Assembling the Square: Social Transformation in Public Space and the Broken Mirage of the Second Economy in Postsocialist Budapest

Slavic Review ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judit Bodnár
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Architectural Transformation

In early December 1994 in the Hungarian weekly Magyar Narancs, a new category appeared in the Page of Records–a sophisticated guide to the “best” places and services in Budapest: “The Most Unsighdy Square in Europe.” This award went to Budapest's Moszhva tér (Moscow Square). No other contender for this title has yet been found. On the last pages of his monograph on the current architectural transformation of Budapest, art and media critic Péter György reveals in parentheses how the book was inspired by the sight of this area: “I have been crossing the square every day for ten years, and in the last couple of years I would stop ever more frequendy–unable to move on–and fixedly stare at the decay.”

scholarly journals Nuevos usos espaciales en las estaciones ferroviarias de alta velocidad/New space use of high speed railway stations

2018 ◽  
pp. 86-105
Author(s):  
Carlos Hugo Soria Caceres
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Main Function ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
Railway Stations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Space

RESUMENLas infraestructuras de transporte presentes sobre el territorio condicionan las relaciones sociales y de comunicación de muchos espacios. Grandes estaciones, puertos o aeropuertos se presentan como ejes de centralidad sobre los que se distribuyen flujos de mercancías y personas, configurando a su vez el diseño y la funcionalidad de las ciudades. Hoy en día, con el avance producido en sectores como el ferrocarril de alta velocidad, las estaciones han transformado su función principal de nudo de intercambio, proyectándose como nuevos espacios comerciales y de negocio. En este artículo se analiza este nuevo fenómeno de transformación espacial y social vinculado a la alta velocidad ferroviaria, focalizando su ámbito en España. Se desgrana a su vez el papel de las comunidades sociales, políticas y empresariales para la ciudad y el espacio público presentes en las nuevas estaciones de ferroviarias. Palabras clave: ferrocarril; espacio público; urbanismo. ABSTRACTThis work aims to discuss the transport infrastructures presents on the territory and the conditions to the social and communication relations of many spaces. Large stations, ports or airports are presented as axes of centrality on which flows of goods and people are distributed, configuring in turn the design and functionality of cities. Nowadays, with the advance produced in sectors such as high-speed rail, the stations have transformed their main function as an exchange hub, projecting themselves as new commercial and business spaces. This article analyzes this new phenomenon of spatial and social transformation linked to high-speed rail, focusing its scope in Spain. At the same time, the role of the social, political and business communities for the city and the public space present in the new railway stations.Keywords: railroad; public space; urbanism.

Representing the Worker in Postsocialist Public Space: Art and Politics under Neoliberalism

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 43-76
Author(s):  
Raino Isto
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
State Socialism ◽  
Labor Conditions ◽  
Art And Politics ◽  
New Public ◽  
History Of

AbstractAcross former Eastern Europe, the transition from state socialism toward neoliberal capitalism has been accompanied by a marked reduction in emphasis on working-class identities. Because of the centrality of class to socialist-era identity-construction projects, the recent and relatively sudden ascendancy of various forms of individualist, consumption-oriented subjectivity in postrevolutionary societies has produced conflicts that are often more visible than in societies where capitalism has been the accepted economic paradigm for much longer. This shift can be seen in the realm of art and visual culture: Images of the worker once dominated public spaces under state socialism, competing in number with representations of leaders and communist ideologues, but since 1989 they have often been vandalized, dismantled, or else relocated to decay in relative obscurity. Where new public images of the worker do appear in postsocialist neoliberal conditions, they frequently serve as nexuses of controversy, where generational and ideological conflicts regarding current labor conditions and the legacy of worker solidarity play out. The debates surrounding representations of workers in postsocialism are both part of a global history of postsocialist art and part of the history of labor and its relation to contemporary urban space. This article examines artistic representations of the worker sited in public space in postsocialist Albania, in order to map the political and artistic discourses that animate engagements with working-class identity in conditions of neoliberal social transformation.

scholarly journals Introverted and knotted spaces within modern and contemporary urban fabrics: passages, gallerias and covered squares

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Falsetti ◽  
Pina Ciotoli
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
New Type ◽  
Theatrical Practice ◽  
Architectural Transformation ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Private Homes ◽  
San Carlos ◽  
Over Time

The scenic plaza mayor shares with the theater organisms some formative characters, since they both derive from a transformation, by knotting, of pre-existing buildings and fabrics. This architectural transformation is generated, at the beginning, by a change in the modalities of using public space. As for the corral de comedias, the process is due to the sedentarization of the theatrical practice, which abandons the itinerant dimension of the street to move inside the buildings (such as private homes and palaces). The original corral de comedias was in fact set up inside an open place that could be covered, and this feature became permanent  over time, creating a new building type. Similarly, since the sixteenth century,  squares became the fundamental location of Spanish civic life as well as they hosted all sorts of political, religious and festive representations, but also the venue of executions. For this purpose, namely to allow people to watch such events, the squares were transformed, by raising temporary walls and walkways. In some cases, like Tembleque and San Carlos del Valle, they began to realize permanent continuous balconies, with solutions that seem to have followed the same morphological evolution of corrales de comedias. In both cases it was necessary to unify different elements (buildings or rooms) and connect them to each other, through a process of “knotting”, in order to create a new organism. Over time the physiognomy of the spaces, originally open,  assumed the permanent characters of a new type, closed and similar to the courtyard of a “palazzo”.

