Showing papers on "Urbanism published in 2016"

Who's Afraid of Postcolonial Theory?

Abstract: Recent assertions of urban theory have dismissed the value of postcolonial critique in urban studies. This essay draws on postcolonial theory to demonstrate key flaws in such theoretical formulations. In doing so, it returns to the puzzle of how and why studying urbanism in the global South might matter for the reconceptualization of critical urban theory. Instead of a universal grammar of cityness, modified by (exotic) empirical variation, the essay foregrounds forms of theorization that are attentive to historical difference as a fundamental constituent of global urbanization. What is at stake, the essay concludes, is a culture of theory, one that in its Eurocentrism tends to foreclose multiple concepts of the urban and alternative understandings of political economy. A concern with the relationship between place, knowledge and power-a key insight of postcolonial critique-might make possible new practices of theory in urban studies.

Comparative Urbanism: New Geographies and Cultures of Theorizing the Urban

Abstract: In response to the growing interest in ways to take forward an agenda for a more global urban studies, this essay advocates a comparative approach to theory building which can help to develop new understandings of the expanding and diverse world of cities and urbanization processes, building theory from different contexts, resonating with a diversity of urban outcomes but being respectful of the limits of always located insights. The essay is inspired by the potential of the comparative imagination but, mindful of the limitations of formal comparative methods, which in a quasi-scientific format can drastically restrict the scope of comparing, it outlines ways to reformat comparative methods in order to put them to work more effectively for a more global urban studies. The essay proposes a new typology for comparative methods based on the vernacular practices of urban comparison, tracing these through the archives of comparative urbanism. It also suggests some lines of philosophical reflection for reframing the scope and style of theorizing. New repertoires of comparativism are indicated which support the possibility of a revisable urban theory, starting from anywhere.

The ethics of smart cities and urban science

Abstract: Software-enabled technologies and urban big data have become essential to the functioning of cities. Consequently, urban operational governance and city services are becoming highly responsive to a form of data-driven urbanism that is the key mode of production for smart cities. At the heart of data-driven urbanism is a computational understanding of city systems that reduces urban life to logic and calculative rules and procedures, which is underpinned by an instrumental rationality and realist epistemology. This rationality and epistemology are informed by and sustains urban science and urban informatics, which seek to make cities more knowable and controllable. This paper examines the forms, practices and ethics of smart cities and urban science, paying particular attention to: instrumental rationality and realist epistemology; privacy, datafication, dataveillance and geosurveillance; and data uses, such as social sorting and anticipatory governance. It argues that smart city initiatives and urban science need to be re-cast in three ways: a re-orientation in how cities are conceived; a reconfiguring of the underlying epistemology to openly recognize the contingent and relational nature of urban systems, processes and science; and the adoption of ethical principles designed to realize benefits of smart cities and urban science while reducing pernicious effects.This article is part of the themed issue 'The ethical impact of data science'.

Current debates in urban theory: A critical assessment:

Abstract: Urban studies today is marked by many active debates. In an earlier paper, we addressed some of these debates by proposing a foundational concept of urbanisation and urban form as a way of identifying a common language for urban research. In the present paper we provide a brief recapitulation of that framework. We then use this preliminary material as background to a critique of three currently influential versions of urban analysis, namely, postcolonial urban theory, assemblage theoretic approaches and planetary urbanism. We evaluate each of these versions in turn and find them seriously wanting as statements about urban realities. We criticise (a) postcolonial urban theory for its particularism and its insistence on the provincialisation of knowledge, (b) assemblage theoretic approaches for their indeterminacy and eclecticism and (c) planetary urbanism for its radical devaluation of the forces of agglomeration and nodality in urban-economic geography.

Debate on Global Urbanisms and the Nature of Urban Theory.

Abstract: Urban studies is undergoing a phase of rich experimentation, with a proliferation of paradigms and exploration or invention of various methodologies inspired by the diversity and shifting geographies of global urbanization. In particular, there has been an effort to rethink the Euro–American legacy of urban studies and consider the relational multiplicities, diverse histories and dynamic connectivities of global urbanisms. Such a task is especially important at a time when significant urban transformations are underway in the global South. From the remaking of the developmental state at the urban scale to fierce struggles over land, housing and urban services to ambitious visions of the world-class city, these urban processes cannot be understood as simply a postscript to the urban transformations of the North Atlantic.

