.0010
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This concluding chapter looks at the aftermath of the pogrom in 2002. Since then, almost every year has seen small altercations such as stone throwing between residents in specific areas of the city. ...
More
This concluding chapter looks at the aftermath of the pogrom in 2002. Since then, almost every year has seen small altercations such as stone throwing between residents in specific areas of the city. Most of these skirmishes never make it into the newspapers and are part of a strange local status quo—the nooks and crannies of local communal aggregation in urban space. To allude to these episodes too directly makes one suspicious, as it disturbs the comfortable arrangement of low-intensity tension in designated urban areas, which can be manipulated whenever the need arises. It also confirms stereotypes about Dalit and Muslim communities that circulate locally. Those who talk of the violence might be accused of being instruments of some malignant anti-Gujarati plots intended to deride the state's fabulous economic development or, worse, of being anti-Hindu.Less
This concluding chapter looks at the aftermath of the pogrom in 2002. Since then, almost every year has seen small altercations such as stone throwing between residents in specific areas of the city. Most of these skirmishes never make it into the newspapers and are part of a strange local status quo—the nooks and crannies of local communal aggregation in urban space. To allude to these episodes too directly makes one suspicious, as it disturbs the comfortable arrangement of low-intensity tension in designated urban areas, which can be manipulated whenever the need arises. It also confirms stereotypes about Dalit and Muslim communities that circulate locally. Those who talk of the violence might be accused of being instruments of some malignant anti-Gujarati plots intended to deride the state's fabulous economic development or, worse, of being anti-Hindu.