scholarly journals The Transformation of Urban Public Space of Post-Soviet Yerevan

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1 (31)) ◽  
pp. 3-15
Author(s):  
Harutyun Vermishyan ◽  
Srbuhi Michikyan
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spatial Practice ◽  
Space Production ◽  
Depth Interviews

The aim of this study is to diagnose the transformation of the structure of the public space of the Northern Avenue of Yerevan. The theoretical basis of this research is A. Lefebvre's theory of space production. The spatial triad (representations of space, representative space and spatial practice) by A. Lefebvre was used to identify the codes of social transformation of the public space of the Northern Avenue. The study was carried out using a tool developed within the framework of the methodology of narrative semiotics, which made it possible to identify the structural elements of the Northern Avenue, reflected in public experience. Methods used include observation, content analysis and traditional analysis of archival / administrative records and in-depth interviews with key informants. Diagnostics of the structure of the public space of Northern Avenue demonstrates the peculiarities of the formation of public space and the ideological transformations of the urban space of post-Soviet Yerevan.

Embodied Transformations in Neo-Burlesque Striptease

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherril Dodds
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Critical Methodology ◽  
Mise En Scene ◽  
Class Privilege ◽  
A Site ◽  
Performance Text

This article both argues for and contests the discourses of transformation that characterize the production and reception of neo-burlesque striptease. Through an experiential, ethnographic, and critical methodology, I reflect on how this genre engenders performances of transformation through the passage of dress to undress, at the performer–spectator exchange, and through shifting corporeal values, changing representations of female eroticism and the reclaiming of a nostalgic femininity within the neo-burlesquemise-en-scène. Yet in line with critical debates in cultural studies, I seek to question the extent to which utopian notions of transformation occur beyond the level of the “performance text” to incorporate change in the economic and social realities of neo-burlesque performers and audiences. In response I argue that neo-burlesque striptease is a site of class privilege in which performers have the necessary economic and intellectual capital through which to stage a critique of the striptease body, which could not necessarily be replicated in other sites of production. Yet I also recognize that neo-burlesque performance offers important opportunities for personal and social transformation through the ways in which women experience their disrobed bodies in an affirmative public space and through the creative control they exercise in the construction of their bodily display.

Sex Gospel in Zimbabwe’s Pentecostal Christianity as a Response to Social Change: The Case of Apostle Kapandura and Mai Lucia Gunguwo

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110462
Author(s):  
Macloud Sipeyiye ◽  
Phillip Mpofu
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Positive Response ◽  
Topical Issue ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
Mixed Feelings ◽  
Creativity And Innovation ◽  
African Traditional Religions

Sexuality has always been a closely guarded subject in both Christianity and African Traditional Religions (ATRs), and regarded as a sensitive topic unfit for public discussion. In Zimbabwe, there is an emerging trend of sex gospel in Pentecostal Christianity. This has stirred mixed feelings among Christians and ATR adherents. Deploying the religion and social transformation perspective, this netnographic study of Christopher Kapandura of ZAOGA (FIFMI) and Lucia Gunguwo of Eternal Word Ministries’ sermons, explores the eccentric development and argues that sex gospel is inevitable. It is a positive response to social transformation. However, this topical issue grapples with challenges of dissemination methods in the broad public space. The study shows preachers’ creativity and innovation in brand formation in a highly competitive religious market. This is a timely contribution to the meagre scholarship on sex gospel in Pentecostal Christianity, especially its relevance in the context of social change.

scholarly journals Grassroots innovations as salutogenic practices in a slum of Medellín

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Martinez-Herrera ◽  
J C Molina
Keyword(s):  
Community Health ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Health ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Alternative Response ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Grassroots Innovation ◽  
Innovation Practices ◽  
Health Assets

Abstract Background WHO pointed out urbanization as one of the main troubles and defiances for public health in the 21st century because of the increasing urban health inequalities. The United Nations SDGs 11 promotes local strategies to create environments that expand the resources of a healthier, sustainable, livable for life. Basically, grassroots innovation practices (GIP) are shown as boosters and leading figures of urban social transformation in Slums. On average, 20% in Medellin live in Slums with poverty conditions extremely high. Methods In 2018, a qualitative case study focused on urban health and salutogenesis was carried out using an interpretative scope by communitarian narrative explanation building analysis. 32 participants, inhabitants and founders of the Slum, mainly adults, were involved in semi-structured Interviews, Photovoice and Mapping of Community Assets. All ethical aspects were conceived to respect the voices on the struggles for being renowned as part of the city. Results El Faro built on a settlement space by its residents through a process which they have called 'dignity and resistance' has transform as a consequence of a set of drivers of four GIP developed around the community. Among them, water management, creation of public space and artistic training. GIP have mobilized community health assets, allowing the development of an important sense of community coherence (SoC-C), with which the community faces their situation of poverty, modifying the conditions that reproduce it and setting up coherent experiences. Conclusions GIP are configured as an alternative response to local needs and structural limitations and confrontations. SOC-C has contributed to generate health and well-being, through a process of empowerment that promotes a critical, reflective and proactive citizenship in front of its environment. New research based on salutogenesis is needed as a spotlight institutional governance strategy to bottom up housing public policies. Key messages SOC-C generates mobilization of own community health assets to face the local situation of poverty in a bottom up process; alluring meaningful processes and raising social cohesion experiences. Social and urban transformation from the community are possible and attributable to a result of grassroots innovation practices.

