Happy town: Cultural governance and biopolitical urbanism in China

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 244-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Oakes
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
State Power ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Neoliberal Governmentality ◽  
China Today ◽  
The City ◽  
Deliberate Effort

This paper explores the cultural inscription of urban space in China as a technology of government. Based on a three years of fieldwork, including interviews, surveys, and participant observation, the paper examines the case of one city’s campaign to increase its “happiness index” by creating an ethnic culturally themed built environment. The paper examines the city’s happiness campaign as a project of biopolitical urbanism, and finds that while urban Chinese governmentality bears some striking resemblances to liberal approaches that view the city as a machine for experimenting with, and producing, certain kinds of (governable) citizens and social relations, the happiness campaign should also be understood as a deliberate effort to reinforce state power at the local level. The happiness campaign, in other words, aims to reproduce a sovereign mode of state power even as it speaks a language of neoliberal governmentality. Thus, the colonization of culture by biopolitical urbanism in China today suggests a complex combination of disciplinary and discursive modalities of sovereign power rooted in the paternalistic legacies of Chinese statecraft.

3. Intervening with Agriculture: A Case Study of Guerrilla Gardening in Kingston, Ontario

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Crane
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

The purpose of this study was to analyze guerrilla gardening’s relationship to urban space and contemporary notions of sustainability. To achieve this two case studies of urban agriculture, one of guerrilla gardening and one of community gardening were developed. Through this comparison, guerrilla gardening was framed as a method of spatial intervention, drawing in notions of spatial justice and the right to the city as initially theorized by Henri Lefebvre. The guerrilla gardening case study focuses on Dig Kingston, a project started by the researcher in June of 2010, and the community gardening case study will use the Oak Street Garden, the longest standing community garden in Kingston. The community gardening case study used content analysis and semi-structured long format interviews with relevant actors. The guerrilla gardening case study consisted primarily of action based research as well as content analysis and semi-structured long format interviews. By contributing to the small, but growing, number of accounts and research on guerrilla gardening this study can be used as a starting point to look into other forms of spatial intervention and how they relate to urban space and social relations. Furthermore, through the discussion of guerrilla gardening in an academic manner more legitimacy and weight will be given to it as a method of urban agriculture and interventionist tactic. On a wider scale, perhaps it could even contribute to answering the question of how we (as a society) can transform our cities and reengage in urban space.

Ato Quayson's Oxford Street, Accra: Tracing Autobiographical Narrative in Analytical Method

PMLA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 496-504
Author(s):  
Anjali Prabhu
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
African City ◽  
Creative City ◽  
The Social ◽  
Implicit Argument ◽  
Oxford Street ◽  
The City ◽  
Autobiographical Narrative

In his fascinating study of accra, ato quays0n quickly alerts his reader to the idea that one must not separate ways of knowing shakespeare from ways of knowing Accra. “Reading” the city as a literary critic, but much more, Quayson gives a discursive framework to his historical account of the material, social, and esoteric life of the city. Underlying the text is an implicit argument with other prominent accounts of African cities, which take a more utopian view and present these cities as mapping the innovative, exciting, and creative possibilities of urban space for the rest of the world. Quayson's mode of history is explicitly linked to storytelling in a number of ways beyond his disclosure that “[t]he retelling of Accra's story from a more expansive urban historical perspective is the object of Oxford Street” (4). From the start, it is also clear that his approach will utilize a broadly Marxian framework, which is to see (city) space in terms of the built environment as well as the social relations in and beyond it: “space becomes both symptom and producer of social relations” (5). But ultimately Quayson's apprehension of his city is Marxian because it recuperates ideas, desires, and creativity from the realm of the unique or inexplicable, of “genius,” to effectively insert them into various systems of production or into spaces that lack them. In so doing Quayson enhances, not hinders, our appreciation of those forms of innovation. Also Marxian is his employment of the “negative,” which refers to the way he splits apart many of the accepted relations between things in the scholarship on the development of the city, the postcolonial African city in particular, and pushes beyond the evidence of the “booming” or “creative” city. Quayson thus binds a more philosophical method of reasoning to his analysis of urban social relations while he straddles different disciplines. His work is illuminated when we locate a personal impulse, which we will track through the autobiographical narrative, to intervene not just in the ways the city is understood but also in the ways it is actually developing.

