Familial Undercurrents

Not long after her father died, Afsaneh Najmabadi discovered that her father had a secret second family and that she had a sister she never knew about. In Familial Undercurrents, Najmabadi uncovers her family’s complex experiences of polygamous marriage to tell a larger story of the transformations of notions of love, marriage, and family life in mid-twentieth-century Iran. She traces how the idea of “marrying for love” and the desire for companionate, monogamous marriage acquired dominance in Tehran’s emerging urban middle class. Considering the role played in that process by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century romance novels, reformist newspapers, plays, and other literature, Najmabadi outlines the rituals and objects---such as wedding outfits, letter writing, and family portraits---that came to characterize the ideal companionate marriage. She reveals how in the course of one generation men’s polygamy had evolved from an acceptable open practice to a taboo best kept secret. At the same time, she chronicles the urban transformations of Tehran and how its architecture and neighborhood social networks both influenced and became emblematic of the myriad forms of modern Iranian family life.

Land Take and Value Capture: Towards More Efficient Land Use

The paper aims to explore the possibilities to enhance the efficiency of land use, considering the evolution of land take (LT), and proposes the use of public value capture (PVC) instruments in selected differently experienced countries. This answers two fundamental questions. How is the concept of LT positioned in relation to the environmental policy of Europe? Which PVC instruments could stimulate more efficient land use? The aim of this article is to identify which tools can guide the transformations of the urban environment by promoting more efficient land use. These tools have been identified in the mechanisms for capturing value as they can pursue the goal of a more attractive net LT. For these reasons, the article initially analyzes the spread of the problem of land consumption, at a European level, showing how this phenomenon is very diversified not only between individual states, but also within each nation. In addition, the knowledge system to define the main initiatives and actions aimed at orienting urban development in the direction of reducing land consumption is highlighted. Subsequently, the theoretical framework concerning the issues relating to the capture of public value in urban planning operations is illustrated. The case studies representing the various European contexts are then introduced, and for each case the dynamics of urban development were analyzed. It has been done in relation to the evolution of the regulatory apparatus of territorial governance and its transformations. On the basis of this analysis, indicators have been defined. Their goal is to allow comparing the results that emerged from the case study analysis, which would otherwise have been inconsistent. In this way, it is possible to demonstrate how land use is more efficient in countries where PVC tools are used systemically and how these tools make it easier to guide urban transformations in line with the principles of sustainable development.

Sport Mega-Events and Displacement of Host Community Residents: A Systematic Review

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to understand how empirical data have informed the knowledge about the relationship between hosting sport mega-events and displacement of host community residents. Following the PRISMA protocol, we conducted a search of academic and gray literature in sport, social sciences, and humanities databases. We excluded conceptual papers, conference abstracts, and works that discuss urban transformation or displacement but are not related to sport events. We also excluded works that associate sport mega-events with urban transformations but are not related to resident displacement. From the initial 2,372 works reviewed, 22 met the inclusion criteria. In empirical studies, displacement of residents has been studied exclusively in the context of the Olympic Games, since Seoul 1988, but with a higher frequency in most recent Games (Beijing, London, and Rio). The gigantism and the sense of urgency created by the Olympic Games may explain why this event has been frequently associated with resident displacement. Findings showed that residents suffered either direct, forced evictions or indirect displacements. The selected studies show a contradiction between the discourse of sport mega-events guardians for supporting the United Nations Sustainable Goals (SDG) and the practice of human rights within host cities of such events.

A GIS-BIM Approach for the Evaluation of Urban Transformations. A Methodological Proposal

The implementation and monitoring of the urban transformations provided by the planning tools require a control by the responsible territorial authorities on the compliance of the proposed transformations with the technical and binding rules of the current plans. Considering the complexity of the urban and territorial scale, professionals need a tool capable of satisfying the planning, design and management needs of urban space. The large amount of data and the possibilities of managing the multiple information contained in a BIM model can, indeed, be integrated usefully and declined at higher scales than the single building one, since they can be extended from the sphere of pure architectural design to planning sector. In such a wide context, the GIS-BIM approach can represent a real shift of paradigm aimed at managing the complexity of urban processes more effectively.

Post-pandemic scenarios and design strategies for public spaces transformation

Almost two years later of a pandemic condition, one thing is sure: the pandemic will change permanently the world and its systems. Nowadays, the reflection on public space is crucial within a more sustainable and inclusive development at urban scale, amplified also by the ongoing experience of the pandemic that still presents. Public space is a real opportunity to test new urban and social models, thus becoming a principal catalyst for positive changes in the entire urban context. It is therefore necessary to re-establish a relationship between the public space and its inhabitants, providing a system of proximity by highlighting the human and non-human dimensions and consequently connecting services, relationships, and opportunities. Acting in public space is the first step in the development of innovative urban transformations, generated by collaborative phenomena working in the collective interest. The use of participatory practices within the design processes favors the reconnection between people and territory, generating a shared sense of belonging that leads to taking care of one's own places. The reversibility of the intervention and its adaptability are key characteristics that allow experimenting with new ways of experiencing public spaces and responding to unforeseen experiences, thus accommodating the inevitable changes in society. This scientific contribution aims to set forward distinctive points of view on the planning strategies implemented in the pandemic and post-pandemic period to achieve intelligent transformations on a small and large urban scale with an impact from short to long-term; hence shaping the future cities.

The ‘Conquest’ and Construction of an Urban Place : The Insula dei Gesuiti in Venice in the Early Modern Period

This article examines the production of place and its socio-economic impact in early modern Venice, reconstructing the urban dynamics in one of the lesser-known peripheries of the city, the insula dei Gesuiti. Building on the idea of place making as a collective enterprise, it concentrates on three stages of urban growth and its pertaining agents: the colonization process undertaken by private citizens and ecclesiastical institutions; their efforts toward a residential urban development; and the state-imposed action to determine the insula’s final outline. These practices were instrumental in securing significant real estate holdings, but they also initiated a profound change in the area’s intended use. Urban transformations engendered a new social identity that would serve as a model for the redesigned Venetian margins.

Ideological Reconfigurations: Privacy, Voyeurism and Form in Recent Malayalam Cinema

This paper traces a particular moment in the recent history of Malayalam Cinema when a shift in the representation of the private sphere was attempted. In the period after 2010, a set of new Malayalam films carried a shift in terms of aesthetics and narrative techniques and went on to unfold in a full-fledged manner by the end of the decade. The paper would look at Chappa Kurishu (Head or Tails, 2011), one of the early movies of this tide to shed light on the remarkable shift it achieves in representing the scenes of romantic and erotic intimacy on screen. As the narrative of the movie centers around the fight over a smart phone that ensues between two strangers in the city of Kochi, it gets entangled with questions of privacy, class and contest over the urban spaces. Bringing to the discussion contestations over the meanings of public and private manifested in certain urban-based movements in recent times like ‘Kiss of Love’ protests, it is argued that Chappa Kurishu can be read as a response to the contradictions arising out of the emergence of new subjects in the wake of urban transformations and the conflicting cinematic publics of multiplex and single hall theatre. The formal transactions between cinematic form and video form, the paper suggests, is one of the ways in which Chappa Kurishu attempts to respond to this situation in a way that signals the transitional position of the spectator subject.