Positive loitering and public goods: The ambivalence of civic participation and community policing in the neoliberal city

Ethnography ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice Rai
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Ethnographic Case Study ◽  
The Public ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
The Everyday

This article examines a community policing practice called ‘positive loitering’ — a strategy devised to eradicate the public occurrences of ‘negative loitering’ and informal labor markets in a gentrifying Chicago neighborhood. By analyzing the everyday rhetorics and practices around ‘positive loitering’ protests, this ethnographic case study focuses on the multifarious and nuanced channels by which the material inequities of the neoliberal state are remade through the active energies of citizens struggling to define contested public spaces and the future of their neighborhood.

Privatization of Public Space: Spatial Practice in the Umbrella Movement

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-459
Author(s):  
Kin-Ling Tang
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Dominant Ideology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spatial Practice ◽  
Representational Space ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
Temporal Dimensions

This article argues that in order to understand the resistance potentials of taking space movements, the temporal dimensions and spatial practices implied cannot be neglected, or else there would be a tendency to be overoptimistic about resistance in these movements. Using the Umbrella Movement that took place in Hong Kong in 2014 as a case study, this article notes that representational space and spatial practice by protesters were guided by a dualistic view of the public and the private, which in turn is the dominant ideology in neoliberalism, and that their acts of resistance were not able to go beyond the confines of conceived space. In the movement, protesters reclaimed public spaces through privatizing them. Based on the work of Lefebvre, this article argues that only with a radical critique of neoliberal values embedded in capitalism including the public-private dualism can any real transformations of everyday life and hence revolution be possible.

Public Space, Common Space, and the Spaces In–Between: A Case Study of Philadelphia's LOVE Park

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 676-703
Author(s):  
Luke M. Cianciotto
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
General Public ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Public ◽  
Common Space ◽  
The Common

This study concerns the struggle for Philadelphia's LOVE Park, which involved the general public and its functionaries on one side and skateboarders on the other. This paper argues LOVE Park was one place composed of two distinct spaces: the public space the public engendered and the common space the skateboarders produced. This case demonstrates that public and common space must be understood as distinct, for they entail different understandings of publicly accessible space. Additionally, public and common spaces often exist simultaneously as “public–common spaces,” which emphasizes how they reciprocally shape one another. This sheds light on the emergence of “anti–common public space,” which is evident in LOVE Park's 2016 redesign. This concept considers how common spaces are increasingly negated in public spaces. The introduction of common space to the study of public spaces is significant as it allows for more nuanced understandings of transformations in the urban landscape.

scholarly journals Difficulties of municipalities in the cearense metropolitan region in adhering to the public accounting convergence process: a multi-study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaís da Silva Moura ◽  
Roberto Sérgio do Nascimento ◽  
Ricardo Viotto
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
The Public ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Public Investments ◽  
Convergence Process ◽  
Accounting Convergence

Objective: The purpose of this multi-case study is to evaluate the perceptions of Brazilian municipalities regarding the process of convergence of public accounting to international standards, initiated in 2008, considering the importance of these federated entities in the primary provision of public goods and services to society. Methodology: It was based on the application of a questionnaire with structured questions applied to the finance departments in 7 (seven) municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza. In addition to this aspect, the municipalities were selected based on the state’s GDP and the level of public investments made by them. Results: The results were considered consistent by emphasizing that 71% of the municipalities started the convergence process within the deadline established by the National Treasury Secretariat (STN), however only 43% stated they were prepared to apply the NBCASP. One of the main related difficulties refers to the lack of investment in training for the technicians involved and of their own systems to operate the changes determined by the STN. Contributions of the Study: Effectively, the research proved real difficulties experienced by part of the surveyed municipalities that can compromise the progress of the convergence process in Brazil, aspects which were not considered in the researches previously carried out.

scholarly journals The Paradoxes in the Use of the Panopticon as a Theoretical Reference in Urban Video-surveillance Studies: A Case Study of a CCTV System of a Brazilian city

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (27) ◽  
pp. 144-161
Author(s):  
Iafet Leonardi Bricalli
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Surveillance Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Control Rooms

This article aims at introducing the relation between the use of CCTV systems in urban spaces and social control. More specifically, its purpose is to problematize and reaffirm the use of the theoretical background of the panopticon in order to interpret such a relation. In CCTV studies, as a consequence of literal interpretations, as well as the existence of a hegemony in ethnographic studies carried out in control rooms, the theoretical use of the panopticon is then questioned. In this article, based on an ethnographic study conducted in the public spaces surveilled by a CCTV system in a Brazilian city, it can be concluded that the effects of social control through surveillance are paradoxical. The indifferent way in which citizens deal with surveillance, or even the lack of awareness of it, imposes limits to the interpretation of the system as a tool of social control. Thus, the use of the panopticon becomes problematic. However, this research has shown how the presence of cameras in public spaces makes it conducive for a state of control in the form of a network whose project would be a mythical and homogeneous ordering of the spaces. The importance of the interpretation of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon by Michel Foucault is then reaffirmed, that is, panopticism as a trend of normalization and moralization of the public spaces.

