Planetary Urbanization: Mutations of the Urban Question

2019 ◽  
pp. 300-333
Author(s):  
Neil Brenner

A new round of debate on the urban question is today unfolding, in relation to which key aspects of inherited urban theories, including those produced in recent decades, now appear inadequate or even obsolete. Against this background, this chapter considers the wide-ranging epistemological, conceptual, and methodological challenges posed by emergent patterns and pathways of planetary urban transformation, which are relativizing the inherited spatial dualisms (city/countryside, urban/rural, human/nonhuman) and scalar imaginaries that have long anchored the field of urban studies. The production of these dramatically rescaled urban spaces engenders major challenges for critical theory, research, imagination, and practice.

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110383
Author(s):  
Ana Elena Builes-Vélez ◽  
Lina María Suárez Velásquez ◽  
Leonardo Correa Velásquez ◽  
Diana Carolina Gutiérrez Aristizábal

In recent years, urban design development has been an important topic in Latin American cities such as Medellín due to the transformation of their urban spaces, along with the new methods used to evaluate the social, morphological, and, in some cases, economic impacts that have been brought about by the urban development projects. When inquiring about the development process and impact of urban studies, and the inhabitants’ relation to a transformed space, it is important to establish the context within which images, drawings, and photographs are analyzed, using graphical approaches triangulated with other research methods to define comparative criteria. In this article, we reflect on the expanded use of various research tools for the analysis of urban transformation, taking with reference the experience lived by a group of researchers in two Latin American cities. From this, it is intended to understand how they work and how they allow us to understand the urban transformation of these cities, the data obtained, and the vision of the researchers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009614422110129
Author(s):  
Nicha Tantivess ◽  
David J. Edelman

This article discusses the urban spaces of the pseudo-colonial city via the urban transformation in the eastern area of Bangkok between 1855 and 1932. During this period, the Thai royal government was under pressure from colonialism in the Southeast Asian region. To prevent colonization of the country, the kings aimed to strengthen their economic and political powers through administrative reform, educational development, infrastructure construction, and land commodification Thus, the urban spaces in Bangkok were significantly transformed. The eastern area became a transitional zone between the administrative center of the royal government and the commercial center where foreign traders resided. Furthermore, this transitional zone continued expanding into the area of rural communities, and, consequently, the traditional settlements of the local people gradually lost population.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4630
Author(s):  
Eduardo Bassolino ◽  
Maria Cerreta

In a scenario in which the climate changes subject urban centres and large cities to high levels of environmental vulnerability and criticality underway, it is evident the need to define operational and straightforward decision-making tools capable of prefiguring and verifying the effectiveness of urban transformation climate-adaptive regeneration processes. The Climate Adaptive Design Index for the Built Environment (CADI-BE) tool has been developed to assess the adaptive capacity and level of performance of open urban spaces to the stresses due to the increase in global average temperatures. The repercussions of these phenomena cause the occurrence of heatwaves and the urban heat island effect (UHI), bringing out the inability of cities to cope with changes in the climate, making urban open spaces unlivable and no longer the ideal habitat for everyday life and social interactions.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-52
Author(s):  
Marjan Ivkovic

The author attempts at questioning Habermas? and Honneth?s claim that the linguistic turn within Critical Theory of society represents a way out of the ?dead end? of the first generation of Frankfurt School theorists, who were unable to formulate an action-theoretic understanding of social conflicts. By presenting a view that Adorno, in his ?Negative dialectic?, develops an insight into a crucial characteristic of the conflict nature of modern societies, which eludes the lingustic-pragmatist Critical Theory, the author tries to defend and reactualize Adorno?s perspective. The paper analyzes some key aspects of the original idea of Critical Theory, and the ?negativistic turn? that Adorno and Horkheimer made with the writing of ?Dialectic of Enlightenment?. Having considered the central arguments of the ?Negative Dialectic?, the author presents his understanding of Adorno?s concept of social conflict, which is then being contrasted with Habermas? understanding of social conflict, formulated in terms of a systemic colonization of the lifeworld. Pointing out the weaknesses of Habermas? concept, the author aims at sharpening the image of the conflict nature of modern societies that Adorno sketches, concluding that his perspective is able to question the framework of intersubjectivity that Habermas and Honneth take for granted.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-151
Author(s):  
Giuliana Bonifati

The current historical context is characterised by a significant change in the economic and social fields that have led to the development of the economy of creativity and knowledge. This condition has laid the basis for the rise of a new social class. This radical change in the productive paradigm has started a series of modifications to urban spaces, setting in place a rooted change in the fabric of the city.The objective of this paper is to understand and interpret the nature of the changes under way and to investigate how what occurred in economic and social fields influenced the processes of urban regeneration. Starting from a theoretical background it will examine the concept of creativity applied to economics and social sciences. Secondly, by identifying the urban environment of London as a case study, it will analyze single cases that will show the root of these practices within urban spaces. The purpose of it will be verified by the possibility of building urban transformation strategies that use creativity as the tool of change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Zazo-Moratalla ◽  
Isidora Troncoso-González ◽  
Andrés Moreira-Muñoz

