Queer urban trauma and its spatial politics: A lesson from social movements in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802091883
Author(s):  
Gilly Hartal ◽  
Chen Misgav
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
Tel Aviv ◽  
Urban Activism ◽  
Lgbt Community ◽  
Urban Contexts

Growing attention has been devoted to the political geography of urban social movements but trauma, its urban context and spatial politics, have been significantly neglected. This paper aims to develop the concept of ‘queer urban trauma’ and its aftermath in the sense of urban and spatial activism, through an analysis of two traumatic events for the LGBT community in Israel. It explains how traumatic events taking place within urban contexts affect the spatial politics of LGBT and queer urban activism. Based on geographies of sexualities and queer theory, this paper aims to fill this gap by analysing traumatic events in two Israeli cities: the 2009 shooting of two young queers in a youth club in Tel Aviv, and the 2015 stabbing of a young girl during the Jerusalem Pride Parade. Tel Aviv is considered the liberal centre of Israel and a local ‘gay heaven’, as well as a destination for global gay tourism. Jerusalem on the other hand is usually described with a sense of alienation among LGBT and queer individuals and movements, where every political, spatial, cultural and financial achievement is a struggle. We argue that the politics of trauma are constructed differently in these two urban settings, producing important nuances of urban activism and politics. Through this empirical discussion, we develop the concept of ‘queer urban trauma’, revealing divergent forms of spatial visibility, presence and activity of the queer movements within urban spaces.

scholarly journals Sensing Urban Values: Reassessing Urban Cultures and Histories Amidst Redevelopment Agendas

2021 ◽  
pp. 120633122110006
Author(s):  
Carolyn Birdsall ◽  
Anastasiya Halauniova ◽  
Linda van de Kamp
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
The World ◽  
Urban Contexts

Introduction to Sensing Urban Values. This special issue assembles a set of papers that respond to a neglected, undertheorized yet crucial question relating to spatial politics and urban renewal: How do economic and non-economic values depend on and co-constitute each other in different urban contexts? In response, the contributors to this special issue build on recent critical reassessments of value; they explore how the spatial and cultural politics of value unfolds in contemporary urban environments globally. They examine cases that traverse Poland, South Africa, Malaysia, Germany, and The Netherlands. The papers demonstrate a theoretical and empirically engaged concern with themes such as the cultural dimensions of place-making processes in contemporary cities; how identity, memory, heritage, and value-making processes may matter for the production of urban spaces today through sensing; aesthetic reorganizations of places, movements, and interactions with urban matters; and through storytelling. Taking up the theme of urban valuation with a multisensory approach has prompted the contributors to explore the multiple and translocal ways through which urban valuations unfold, are performed, and are experienced. This approach reveals the multiple valuations of spaces—not only economic but also symbolic—that inform the struggles for social and spatial justice in cities across the world as well as their scholarly examinations.

scholarly journals [a] Project for the Sub-Centre

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Grace Helen Salisbury Mills
Keyword(s):  
City Centre ◽  
Urban Structure ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Cultural Transformations ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
A Site ◽  
The City

