Urban Magic: Concluding Remarks

Author(s):  
Yannis M. Ioannides

This chapter considers the prospect of a deeper understanding of social interactions in urban settings as well as their significance for the functioning and future role of cities and regions. It introduces broader sets of tools for exploring the properties of urban networks, from the lowest microscale up to the highest levels of aggregation. Graph theory, for example, offers a promising means of elucidating the urban social fabric and the interactions that define it, and more specifically the link between urban infrastructure and aspatial social networks. The chapter also compares individuals and their social interactions to an archipelago, a metaphor that offers a picture of the magic of the city. It concludes by emphasizing the interdependence between the creation of cities over physical space, on the one hand, and the urban archipelago and its internal social and economic structures, which are man-made, on the other.

2009 ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Marco Solimene

- The present contribution examines the rootedness of a community of xoraxané romá in the city of Rome; rather than simply the continuity of presence in a specific territory, under consideration is the development and maintenance of social networks with the Roman population, specifically in the territories romá reside and/or work in. Further on, the paper describes how rootedness may be conjugated with some forms of mobility: on the one hand, the continuity in specific areas (of work and in some cases of residence), can be maintained through practices of urban circulation; on the other hand, especially when mobility turns on national and transnational scale, the presence - although mobile and changing - of romá who belong to the same social network, spread among different territories, enables singular domestic units to maintain, despite mobility, a continuity with several non-rom realities.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Coletta ◽  
Liam Heaphy ◽  
Rob Kitchin

While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production, and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there have been relatively few studies that have examined the situated practices as to how the smart city as a whole unfolds in specific places. In this paper, we chart the smart city ecosystem in Dublin, Ireland, and examine how the four city authorities have actively collaborated to progressively frame and mobilise an articulated vision of Dublin as a smart city. In particular, we focus on the work of ‘Smart Dublin’, a shared unit established to coordinate, manage and promote Dublin’s smart city initiatives. We argue that Smart Dublin has on the one hand sought to corral smart city initiatives within a common framework, and on the other has acted to boost the city-region’s smart city activities, especially with respect to economic development. Our analysis highlights the value of undertaking a holistic mapping of a smart city in formation, and the role of political and administrative geographies and specialist smart city units in shaping that formation.


Author(s):  
Stephan De Beer

This essay is informed by five different but interrelated conversations all focusing on the relationship between the city and the university. Suggesting the clown as metaphor, I explore the particular role of the activist scholar, and in particular the liberation theologian that is based at the public university, in his or her engagement with the city. Considering the shackles of the city of capital and its twin, the neoliberal university, on the one hand, and the city of vulnerability on the other, I then propose three clown-like postures of solidarity, mutuality and prophecy to resist the shackles of culture and to imagine and embody daring alternatives.


2020 ◽  
pp. 380-411
Author(s):  
Voula Tsouna

“Aristippus of Cyrene” re-evaluates the evidence concerning, on the one hand, Aristippus’ alleged hedonism and, on the other, his affiliation with Socrates and the Socratic circle. The central thesis of the chapter is this: even though some sources attribute to Aristippus the sort of ethical hedonism that we know to have been held by his grandson (Aristippus the Younger), there is strong evidence that in fact Aristippus of Cyrene was not an ethical hedonist but endorsed Socratic concerns and values. These latter include philosophical inquiry focused on ethics, the paramount importance of philosophy for education and the care of one’s soul, concern to develop the virtues and assess the relative value of external goods, the crucial role of reason and prudence in ethical conduct, the ethical implications of systematically pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain, and the rationalism that should determine one’s attitudes toward relatives, acquaintances, fellow-citizens, and the city itself.


Author(s):  
Margit Kern

ABSTRACTUp until now, researchers have strictly made connections between the program of images on the 1573 balcony of the Wittenberg town hall and the office of those who wield authority. And in fact this interpretation is documented by the German inscriptions on the front of the structure. However, another dimension of the program has not been taken into account: The Latin distichs pertaining to the figures of the virtues relate not to the city councilors and political transactions; rather, they characterize the role of virtue and good works in the life of the Protestant Christian in general. It is particularly emphasized that Christ and not good works effect redemption. In contrast to the goal of the German inscriptions, the Latin distichs provide no guide to carrying on daily business. Instead, they paraphrase the Lutheran doctrine of justification. With this pointed reference to Lutheran theology, the commissioners of the program distanced themselves, on the one hand, from the Catholic church; on the other, they rejected contested theological positions within Protestantism, such as the theses of Johann Georg Major. The coat of arms of the territorial ruler and the personifications, Peace and Religion, give evidence that the Wittenberg city council wished to display prominently its agreement with the strict Lutheran position of the prince, Albertine Elector August.