Speculative futures: Cities, data, and governance beyond smart urbanism:

Abstract: In this paper, I examine the convergence of big data and urban governance beyond the discursive and material contexts of the smart city I argue that in addition to understanding the intensifying relationship between data, cities, and governance in terms of regimes of automated management and coordination in ‘actually existing’ smart cities, we should further engage with urban algorithmic governance and governmentality as material-discursive projects of future-ing, ie, of anticipating particular kinds of cities-to-come As urban big data looks to the future, it does so through the lens of an anticipatory security calculus fixated on identifying and diverting risks of urban anarchy and personal harm against which life in cities must be securitized I suggest that such modes of algorithmic speculation are discernible at two scales of urban big data praxis: the scale of the body, and that of the city itself At the level of the urbanite body, I use the selective example of mobile neighborhood safety apps t

Strategies for Comparative Urbanism: Post‐socialism as a De‐territorialized Concept

Abstract: The aim of this article is to critically assess the study of post-socialist cities with respect to comparative urbanism. Even though comparative urbanism has challenged the division of the world into largely incommensurable regional containers, where some regions are sources of theory while others remain in the periphery of thinking, post-socialist cities have remained doubly excluded: neither centre nor periphery, neither mainstream nor part of the critique. This article introduces three ways in which post-socialism has and could be perceived: as a container, as a condition and as a de-territorialized concept. It is argued here that seeing post-socialism as a de-territorialized concept that would apply to particular aspects of cities and societies rather than territorialized units in general would allow cities regularly seen as post-socialist to be incorporated into global urban theorizing, while distinctive local histories and experiences still remain analytically present. The article cautions researchers against area-based imaginations of urban theorization, instead arguing in favour of an approach that sees cities first and foremost as ordinary while some aspects could be claimed to be post-socialist. Tallinn is used here as a site from which to draw examples for this mainly literature-based conceptual analysis.

Life at the urban margins: Sanitation infra-making and the potential of experimental comparison

Abstract: How is life at the urban margins made and remade? In this paper, we examine this question in relation to ‘sanitation urbanism’, and through attention to what we call ‘infra-making’, defined as the ...

Making a smart city for the smart grid? The urban material politics of actualising smart electricity networks

Abstract: In a growing debate about the smart city, considerations of the ways in which urban infrastructures and their materialities are being reconfigured and contested remain in the shadows of analyses which have been primarily concerned with the management and flow of digitalisation and big data in pursuit of new logics for economic growth In this paper, we examine the ways in which the ‘smart city’ is being put to work for different ends and through different means We argue that the co-constitution of the urban as a site for carbon governance and a place where smart energy systems are developed is leading to novel forms of governmental intervention operating at the conjunction of the grid and the city We seek to move beyond examining the rationales and discourses of such interventions to engage with the ways in which they are actualised in and through particular urban conditions in order to draw attention to their material politics In so doing, we argue that the urban is not a mere backdrop to transitions in electricity provision and use but central to its politics, while electricity is also critical to the ways in which we should understand the politics of urbanism

Technologies of austerity urbanism: the “smart city” agenda in Italy (2011–2013)

Abstract: In the heyday of the late 2000s financial crisis, austerity urbanism became a dominant practice of state financial restructuring—an intensification in the encroachment of the neoliberal project into the agendas of local governments. In the specific case of Italy, which faced political and economic distress between 2011 and 2013, “smart city” policies became one of the foundational political technologies for the implementation of austerity measures. In this paper, I analyse how the smart city provided a lexicon for urban austerity through a series of different sites and vehicles of policymaking, from practitioners to companies and other institutions. I argue that smart city discourses and practices functioned as a political technology that was effective in justifying cost containment measures and supporting the shift to pro-innovation public expenditures. Yet, at the same time, the smart city techno-utopian vocabulary created spaces where other meanings and, potentially, alternative political outcomes were...