Using Placemaking Methodologies to Transform Degraded Public Spaces into Places

2020 ◽  
pp. 120633122091136
Author(s):  
Fernanda da Cruz MOSCARELLI
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Applied Research ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Porto Alegre ◽  
The Public

Communities living in Latin American slums present more vulnerability of diseases, high rates of infant mortality, and low life expectancy, generally as a result of the high levels of soil contamination. Furthermore, in our case study of the 4th District of Porto Alegre, the community depends on recycling materials from waste for their livelihood. In consequence, the public spaces are used as a garbage dump, accentuating health problems and making social interactions difficult. In this context, our applied research group aims to construct social spaces, improving the inhabitants’ quality of life through participative methodologies that encourage the use of the public spaces of these districts without prejudice of the economic system based on garbage. Our strategy relies on the actions and interactions of humans and the place in sub developed urban areas.

Outhouses

2020 ◽  
pp. 163-184
Author(s):  
Nicola J. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Public ◽  
Alexandre Dumas ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Walden Pond

Chapter 7 forays into visionary spaces occupied by writers beyond the domestic. It explores how the processes of writing are imagined within, and more usually beyond, the everyday domestic, with time outside the public hours of the day, and space behind, above, or beyond the public spaces of the house. With special reference to William Cowper’s summerhouse, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s hermitage at Ermenonville, Henry Thoreau’s cabin by Walden Pond, Alexandre Dumas’ Gothic folly, and Vita Sackville-West’s tower at Sissinghurst, it considers how writers have dramatized the writing life as an enviable life of the imagination led beyond the everyday and the ordinary, enabling it to plunge its roots deep into wider, national landscapes.

Design for Elderly – A Meeting Point for Ethnography and Usability

i-com ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cordula Endter
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
Ambient Assisted Living ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethnographic Case Study ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Methodological Approaches

AbstractEthnographic research methods are getting more and more popular in disciplines that have mainly been dominated by quantitative or experimental methodological approaches. Especially in technology-driven research, ethnography seems to enrich common approaches by investigating the use of technology in the everyday life of prospective users. By participating in and observing the users and their mundane activities, routines and rituals ethnography provides insights that can be integrated in the design process to improve the usability of the artifact. This article discusses the intersection of ethnography and usability by introducing ethnographic methods, discussing their application in the context of design for elderly and presenting results of an ethnographic case study in the field of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL).

Rhythmanalysis: Rethinking the politics of everyday negotiations in ordinary public spaces

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110200
Author(s):  
Marie Gibert-Flutre
Keyword(s):  
Public Spaces ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Time Sharing ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
The Public ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Depth Interviews

The nature of everyday life in metropolitan public spaces is an unprecedented entanglement of activities, emerging from the presence of multiple actors competing for a limited space. Making sense of this complexity is a longstanding challenge in the social sciences: how can such a mesmerizing ‘urban ballet’ be explained in the absence of overall orchestration? I hypothesize thatthis urban rhythm – the temporal alternation of activities in the public spaces of a city – is not neutral, but reveals entrenched power relations which are renegotiated and reaffirmed on a daily basis. Building on the notion of rhythmanalysis, I develop a methodology combining a visual timeline called ‘urban tempo’ with in-depth interviews. I present a case study of a market in pericentral Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), where local actors negotiate access to more or less valuable time slots and spaces throughout the day. I show that such negotiations pertaining to time result in a very practical sense in the production of ordinary public spaces. The findings reveal four types of actors, classified according to their negotiating power. Broadly, the rhythmanalysis presented here reiterates our understanding of power as relational, highlighting the unequal conditions of negotiations in public spaces at a micro-level. By adding a temporal dimension to the politics of the everyday, it also opens up a promising research agenda, inviting comparisons of ‘time-sharing regimes’ across metropolitan contexts.

scholarly journals Spaces of Exclusion? Exploring the Everyday Public Spaces in St. James Town

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Arsenault
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Creative Class ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Host Society ◽  
Marginalised Groups ◽  
The Everyday

The purpose of this research paper is to explore how public spaces in low-income, high-density neighbourhoods may be utilized to encourage social cohesion. Toward that goal, St. James Town – an inner city neighbourhood of Toronto – was chosen as the case study. Most residents in SJT are immigrants from non-traditional sources, and a high proportion of them have arrived in Canada within the last five years. Based on their age and educational qualifications, it may seem that the residents of SJT should be a part of Toronto's "Creative Class", yet, their employment and housing conditions reveal a contrasting story. Living in residual housing, earning less than the Toronto average, and having little interaction with their neighbours in public spaces, severely thwarts their functional and subjective integration into the host society. As a result, SJT residents remain one of the major marginalised groups in Toronto.

scholarly journals Urban Public Space Axis Rector of Green Infrastructure in the Current City of Ecuador

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Marina Perez
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theoretical Support ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

The current city calls for the reconsideration of a close relationship between gray infrastructure and public spaces, understanding the infrastructure as a set of items, equipment, or services required for the functioning of a country, a City. Ambato, Ecuador, is a current intermediate city, has less than 1% of the urban surface with use of public green spaces, which represents a figure below the 9m2/ hab., recommended by OMS. The aim of this paper was to identify urban public spaces that switches of green infrastructure in the city today, applying a methodology of qualitative studies. With an exploratory descriptive level analysis, in three stages, stage of theoretical foundation product of a review of the existing literature, which is the theoretical support of the relationship gray infrastructure public spaces equal to green infrastructure. Subsequent to this case study, discussed with criteria aimed at green infrastructure and in the public spaces of the study area. Finally, after processing and analysis of the results, we provide conclusions for urban public space as a definition of the green infrastructure of the current city of Latin America; in the latter, the focus is to support this article.

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