scholarly journals RAINWATER MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS IN CITIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF ZIGUINCHOR, SENEGAL

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-79
Author(s):  
Cheikh FAYE ◽  
◽  
Bouly SANÉ ◽  
Eddy Nilsone GOMIS ◽  
Sécou Omar DIÉDHIOU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Demographic Development ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Interview Guide ◽  
The Face ◽  
Rainwater Management ◽  
The City

Senegalese cities are experiencing very rapid growth in terms of both spatial and demographic development, which has an impact on the management of runoff water, which is increasingly a major concern of authorities and urban populations. In these cities, public sanitation infrastructure is insufficient and unevenly distributed in urban space. The objective of this study is to characterize the problem of rainwater management in the city of Ziguinchor (southern Senegal). The methodology is based on an administration, a questionnaire submitted to 288 heads of households, and an interview guide with 13 actors who stand out in the environmental management component at the local level. The results obtained attest to a real problem of sanitation of rainwater managed in precarious conditions due to the lack of infrastructure and water management methods used by households. The infrastructural problem is a factor in the poor management of rainwater in Ziguinchor, while rainwater drainage practices do not protect the living environment of the populations. In the city of Ziguinchor, the main strategies adopted in the face of the sanitation network deficit are based on backfilling, the laying of sandbags and stones, evacuation through buckets.

Guardians of the Bourgeois City: Citizenship, Public Space, and Middle–Class Activism in Mumbai

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Neoliberal Governmentality ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The City

This article examines the new phenomenon of “citizens’ groups” in contemporary Mumbai, India, whose activities are directed at making the city's public spaces more orderly. Recent scholarship on Mumbai's efforts to become a “global” city has pointed to the removal of poor populations as an instance of neoliberal governmentality as espoused by the Indian state following the “liberalization” of the economy in the early 1990s. However, in this case, it is these civil society organizations, not the state—whose functionaries in fact benefit from a certain element of unruliness on the streets—who are the agents of increased control over populations and of the rationalization of urban space. This article, based on fieldwork–based research, argues that the way in which citizens’ groups exclude poor populations from the city is more complex than a straightforward deployment of neoliberalism, and is imbricated with transnational political economic arrangements in uneven and often inconsistent ways. in particular, this article explores how civic activists in these organizations envision their role in the city, and how their activism attempts to reconfigure the nature of citizenship. for instance, civic activists consider themselves to be the stewards of the city's streets and sidewalks, and wage their battles against what they consider unruly hawkers, a corrupt state, and a complacent middle–class public. Moreover, civic activists render street hawkers’ political claims illegitimate by speaking on behalf of the abstract “citizen”of Mumbai, thus implying that hawkers’ unions speak only on behalf of the vested interests of a single population. in this way, they mobilize a normative notion of civil society in order to exclude the vast segment of city residents who either sell or buy goods on the street. in doing so, the civic activists transform the discourse and practice of politics in the city, so that, ironically, while on one hand using the rhetoric of citizen participation, they in fact undermine the radically heterogeneous forms of democratic political participation the city offers.

Domestic space and identity: artisans, shopkeepers and traders in sixteenth-century Siena

Urban History ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAULA HOHTI
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Domestic Space ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Early Modern Italy ◽  
The City

ABSTRACT:Historians of early modern Italy have traditionally viewed the city's public spaces, such as streets, quarters, taverns and marketplaces, as the chief locations in which claims to identity were launched into the broader urban community. Recent studies on the domestic interior, however, have shown that the distinction between ‘public’ and ‘private’ in the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century urban space was much more complex. In this period, private urban houses became sites for an increasing range of social acitvities that varied from informal evening gatherings to large wedding banquets. Focusing on this ‘public’ dimension of the private urban house, this article explores how the middling classes of artisans and shopkeepers used the domestic space to construct identities and to facilitate social relations in sixteenth-century Siena. The aim is to show that in providing a setting for differing forms of economic and social activity, the urban home together with its objects and furnishings may have provided an increasingly important physical location for craftsmen, shop-owners and traders to negotaite individual and collective identities within the broader communities of the city.