Tactical urbanism: Towards an evolutionary cities’ approach?:

Abstract: Tactical urbanism initiatives have been interpreted as an alternative and a challenge to formal spatial planning tools to the need for a more responsive planning system. Short-term implementation, scarce resources and citizens’ involvement are said to be the key characteristics of this emerging movement in urbanism. In tactical urbanism, everything seems focussed on one thing: action. This paper analyses tactical urbanism initiatives in the United States considering three main aspects: the process, its interaction with planning institutions and the respective urban design outcomes. For this, the relation between tactical urbanism and complexity theory (in which self-organisation and evolution play an important role) is addressed. Findings suggest some contributions that tactical urbanism can make to urban design and spatial planning, in evolutionary terms and possible role for tactical urbanism in alternative to traditional division between plan making and plan implementation.

Detroit after Bankruptcy: A Case of Degrowth Machine Politics

Abstract: It is widely accepted that neoliberalism is intensified in times of crisis, and Jamie Peck has argued that ‘austerity urbanism’ has been implemented at the urban scale since the 2008 financial crisis. This article questions whether this narrative of neoliberal expansion is applicable in cities where crisis is so severe that economic growth seems highly unlikely. I focus on Detroit, whose recent declaration of bankruptcy signals the recognition among local officials and elites that the city’s decline cannot be reversed with out-of-the-box neoliberal policies. Instead, the city’s bankruptcy precipitated a breakdown of an interscalar growth coalition, and local actors have embraced a plan for Detroit’s future which diverges from ‘austerity urbanism’ favoured by extra-local investors in significant ways. Importantly, local actors have embraced a plan that seeks to improve the quality of life for the city’s residents in the context of irreversible degrowth. I refer to this as degrowth machine politics and I ex...

Contesting neoliberal urbanism in Glasgow's community gardens: The practice of DIY citizenship

Abstract: In this journal, it has been suggested that citizens practising community gardening “can become complicit in the construction of neoliberal hegemony”. Such hegemony is maintained, it is argued, through the day-to-day work of neoliberal citizen-subjects, which “alleviates the state from service provision”. In this paper we acknowledge that community gardens are vulnerable to neoliberal cooptation. But, even where neoliberal practices are evidenced, such practices do not define or foreclose other socio-political subjectivities at work in the gardens. We contend that community gardens in Glasgow cultivate collective practices that offer us a glimpse of what a progressively transformative polity can achieve. Enabled by an interlocking process of community and spatial production, this form of citizen participation encourages us to reconsider our relationships with one another, our environment and what constitutes effective political practice. Inspired by a range of writings on citizenship formation we term this “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) Citizenship.

Translational Global Praxis: Rethinking Methods and Modes of African Urban Research

Abstract: Advancing global urbanism depends upon making Africa's cities a more dominant part of the global urban narrative. Constructing a more legitimate research agenda for African cities, however, necessitates a repositioning of conventional modes of research. To achieve intellectual and political traction in what are typical African research conditions-where human needs are great, information is poor, conditions of governance are complex and the reality is changeable-we reflect on the experiences of the African Centre for Cities where (alongside conventional use of theory, methods and data) a translational mode of working has been adopted. The notion of translational urban research praxis captures more than the idea of applied research or even co-production, and encompasses integrating the research conception, design, execution, application and reflection-and conceiving of this set of activities as a singular research/practice process that is by its nature deeply political and locationally embedded. In this way we suggest that African urbanism can be both usefully illuminated by global theories and methods, and can simultaneously be constitutive of the reform of the ideas through which cities generally are understood.