Cities, in recent years, have seen their functional and metabolic relationships with their agrarian hinterland being either broken off completely or substantially damaged. Within this context, Local Food Systems (LFS) can play a key role in restoring the supply relationships under regenerative assumptions. This paper analyses LFS within the Concepción Metropolitan Area (CMA) as a representative case of Metropolitan Areas in Chile. The aim of the paper is to evaluate whether LFS are regenerating sustainable rural-urban relationships, and to accomplish this goal, foodsheds have been used as a methodological tool to both characterise and represent food traceability. For this purpose, three quantitative foodshed indicators have been applied and three qualitative spatial analytical categories of the Regenerative Food Systems (RFS) defined to decode the behaviour of LFS in the CMA. The proposed method has been successful as an initial exploratory attempt to characterize the regenerative potential of RFS. The results highlight that LFS in the CMA are certainly restoring relationships between the city and its surrounding farmland by establishing new and renewed supply linkages. Further, the application of this method has shed light on some key aspects that show how an LFS is being converted into a potential RFS.


Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802094903
Author(s):  
Alistair Kefford

This article engages a long-established paradigm within urban studies: that of the transition from managerialism to entrepreneurialism in late 20th-century urban governance and the associated process of neoliberalisation. It begins from a fundamental intellectual problem; although we are well served with studies of urban entrepreneurialism and neoliberalism, we know surprisingly little of the detailed workings of the ‘pre-neoliberal’, managerial era from the 1940s to the 1970s. In the absence of sustained investigation of this period, many chronologies and critiques of urban transformation rest upon a set of assumptions which – as this article shows – are not always accurate. The article focuses upon Britain, tracing the installation of a modern planning regime in the 1940s and surveying some key features of the UK urban redevelopment regime as it evolved over the ensuing decades. It shows that much of what is held to be paradigmatic of neoliberal urbanism (public–private partnerships, urban entrepreneurialism, financialisation) was already powerfully present within British urbanism in the earlier, managerial era. I highlight in particular the dramatic post-war rise of the UK property development industry, and the new urban forms and norms it generated, as a key product of the era of urban managerialism in Britain. I relate these surprising findings to Britain’s distinctive history and political economy but I also advance arguments that are of wider relevance; around the nature and aims of governance from the 1940s to the 1970s, and how we should best conceptualise and explain processes of neoliberalisation.


Inter ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-28
Author(s):  
Kseniia N. Kalashnikova

The article is devoted to the consideration of the concept of authenticity set forth by S. Zukin in the book “Naked City: Death and Life of Authentic Urban Spaces”. The sources of the concept are traced in the author’s early works, the main subjects described in them are: the process of gentrification; power relations forming the urban landscape; symbolic economy and the power of cultural characteristics. These subjects became the basis of the idea of authenticity. Its manifestations are described by the example of “uncommon” and “common” urban spaces. A separate place in the article is considered by the development of individual ideas of Sh. Zukin, their interpretations, as well as applications for specific studies in the work of followers. The conclusion is drawn about the variety of interpretations offered by researchers and the ambiguity of using authenticity as a tool for analyzing the city.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Danijela Rogina ◽  
◽  
Radivoje Dinulović ◽  

The human population is currently on the rise and most Europeans live in urban areas, leading to increased urbanization. The change comes with its challenges, as cities, architecture, and urban spaces need to become more fluid, multi-functional, and innovative. This paper examines whether a change of use of public spaces, and functions of architectural and urban forms, can be used as an element in the implementation of sustainable urbanization. The theoretical framework of this paper focuses on literature findings relating to identified key aspects such as innovative approaches in changes of use — recycling and upcycling, green infrastructure and financial aspects, concepts of “right of the place”, and public participation. These aspects are addressed on both theoretical and practical levels, with the National Theatre in London as a case study. Findings convey that the change of use of spaces can be utilized to achieve sustainable urbanization, together with the management of functions and uses of architectural and urban forms. However, further research is needed with various stakeholders to identify a solid and inherent database, as a foundation on which the most optimal urban spaces would emerge, by identifying new functions and uses of urban space and architecture.


Author(s):  
Ashraf M. Salama ◽  
Adel M. Remali ◽  
Farzad Pour Rahimian

This article commemorates a decade of discourse and published research on architecture and urbanism in ArchNet-IJAR (March 2007-March 2017). While the journal does not publish regular editorials associating each issue, it is believed that offering key highlights of growth since the inception of the journal is now due. The article presents the current position of ArchNet-IJAR within the international provision of journals in architecture and urban studies in key databases and index-bases. This is substantiated by key statistics of submissions, published contributions, and acceptance rates during the past 10 years. Coupled with analytical discussion on the global reach of the ArchNet-IJAR, the article identifies 11 research fields, which were covered in 10 volumes since the journal’s inception. Analytical discussions of recent two theme issues as well as latest developments and contributions during the past few years are presented to reflect on the rigor and quality of the journal while depicting its thrust and interest. The article concludes by key aspects relevant to the future aspirations of ArchNet-IJAR while highlighting initiatives and prospective endeavours.


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