scholarly journals The Transformation of MDMC Social Piety in Forming Public Spaces in the Middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Sadikin Sadikin
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Post Disaster

This journal aims to find out how the process of transforming social piety to a disaster management center (MDMC) in the reconstruction of public spaces in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. So far, research on MDMC has shown more functions in disaster management, mitigation, preparedness, emergency response and post-disaster rehabilitation. In a broader scope, it has neglected the two most important issues, namely the sociological impact and the formation of a democratic public space from the social transformation process. Therefore, further research is needed on the transformation of MDMC's social piety in reconstructing public spaces in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. This study uses a descriptive study of the transformation of social piety to MDMC volunteers in reconstructing public spaces in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. By using this qualitative research design, researchers can identify a group of people; study them at home or at work; and develop a general picture of the group, noting how they behave, think and speak. Within the epistemic framework, this study considers several theoretical perspectives on the Covid-19 problem in Indonesia, which has paralyzed the public space, such as grounding the humanitarian movement, caring for Islamic values ​​socially, solidarity in helping and caring for people who suffer from misfortune without expecting it. compensation, giving something to victims who are hit by the disaster based on collective awareness, helping victims who are physically hit by the disaster to reduce the ongoing burden, providing material assistance to victims who are hit by the disaster based on their needs and cooperating in post-disaster rehabilitation.

scholarly journals Identidad y hegemonía: Times Square y la producción amateur

AusArt ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-163
Author(s):  
José Luis Ortega Lisbona
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Redes Sociales ◽  
Times Square ◽  
The Media ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Si pensamos en la relación del espacio urbano contemporáneo con la luz, debemos hablar de dinámicas sociales dentro de las metrópolis contemporáneas y de cómo estos suponen un paradigma de la transformación tecnológica y social respecto a los media dentro del espacio urbano. Esto ha culminado con la conversión de las pantallas basadas en tecnología LCD en parte del medio en el cual nos desenvolvemos socialmente mediante las redes sociales. Por otro lado el lugar se diluye dentro de imágenes virtuales, dislocadas y descontextualizadas, convirtiendo la ciudad en un interfaz comunicativo, y lo visual en una experiencia espacial. Es por ello que es de especial interés analizar este fenómeno en el cual entran en juego elementos que afectan a los marcos constitutivos de nuestras experiencias sociales e identitarias dentro de un espacio variable y contingente, gracias al cual se está produciendo un desplazamiento de los usos dentro de la esfera pública, generando nuevas formas de espectáculo que producen nuevas políticas de vigilancia del otro.Palabras-Clave: TIMES SQUARE; IDENTIDAD; REDES SOCIALES; PANTALLAS URBANAS; ESPACIO PÚBLICO Identity and hegemony: Times Square and the amateur productionAbstractIf we think about the relationship of contemporary urban space and light, we must talk about social dynamics within contemporary cities and how these represent a paradigm of technological and social transformation with respect to the media in the urban space. This has culminated in the conversion of LCD technology screens into part on the environment in which we operate through social networks. On the other hand the place is diluted into virtual images, dislocated and decontextualized, turning the city into a communicative interface, and the visual in a spatial experience. That’s why it’s especially interesting to analyze this phenomenon in which elements come into play affecting the constituent frames of our social experience and identity in a variable and contingent space, through which it is producing a shift of uses within public sphere, creating new forms of entertainment that produce new surveillance policies of the other.Keywords: TIMES SQUARE; IDENTITY; SOCIAL NETWORKS; URBAN SCREENS; PUBLIC SPACE

scholarly journals Socioenvironmental activism and emerging science communicators in Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (06) ◽  
pp. C04
Author(s):  
Susana Herrera-Lima
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Mediators ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
Scientific Fields

Activists, social organizations and members of citizen collectives in Mexico and Latin America have assumed not only the fight for water and territory, but also the difficult task of interacting with experts in different scientific fields, and the challenge of placing their causes in the public space. They take the role of cultural mediators between affected people, scientists and politicians within hybrid transdisciplinary working groups. Within the framework of these groups' actions, a new current of communication of science has emerged, one that shifts its interest from encouraging involvement with scientific knowledge for its own sake, to untangling, understanding and communicating socio-environmental issues for the explicit purpose of contributing to social transformation.

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