Networked Urbanism: Social Capital in the City

Abstract: Contents: Preface Social capital and networked urbanism, Talja Blokland and Mike Savage. Part 1 Social Capital and the End of Urbanism: The end to urbanism: how the changing spatial structure of cities affected its social capital potentials, Talja Blokland and Douglas Rae The flowing enclave and the misanthropy of networked affluence, Rowland G. Atkinson Place, space and race: monopolistic group closure and the dark side of social capital, Bruce D. Haynes and Jesus Hernandez. Part 2 Networks and Urban Social Capital: A new place, a new network? Social capital effects of residential relocation for poor women, Alexandra M. Curley The weakness of weak ties. Social capital to get ahead among the urban poor in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Taljia Blokland and Floris Noordhoff Middle class neighbourhood attachment in Paris and Milan: partial exit and profound rootedness, Alberta Andreotti and Patrick Le GalAs. Part 3 Urban Associations and Social Capital: Gardening with a little help from your (middle class) friends: bridging social capital across race and class in a mixed neighbourhood, Talja Blokland Political participation, social networks and the city, Mike Savage, Gindo Tampubolon and Alan Warde Conserving the past of a quiet suburb: urban politics, association networks and speaking for 'the community', Fiona Devine, Peter Halfpenny, Nadia Joanne Britton and Rosemary Mellor Social capital and the formation of London's middle classes, Tim Butler Index.

Subjectification in Times of Indebtedness and Neoliberal/Austerity Urbanism

Abstract: How can we analyse the (re)emergence of squatting in relation to the current housing crisis in Italy? Centred on the case of Rome, the paper theorizes this return as resulting from processes of subjectification in the housing sector linked to the raising of indebtedness as a main dispositif of capitalism under neoliberal/austerity urbanism agendas The political economy-oriented literature on neoliberal/austerity urbanism is bridged with the post-Marxist approach of Maurizio Lazzarato Debt is seen as the archetype of social relations, shaping and controlling subjectivities, making the “work on yourself” essential to the reproduction of (indebted) society However, given the circular nature of power, indebtedness can be generative of new processes of subjectification aimed at subverting the same power relation In this sense, the paper operationalizes the conceptualization of Foucauldian subjectification recently proposed by Judith Revel, emphasizing how subjectification always results from (1) an action/gesture and (2) a consequent deconstruction of the identity

Handbook of Biophilic City Planning and Design

Abstract: What if, even in the heart of a densely developed city, people could have meaningful encounters with nature? While parks, street trees, and green roofs are increasingly appreciated for their technical services like storm water reduction, from a biophilic viewpoint, they also facilitate experiences that contribute to better physical and mental health: natural elements in play areas can lessen children's symptoms of ADHD and adults who exercise in natural spaces can experience greater reductions in anxiety and blood pressure. The Handbook of Biophilic City Planning & Design offers practical advice and inspiration for ensuring nature in the city is more than infrastructure, that it also creates an emotional connection to the earth and promotes well-being among urban residents. Divided into six parts, the Handbook begins by introducing key ideas, literature, and theory about biophilic urbanism; followed by chapters that highlight urban biophilic innovations in more than a dozen global cities; the final part concludes with lessons on how to advance an agenda for urban biophilia and an extensive list of resources.As the most comprehensive reference on the emerging field of biophilic urbanism, the Handbook is essential reading for students and practitioners looking to place nature at the core of their planning and design ideas and encourage what pre-eminent biologist E. O. Wilson described as "the innate emotional connection of humans to all living things."

Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon

Abstract: Luxury and Rubble is the tale of two cities in Ho Chi Minh City It is the story of two planned, mixed-use residential and commercial developments that are changing the face of Vietnam’s largest city Since the early 1990s, such developments have been steadily reorganizing urban landscapes across the country For many Vietnamese, they are a symbol of the country’s emergence into global modernity and of post-socialist economic reforms However, they are also sites of great contestation, sparking land disputes and controversies over how to compensate evicted residents In this penetrating ethnography, Erik Harms vividly portrays the human costs of urban reorganization as he explores the complex and sometimes contradictory experiences of individuals grappling with the forces of privatization in a socialist country “With captivating ethnography and trenchant analysis, Erik Harms delves deeply into two communities created and destroyed by redevelopment in contemporary Ho Chi Minh City He poignantly shows how master plans defining personhood in terms of property rights empower some to live in luxury, while leaving others in the rubble of dispossession” ANN MARIE LESHKOWICH, author of Essential Trade: Vietnamese Women in a Changing Marketplace “Beautifully written A remarkable achievement in urban studies and a must-read for anyone interested in changing spatial form, sociality, rights consciousness, and class dynamics in neoliberal times” LI ZHANG, author of In Search of Paradise: Middle-Class Living in a Chinese Metropolis “Once in a while, a book comes along and makes us rethink how cities and capitalism work Luxury and Rubble is one of those, giving us new conceptual insights into urbanism and doing so through an intensely lived and beautifully narrated ethnography” ANANYA ROY, editor of Worlding Cities: Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global ERIK HARMS is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University and the author of Saigon’s Edge: On the Margins of Ho Chi Minh City