2015 ◽  
pp. 135-153
Author(s):  
Alina Stoica ◽  
Florentina Chirodea

In the recent years, an increased interest in the use of culture as an instrument of politics and economics has expanded and influenced regional development. This paper aims to highlight the ability of culture to generate wealth for the community, on the one hand, and on the other as a catalyst for sustainable economic recovery by developing innovative and creative sectors based on arts activities. We will, however, single out the city of Sibiu and implicitly the “European Capital of Culture”, city that aims to highlight the richness and diversity of cultures in Europe, the contribution of culture to urban development, the increasing international profile of cities and a better image in the eyes of the inhabitants.http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/1647-6336_12_8


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-180
Author(s):  
Maurice Jansen ◽  
Amanda Brandellero ◽  
Rosanne Van Houwelingen

This article explores old and emerging socio-spatial imaginaries and uses of Rotterdam’s Makers District. The district comprises two urban harbors—Merwe Vierhavens and Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij—historically in use as bustling trade, storage, and ship yarding nodes of the city’s port activities. At the turn of the millennium, technological advancements made it possible to move many port-related activities out of the area and farther out of the city, gradually hollowing out these harbors’ port-related economic foundations and opening opportunities for new uses and imaginaries. This article traces the transition by detailing how the boundary between the city and the port has become more porous in this district. It does so by offering original empirical evidence on the flows of users in and out of the area in recent years, based on location quotients, while also applying a content analysis of the profiles of companies and institutions currently inhabiting and working in these transformed port-city spaces. On the one hand, the results show how the ongoing port-city transition in Rotterdam’s Makers District combines carefully curated interventions and infrastructure plans seeking to progressively adapt the area to new purposes, while maintaining some of its former functions. On the other hand, they highlight the pioneering role of more bottom-up initiatives and innovative urban concepts, springing from the creative industries and maker movement. The article offers insights into the emerging uses and imaginaries attached to the district, while also showing the resilience and adaptation of port legacies.


2018 ◽  
pp. 33-35
Author(s):  
N. O. Anisimov

The article examines the semiotic field of the city and its influence on the formation of a specific socio-cultural space. The author considers the city as a historically and culturally developed space, continuously producing cultural information. According to the author, urban space is a special subject-object environment, where an individual, a citizen, is in the role of an actively cognizing subject, and the city is in the status of an object, on the one hand, passively cognizable, on the other hand, actively giving itself to identify, reveal with the help of specific techniques, called us semantic-semiological practices. Semiotic meanings of urban space appear before us in the form of a cultural code that a person is able to read.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Khaerul Umam

The role of religious elites (read: religious leaders) in the City of Kediri cannot be separated from its influence as a bearer of religious teachings. Religion as an institution that teaches values requires humans to bring it so that it can be conveyed to all humans. The role of religious leaders is dialectical with the needs of society. Although on the one hand he teaches religion, which has strict rules and restrictions, but in practice, these elites must be able to read the socio-cultural dynamics that exist in society, so that religion and society can go hand in hand without having to negate one another. On the other hand, the community is either voluntary or forced to recognize the power possessed by religious elites, in addition to fulfilling spiritual needs that can only be obtained from the elites, as well as an effort to maintain the values agreed upon by the community.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Testoni ◽  
Claudia Azzola ◽  
Noemi Tribbia ◽  
Gianmarco Biancalani ◽  
Erika Iacona ◽  
...  

In Italy, in the very first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic there was a dramatic rise in mortality. However, families were forbidden because of lockdown regulations to be with their loved ones at their deathbeds or to hold funerals. This qualitative study examined bereavement experiences among family members, how they processed their grief, and how they used social networks in particular by uploading photographs during the working-through of bereavement. The sample was composed of 40 individuals aged 23–63 (80% women) from different Italian cities severely impacted by the virus, including a subgroup from the province of Bergamo, which was the city with the highest mortality rate during that time. All interviews were conducted by phone, Skype, or Zoom. Then, the transcriptions underwent a thematic analysis using Atlas.ti. The main themes that emerged were: abandonment anger and guilt, dehumanized disappeared, derealization and constant rumination, and social support and the importance of sharing photos on Facebook. Importantly, the use of social networks proved to be a valuable source of support and photographs were a powerful tool in facilitating the process of mourning by encouraging narration and sharing. Grief had a complex profile: on the one hand, it was traumatic and characterized by all the risk factors causing mourners to experience prolonged grief, but on the other, some features were similar to ambiguous loss (that occurs without closure and clear understanding) because of the impossibility to be with their relatives in their final moments. The possible relationships between ambiguous loss, the use of internet, and the risk of prolonged grief are discussed.


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