<p>In the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake, a state of polycentric urbanity was thrust upon New Zealand’s second largest city. As the city-centre lay in disrepair, smaller centres started to materialise elsewhere, out of necessity. Transforming former urban peripheries and within existing suburbs into a collective, dispersed alternative to the city centre, these sub-centres prompted a range of morphological, socio-cultural and political transformations, and begged multiple questions: how to imbue these new sub-centres with gravity? How to render them a genuine alternative to the CBD? How do they operate within the wider city? How to cope with the physical and cultural transformations of this shifting urbanscape and prevent them occurring ad lib? Indeed, the success and functioning of the larger urban structure hinges upon a critical, informed response to these sub-centre urban contexts. Yet, with an unrelenting focus on the CBD rebuild - effectively a polycentric denial - little such attention has been granted.  Taking this urban condition as its premise and its provocation, this thesis investigates architecture’s role in the emergent sub-centre. It asks: what can architecture do in these urban contexts; how can architecture act upon the emergent sub-centre in a critical, catalytic fashion? Identifying this volatile condition as both an opportunity for architectural experimentation and a need for critical architectural engagement, this thesis seeks to explore the sub-centre (as an idea and actual urban context) as architecture’s project: its raison d’etre, impetus and aspiration.  These inquiries are tested through design-led research: an initial design question provoking further, broader discursive research (and indeed, seeking broader implications). The first section is a site-specific, design for Sumner, Christchurch. Titled ‘An Agora Anew’; this project - both in conception and outcome - is a speculative response to a specific sub-centre condition. The second section ‘The Sub-centre as Architecture’s Project’ explores the ideas provoked by the design project within a discursive framework. Firstly it identifies the sub-centre as a context in desperate need of architectural attention (why architecture?); secondly, it negotiates a possible agenda for architecture in this context through terms of engagement that are formal, critical and opportunistic (how architecture?): enabling it to take a position on and in the sub-centre. Lastly, a critical exegesis positions the design in regards to the broader discursive debate: critiquing it an architectural project predicated upon the idea of the sub-centre.  The implications of this design-led thesis are twofold: firstly, for architecture’s role in the sub-centre (especially to Christchurch); secondly for the possibilities of architecture’s productive engagement with the city (largely through architectural form), more generally. In a century where radical, new urban contexts (of which the sub-centre is just one) are commonplace, this type of thinking – what can architecture do in the city? - is imperative.</p>

scholarly journals The Politics of Gendered Spatializations: A Study of Cityscapes in Manu Joseph’s Novels

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.S. Parvathi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
The Body ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
City Image ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

Burton Pike (1981) terms the cityscapes represented in literature as word-cities whose depiction captures the spatial significance evoked by the city-image and simultaneously, articulates the social psychology of its inhabitants (pp. 243). This intertwining of the social and the spatial animates the concept of spatiality, which informs the positionality of urban subjects, (be it the verticality of the city or the horizonality of the landscape) and determines their standpoint (Keith and Pile, 1993). The spatial politics underlying cityscapes, thus, determine the modes of social production of sexed corporeality. In turn, the body as a cultural product modifies and reinscribes the urban landscape according to its changing demographic needs. The dialectic relationship between the city and the bodies embedded in them orient familial, social, and sexual relations and inform the discursive practices underlying the division of urban spaces into public and private domains. The geographical and social positioning of the bodies within the paradigm of the public/private binary regulates the process of individuation of the bodies into subjects. The distinction between the public and the private is deeply rooted in spatial practices that isolate a private sphere of domestic, embodied activity from the putatively disembodied political, public sphere. Historically, women have been treated as private and embodied and the politics of the demarcated spaces are employed to control and limit women’s mobility. This gendered politics underlying the situating practices apropos public and private spaces inform the representations of space in literary texts. Manu Joseph’s novels, Serious Men (2010) and The Illicit Happiness of Other People (2012), are situated in the word-cities of Mumbai and Chennai respectively whose urban spaces are structured by such spatial practices underlying the politics of location. The paper attempts to problematize the nature of gendered spatializations informing the location of characters in Serious Men and The Illicit Happiness of Other People.

scholarly journals Conflictos por el espacio y orden urbano / Spatial Conflicts and Urban Order

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio Duhau ◽  
Ángela Giglia
Keyword(s):  
Mexico City ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Private Spaces ◽  
Space Organization ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
Space Production ◽  
Metropolitan Zone