scholarly journals "A Urca é o paraíso dos cegos": mobilidade urbana, acesso à cidade e territorialização

ILUMINURAS ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (37) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Von der Weid
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
City Center ◽  
Urban Scenes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

A cidade do Rio de Janeiro, com quase 12 milhões de habitantes na região metropolitana, é a segunda maior aglomeração urbana do Brasil. O artigo propõe uma reflexão a respeito das relações sociais em espaços públicos estabelecidas nessa cidade entre pessoas cegas e outras pessoas que circulam por ruas de bairros como Centro, Copacabana ou o bairro da Urca. Ao abordar os deslocamentos e as relações sociais estabelecidas ao longo do percurso, procura-se traçar a impressão espacial e urbana de pessoas cegas e o fluxo dos seus itinerários. Como se constroem os trajetos e a ocupação espacial da cidade por pessoas cegas? Qual o uso que fazem dos transportes públicos? Quais são os cenários eleitos, os bairros frequentados e as dificuldades encontradas no caminho? Ao questionar as representações que pessoas cegas fazem dos cenários urbanos, os fatores que promovem e os fatores que restringem sua mobilidade, procura-se também desestabilizar uma compreensão do espaço urbano centrada no olhar. Busca-se incorporar na descrição dos lugares os seus aspectos vividos, os elementos, as materialidades e os sinais não-visuais que possibilitam sua apreensão.Palavras-chave: Cegueira. Corpo. Deslocamento. Cidade. Teritorialização."Urca is the paradise of the blind": urban mobility, acess to the city and territoryAbstractThe city of Rio de Janeiro, with nearly 12 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area, is the second largest urban agglomeration in Brazil. This paper proposes a reflection on the social relations in public spaces established in that city between blind people and other people moving through the streets of neighborhoods like the city center, Copacabana or Urca. Addressing the displacements and the social relations established along the route, the article seeks to trace the urban and spatial impressions of blind people and the flow of their itineraries. How the blinds build their paths and how they spatially occupy the city? What is their use of public transport? What are the elected scenarios, frequented neighborhoods and the difficulties they find in their way? By questioning the representations of urban scenes by blind people, the factors that promote and factors that restrict their mobility, we also seeks to destabilize an understanding of urban space focused on vision. We try to incorporate in the description of places their experienced aspects and the elements, materiality and non-visual signals that enable their apprehension.Keywords: Blindness. Body. Displacement. City. Territory. 

The Phenomenon of Anti-Café or New Places for Leisure Time Activities of Young People in the Context of Virtualization of the Urban Space (The Case Study of Rubikovʼs Cube Smart Place in the City of Saransk)

REGIONOLOGY ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-729
Author(s):  
Tatiana M. Dadaeva ◽  
Tatiana A. Kuznetsova
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theoretical Problem ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
The City

Introduction. New places for leisure time activities in the format of anti-café, created by initiative townsmen, have been gaining popularity in the urban space over the past ten years, which has made the study of this topic relevant. The article studies the leisure time activities of young people, identifies the features of the structure, content, and functions in the conditions of an anti-café, and conceptualizes the causes and potential of the phenomenon of anti-café in the urban space. Materials and Methods. Data from unstructured interviews with visitors and the management, as well as participant observation of Rubikov’s Cube Smart Place in the city of Saransk were used as the empirical basis for this study. Using analytical methods and research techniques (analysis, generalization, induction, deduction, as well as the systemic approach) made it possible to substantiate the authors’ point of view on the causes, functions and potential of new places for leisure time activities of young people in the urban space. Results. The authors have raised the theoretical problem of the emergence of new places for leisure time activities of young people in the context of hypermodernity and the development of media technologies in urban spaces. Based on the data from a case-study of the anti-café, popular leisure time activities have been identified, as well as structure, content, and functions of the anti-café, and motivations for visiting such places and socio-demographic characteristics of the main anti-café customers. The authors have also identified the contradictions in the reasons for the popularity of anti-cafés in the context of hypermodernity, emphasizing that anti-cafés create new forms of loneliness and the need for the “third place”, multi-layered, hybrid spaces (where public turns into private, private into public, and online and offline communications intersect) in collective practices, which the city satisfies. Discussion and Conclusion. Based on the conducted research, the authors have drawn a conclusion about the role of anti-cafés (time clubs, coworking spaces) in the formation of the future creative class, without which an effective economy is impossible. The difficulties in studying this topic were due to the lack of statistical data on the problem. The materials of this article will be useful for public authorities, entrepreneurs, specialists engaged in creating places for leisure time activities in the urban space, as well as when elaborating such training courses as “Sociology of the City” and “Sociology of Culture”.