The Ancient City

Abstract: Greece and Rome were quintessentially urban societies. Ancient culture, politics and society arose and developed in the context of the polis and the civitas. In modern scholarship, the ancient city has been the subject of intense debates due to the strong association in Western thought between urbanism, capitalism and modernity. In this book, Arjan Zuiderhoek provides a survey of the main issues at stake in these debates, as well as a sketch of the chief characteristics of Greek and Roman cities. He argues that the ancient Greco-Roman city was indeed a highly specific form of urbanism, but that this does not imply that the ancient city was somehow 'superior' or 'inferior' to forms of urbanism in other societies, just (interestingly) different. The book is aimed primarily at students of ancient history and general readers, but also at scholars working on urbanism in other periods and places.

African Urbanism: the Geography of Urban Greenery

Abstract: Whilst the issue of urban greenery has received considerable research attention in many individual African countries in recent years, little has been done to explore and document the influence and the management implications of urbanisation on urban greenery across Africa. To address this gap, this paper reviews the state of urban greenery across African cities by analysing urbanisation pressures on the preservation and management of urban greenery. Drawing from published literature, policy documents and international reports, the study findings indicate an increasing depletion of urban greenery across major cities in Africa owing to urbanisation-induced anthropogenic influences. This paper advocates for an urban resilience model to management of urban greenery.

Rural–Urban Living and Level of Economic Development as Factors in Subjective Well-Being

Abstract: This article analyses the combined effect on subjective well-being of rural versus urban environments and a country’s level of economic development. There is a great deal of controversy regarding the subjective well-being of people in different places. Fischer’s works report greater happiness among village inhabitants than among urban residents. However, in ‘Urbanism as a way of life’, Wirth demonstrates the attractiveness of the urban environment in contributing to subjective well-being. Our data set includes 29 countries participating in the 2012 ESS. The results confirm the hypothesis that in wealthier countries, rural living standards are high enough to create a higher level of subjective well-being; while in less developed countries the rural environment cannot compete with urban resources for creating subjective well-being.

The influence of urban development dynamics on community resilience practice in New York City after Superstorm Sandy: Experiences from the Lower East Side and the Rockaways

Abstract: While (urban) resilience has become an increasingly popular concept, especially in the areas of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), it is often still used as an abstract metaphor, with much debate centered on definitions, differences in approaches, and epistemological considerations. Empirical studies examining how community-based organizations (CBOs) “practice” resilience on the ground and what enables these CBOs to organize and mobilize around resilience are lacking. Moreover, in the growing context of competitive and entrepreneurial urbanism and conflicting priorities about urban (re)development, it is unclear how urban development dynamics influence community-based resilience actions. Through empirical research conducted on the Lower East Side, a gentrifying neighborhood in Manhattan, and in Rockaway, a socio-spatially isolated neighborhood in Queens, we investigate community organizing of low-income residents for (climate) resilience in a post-disaster context. Results show that both the operationalization of resilience – how resilience is “practiced” – and the community capacity to organize for the improved resilience of low-income residents are strongly influenced by pre-existing urban development dynamics and civic infrastructure – the socio-spatial networks of community-based organizations – in each neighborhood. The Lower East Side, with its long history of community activism and awareness of gentrification threats, was better able to mobilize broadly and collectively around resilience needs while the more socio-spatially isolated neighborhoods on the Rockaway peninsula were more constrained.