En este artículo se explora una interpretación de los conflictos en torno al espacio en la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México (ZMCM) con base en los conceptos de orden y de contextos urbanos. Para ello se presenta en primer término un conjunto de formas históricas de producción del espacio urbano que, de acuerdo con los autores, conforman en la actualidad cuatro “ciudades”, es decir, otros tantos contextos urbanos que se diferencian entre sí, entre otras cuestiones, por el tipo de conflictos por el espacio que en cada uno de ellos aparece como dominante. En segundo término se examina el concepto de orden urbano y se propone una línea de interpretación de los conflictos relacionados con el espacio que marcan en la actualidad dicho orden en la metrópoli. Por último se describen e ilustran las dinámicas que caracterizan a cada uno de los cuatro contextos urbanos o “ciudades” a partir de las formas en que se combinan diferentes modalidades de organización del espacio, usos del espacio público y privado y conflictos dominantes por el espacio. AbstractResorting to the concepts of urban order and urban context, this paper explores an interpretation of conflicts concerning the uses and modes of appropriation of urban space in the metropolitan zone of Mexico City. To this end, it firstly characterizes a group of historical forms of urban space production that, according with the authors, have given place to four types of “cities” or urban contexts which are differentiated, among other things, because of the dominant spatial conflicts in each case observed. Then it discusses the concept of urban order and proposes an interpretation line of those spatial conflicts that, at present, shape the metropolitan urban order. Finally, it describes and exemplifies the four urban contexts dynamic, considering the ways in which different modalities of urban space organization, uses of public a private spaces, and dominant space conflicts are combined.

scholarly journals Attributes of Perceived Bikeability in a Compact Urban Neighborhood Based on Qualitative Multi-Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (19) ◽  
pp. 3738 ◽  
Author(s):  
HaeLi Kang ◽  
Dong Ha Kim ◽  
Seunghyun Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Policy System ◽  
Community System ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
Urban Contexts

Cycling provides opportunities to promote healthy and sustainable cities. However, few studies examine cyclists’ perceived attributes of a bicycle-friendly environment in relation to compact urban contexts. This study explored the attributes of perceived bikeability and urban context related to the cycling experience in Seoul, Korea. Purposive sampling with public recruitment and a snowball technique was used to recruit twenty-two cyclists and three bicycle-related community service providers from a bikeable environment. Qualitative multi-methods, including semi-structured interviews and bicycle tours with a GPS device, were adopted. The main themes of perceived bikeability were derived through thematic analysis. Cyclists perceived the attributes of a bicycle-friendly physical environment as essential components of bikeability. In urban environments where cycling is not yet recognized as the main transportation mode, internal conflict among cyclists and external conflicts between cyclists and other transportation users were evident. A supportive community system included developing an appropriate environment, providing information, and expanding riding opportunities. A bicycle-friendly culture accumulated over a long period influenced the initiation and maintenance of cycling and contributed to a more bikeable community environment. Cyclists’ attitude, behaviors, and perceived environment differed according to purpose. Policy, system, and environmental changes are required to promote cycling in compact urban contexts.

Queer Liberation Theory: A Genealogy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
The Political ◽  
Class Analysis ◽  
Single Issue ◽  
Road Map ◽  
The Relationship

An emerging critical theoretical framework, queer liberation theory attempts to understand the relationship between queerness and capitalism, and more specifically, anti-capitalist movements. It seeks to update and reinvigorate the structural analysis of the earlier gay/queer liberation movement (1960s and 1970s) with the benefit of the insights of queer theory and empirical queer experiences of neoliberal capitalism. Queer liberation theory recognizes and celebrates diverse sexual orientations and gender identities or expression, including essentialist identities such as gay, lesbian, and trans. Within a realist, structural framework, queer liberation theory is interested in how social movements can move beyond identity formation to produce progressive, structural change. To date, three main tenets of the theory have been noted: anti-assimilationism, solidarity across social movements, and the political economy of queerness. The use of the word “queer” signals a progressive, critical, sex-positive, anti-assimilationist, liberationist perspective as opposed to an assimilationist perspective that strives for respectability, acceptance, prestige, and monetary success on capitalism’s terms. The second tenet, solidarity across movements, is an attempt to transcend to the divisiveness of single-issue politics without sacrificing intersectionality. For example, queer liberation theory seeks to recognize, expose, and dismantle social structures that oppress all communities, albeit in different ways. The political economy of queerness refers to a class analysis of structural inequalities. A genealogy of queer liberation theory’s development shows where it reflects, incorporates, or rejects aspects of various theories including a social constructionist perspective, with its debates about essentialism and identities; social movement theory, with its political tensions between recognition and redistribution; queer theory, with its focus on fluidity and ambiguity; materialism, with the strengths and shortcomings of its class analysis; and intersectionality with its focus on a matrix worldview of interlocking systems of oppression; and feminist political economy, with its focus on social reproduction, but adequate recognition of queer sexuality. Indeed, feminist political economy offers something of a pink road map to discover what aspects of the economy will be important for queer liberation theory to explore. Feminist political economy is helpful in the development of queer liberation theory because it has long claimed sexuality and identity as legitimate, as opposed to frivolous, sites of scholarship and political struggle. Feminist political economy, like queer liberation theory, seeks to understand oppression based on sexuality in everyday life. However, the feminist political economy road map takes us only so far, because the focus of the analysis can be seen as gendered, and often cisgendered, lives. Queer liberation theory attempts to draw from these theories to better understand the relationship between queerness and capitalism and provide a basis for political action.