scholarly journals Basic options of studying cities in the modern sociological science

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Evgenii Aleksandrovich Popov
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Modern Cities ◽  
Sociocultural Characteristics ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Urban Issues ◽  
The City

This article reviews various possibilities of studying cities and urban environment employed by the modern sociological science. Emphasis is placed on identification difficulties typically encountered by sociologists in the context of analysis of the relevant issues of urban development. The major challenges are associated with the adequate choice of appropriate methodological framework. Assessment is given to the possibility of using the anthroposocietal approach. The author determines the key urban issues that sociologists may turn attention to and obtain valuable scientific data, Attention is given to disclosure of the concept of “urban person”, which is important for sociology of the city and corresponding research practices. The main conclusions of the conducted research are as follows: 1) the possibilities of using various methodological approaches towards examination of the specific or “universal” cities are outlined; 2) the concept of sociality of the city alongside the options of its application in the sociological and interdisciplinary research are discussed; 3) social component in the development of modern cities –  from the largest to monocities is analyzed; 4) the need for using anthroposocietal approach in urban research and analysis of social relations formed therein is substantiated; 5) major challenges faced by sociologists when in studying urban space and sociocultural characteristics of the cities are outlined.

scholarly journals Projeto Roteiro geo-turístico: possibilidades do Turismo em Porto Nacional -TO, Brasil

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-175
Author(s):  
Aline Alves Ribeiro ◽  
◽  
Rosane Balsan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Old City ◽  
Teaching Research ◽  
The City

This article is a presentation of teaching, research and outreach project of the design of a geotour‑ ism route in the heritage centre of Porto Nacional‑TO. The project is designed from a practical perspective of the possibilities for tourism in the old city centre. The knock‑on effects of tourism and the re‑interpretation of the city centre are also considered for the municipality with a roadmap designed to structure planning and development and contextualising how tourism can evolve within the urban space of Porto Nacional‑TO, based on groundwork revision of the bibliography available and qualitative fieldwork based on participant observation of the route.

scholarly journals Panem et circenses [1] at Largo da Carioca, Brazil: the urban diversity focused on people-environment interactions

1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethel Pinheiro ◽  
Cristiane Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Urban Site ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
The City

This paper explores how outdoor performances actively define and create the essential character of open spaces in Brazil, a country known for its overwhelming abundance of outdoor life. We investigate the importance of open spaces within the urban fabric, and consider the ways in which the history and aspirations of the local community become meaningfully woven into these spaces. We chose an open space, or largo [3], in the city of Rio de Janeiro called Largo da Carioca, which embodies the relation between collective memory and appropriation. We then consider how the Largo has consistently been used as an arena of performance despite the intense urban changes and movement of people over the last 50 years. As a way of grasping the dynamic of the activities of the Largo da Carioca we adopted two approaches: historical-evolutive and participant observation. The first concerns the evolution of the urban space of Largo da Carioca and the background of outdoor performances as a way of introducing the popular arts of Rio de Janeiro, and as a way of connecting our theoretical analysis to the field research. In the second approach we use tools and methods from ethnographic research such as field annotations, direct interviews and visual resources, like photographs and video-shooting, so as to fulfill and complement our work. We argue that the urban essence of these performances is related to the ‘inviting’ conditions of this particular urban site and to its (in)formal structures, uses and regular activities. It invites – because of its openness, formal and social largeness and amplitude – a singular melange of uses and appropriations through which the formal and social are amalgamated – for, as one informant said, it is ‘an open space of constant comings and goings’ (Igor Ferreira, 13/07/03).

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