Code and the City

Abstract: Software has become essential to the functioning of cities. It is deeply embedded into the systems and infrastructure of the built environment and is entrenched in the management and governance of urban societies. Software-enabled technologies and services enhance the ways in which we understand and plan cities. It even has an effect on how we manage urban services and utilities. Code and the City explores the extent and depth of the ways in which software mediates how people work, consume, communication, travel and play. The reach of these systems is set to become even more pervasive through efforts to create smart cities: cities that employ ICTs to underpin and drive their economy and governance. Yet, despite the roll-out of software-enabled systems across all aspects of city life, the relationship between code and the city has barely been explored from a critical social science perspective. This collection of essays seeks to fill that gap, and offers an interdisciplinary examination of the relationship between software and contemporary urbanism. This book will be of interest to those researching or studying smart cities and urban infrastructure.

Recombinant Urbanism Conceptual Modeling In Architecture Urban Design And City Theory

Abstract: Will reading habit influence your life? Many say yes. Reading recombinant urbanism conceptual modeling in architecture urban design and city theory is a good habit; you can develop this habit to be such interesting way. Yeah, reading habit will not only make you have any favourite activity. It will be one of guidance of your life. When reading has become a habit, you will not make it as disturbing activities or as boring activity. You can gain many benefits and importances of reading.

Gentrification and revanchist urbanism in Taipei

Abstract: As policy and theory travel, comparative urbanism becomes important to address questions concerning if and how gentrification and revanchist urbanism have ‘gone South’, or ‘gone East’. In recent decades, Taipei has experienced a shift in economic base, massive urban renewal, neoliberal reforms and associated social polarisation. In this paper we ask to what extent gentrification and revanchist urbanism are relevant concepts for understanding processes of urban restructuring in this East Asian developmental state capital city. The analysis relates national and urban politics to gentrification of the Yongkang, Qingtian, Wenzhou and Huaguang neighbourhoods in Daan District, Taipei. We investigate manifestations of Atkinson’s four analytical strands of revanchist urbanism in Taipei. We conclude that revanchist urbanism has to a considerable extent formed urban development in Taipei during the last quarter century, and that unless democratising forces tame the power of finance and property capital, effectively claiming the right to the city, urban improvements by progressive movements will be valorised by the architects of revanchist urbanism: finance and property capital. (Less)

‘Asset Price Urbanism’ and Financialization after the Crisis: Ireland's National Asset Management Agency

Abstract: The impact of the global financial crisis on cities is the subject of an important body of research. One aspect which has received surprisingly little attention is the urban dimension of government interventions in the financial sector, particularly given the integration of finance and real estate is widely understood as a key driver of the crisis. This article examines one such intervention, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), a 'bad bank' established by the Irish government to acquire and manage 'toxic' real estate loans from the banking sector. Although envisaged as an intervention in the financial sector, the relationship between finance and real estate is such that the agency has a significant impact on urban development and, at the same time, that the management of urban space plays a key role in resolving the financial crisis and restoring the flow of credit in the economy. The article develops the concept of 'asset price urbanism' to capture the way in which urban space and its relationship to finance is managed to bolster the relationship between real estate and credit, and theorizes this as a significant aspect of contemporary accumulation. The article thus makes an empirically grounded conceptual contribution to literature on the urban dimension of financialization.

A nomadic war machine in the metropolis

Abstract: This paper builds upon Colin McFarlane's 2011 call in City for an ‘assemblage urbanism’ to supplement critical urbanism. It does so by mapping the spatio-political contours of London's 21st-century housing crisis through the geophilosophical framework of Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus ([1980] 2013, London: Bloomsbury] and Hardt and Negri's analysis of the metropolis in Commonwealth (2009, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press). The paper examines the Focus E15 housing campaign based around a group of young mothers in the East London borough of Newham. In 2013, the mothers were living in the Focus E15 foyer supported housing unit for young people in Newham, but they were subsequently threatened with eviction as a result of welfare cuts. After successfully contesting the mothers’ own prospective expulsion from the city, the campaign shifted to the broader struggle for ‘social housing not social cleansing’. The paper draws upon participant observation at campaign events and interviews with key ...