Embedding Design in Transdisciplinary Research: Perspectives from Urban Africa

Design Issues ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amollo Ambole
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Transdisciplinary Research ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Urban Africa ◽  
Urban Contexts ◽  
Set Up

Emergence in the African urban context provides unique opportunities to study novel ways of designing within a transdisciplinary set up, yet little has been written in this regard. In this paper, I reflect on how I have engaged in transdisciplinary research as a designer in Africa's urban contexts over the recent years. These reflections offer African perspectives that are enriched by ongoing global conversations around complex urban challenges. Going forward, design research in Africa's emerging urban contexts is well placed to contribute substantially to global discussions on transdisciplinarity.

The social context and politics of large scale urban architecture: Investigating the design of Barcode, Oslo

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bengt Andersen ◽  
Per Gunnar Røe
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Urban Architecture ◽  
Class A ◽  
The Social ◽  
Transnational Companies ◽  
City Centres

The well-known and much investigated rise of urban entrepreneurial policies has fuelled a transformation of urban spaces and landscapes, and has led to changes in the social composition of city centres. This is the case for Oslo, Norway’s capital, where increasingly urban policies are designed to attract transnational companies and those in the creative class. A key strategy to achieve this has been to transform the city’s waterfront through spectacular architecture and urban design, as has taken place in other European cities. Transnational and local architects have been commissioned to design the Barcode, one of the most striking waterfront projects. This article investigates the role of architecture and architects in this process, because architects can be seen as influential generators of urban spaces and agents for social change, and because there is remarkably little published empirical research on this specific role of architects. It is argued that although there was an overall planning goal that the projects along the waterfront of Oslo should contribute to social sustainability, with the implication that planners and architects possessed information about the local urban context and used this knowledge, in practice this was not the case. It is demonstrated that the architects paid little attention to the social, cultural and economic contexts in their design process. Rather, the architects emphasized the creation of an exciting urban space and, in particular, designed spectacular architecture that would contribute to the merits of the firms involved. It is further argued that because of this the Barcode project will not contribute to the making of a just city.

scholarly journals Catholics, science and civic culture in Victorian Belfast

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIARMID A. FINNEGAN ◽  
JONATHAN JEFFREY WRIGHT
Keyword(s):  
Local Politics ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Intellectual Culture ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
Victorian Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Urban Contexts

AbstractThe connections between science and civic culture in the Victorian period have been extensively, and intensively, investigated over the past several decades. Limited attention, however, has been paid to Irish urban contexts. Roman Catholic attitudes towards science in the nineteenth century have also been neglected beyond a rather restricted set of thinkers and topics. This paper is offered as a contribution to addressing these lacunae, and examines in detail the complexities involved in Catholic engagement with science in Victorian Belfast. The political and civic geographies of Catholic involvement in scientific discussions in a divided town are uncovered through an examination of five episodes in the unfolding history of Belfast's intellectual culture. The paper stresses the importance of attending to the particularities of local politics and scientific debate for understanding the complex realities of Catholic appropriations of science in a period and urban context profoundly shaped by competing political and religious factions. It also reflects more generally on how the Belfast story supplements and challenges scholarship on the historical relations between Catholicism and science.

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