The constitution of the city and the critique of critical urban theory

Scott, Allen J.

doi:10.1177/00420980211011028

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 76 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…Although the planetary urbanisation discourse acknowledges that the urban process in general ‘evolve[s] historically in relation to broader patterns and pathways of global capitalist development’ (Brenner and Schmid, 2014: 750), it does not adequately account for the varied temporalities of urban transitions across geographic regions and their significance. Similarly, although Scott’s latest contribution to the debate takes on board some of the exogenous aspects of the urban process that affect cities’ internal order (Scott, 2021), this perspective does not account for how major historical shifts in these exogenous factors impact on different geographies of urbanisation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the conditions of ‘late urbanisation’

Fox

Goodfellow

2021

Urban Studies

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We are living through a global urban transition, but the timing of this transition has varied significantly across countries and regions. This geographic variation in timing matters, both theoretically and substantively. Yet contemporary debates on urbanism hinge primarily on questions of universalism versus particularism, at the expense of attention to how history and geography collide to shape urban processes. Specifically, they neglect the critical fact that urbanisation in many countries today is late within the context of the global urban transition. We argue that trajectories of contemporary urbanisation must be understood in relation to a suite of conditions unique to the late 20th and early 21st centuries and partly shaped by early urbanisation, including historically unprecedented demographic intensity, hyperglobalisation, centripetal state politics and the spectre of environmental catastrophe in the late Anthropocene. These factors condition the range of possibilities for late urbanisers in ways that did not apply to early urbanisers yet can also produce diverse outcomes depending on local circumstances. We draw on a comparison between countries in sub-Saharan Africa and China to illustrate why the conditions of late urbanisation matter, but also why they have produced highly variable outcomes and are not deterministic of urban futures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the conditions of ‘late urbanisation’

Fox

Goodfellow

2021

Urban Studies

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“…This perspective sets our case apart from those such as Wirth (1938) and Scott (2021). In an effort to define the urban way of life or the city, these scholars tend to over-specify the consequences of urbanity, while many others make unnecessary assumptions about the causes of urbanity or conditions under which it arises.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As noted above, settlements in India must have at least 75 per cent of the male population working in non-agricultural jobs. Over 30 countries employ similar thresholds as part of a multi-criteria classification system (Buettner 2015) as do many scholars (Angel et al, 2018;Scott, 2021;Shin, 2017;Wirth, 1938). This is problematic when it leads to a classification system that runs counter to the lived experience of place.…”

Section: The Urban As a Labour Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, in his classic essay The Urban Revolution (1950), V. Gordon Childe proposed a list of 10 criteria for identifying ancient cities, including their demographic size and density, but also the presence of a wide range of nonagricultural specialists and "truly monumental public buildings." More recently, Scott (2021) has argued that "'urban' refers both to the city as a concrete entity and to urbanisation as the process by which the city is generated and socially reproduced" (2) and that "the division of labour is fundamental to the genesis and durability of cities" (3). In each case, 'the urban' and 'the city' are conflated and used with reference to a host of social and/or material characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What makes a place urban?

Fox¹,

Wolf²

2022

Preprint

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The quintessence of urbanity is a sustained geographic concentration of strangers. Physical congregation—or corporeal copresence—has wide-ranging environmental and social consequences that produce urban contexts. In practical terms, this means that demographic criteria alone are sufficient to classify a location, settlement, or region as more or less urban. We use a series of thought experiments to demonstrate the conceptual limitations of popular definitions of urbanity, such as the economic structure of a community, the presence of physical infrastructure, the political or administrative status of a geographic unit, or the degree of connectivity between people. We show that these are not essential to what makes a place urban but are instead common epiphenomena associated with places that have a sustained geographic concentration of strangers. This definition does not require a settlement to be permanent, allowing for ephemeral urbanity (dense but temporary settlements), resolving many classic exceptions to previous definitions of urbanity. We suggest that urbanity is best conceptualised and measured on a continuum and discuss how this can be done empirically to advance our theoretical and practical understanding of urban places and urban systems globally.

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“…In looking to confront the problem of explaining urban growth through a critical realist approach, some delineation of the empirical object in question is warranted initially. Here, a recent flurry of outputs on urban theory offers some core markers (Scott, 2021;Scott and Storper, 2015;Storper and Scott, 2016;Walker, 2016). In this literature, a key feature of the debate concerns the wedge between a claim for certain universal characteristics of the urban and a recognition of and emphasis on particularity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical realist perspectives on the urban growth system

Waite

2022

Environ Plan A

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Why some cities have been able to sustain economic growth more than others, and how particular technological or sectoral break points shift a city's economic performance favourably (or unfavourably), present ongoing conundrums. Whilst single factor accounts – such as the skilled city and the creative city – have the appeal of analytical parsimony, economic geographers suggest that a multiplicity of structures, processes and events typically sit behind how growth originates and is subsequently shaped. Given such complexity, how can we develop appropriate approaches to theorising causality within urban economic systems? This paper presents the case that critical realism may perform a useful ground-clearing role. With a layered ontology at its core, coupled with recent literature providing greater guidance for empirical application, it is argued that critical realism may present a complementary explanatory perspective.

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The constitution of the city and the critique of critical urban theory

Cited by 20 publications

References 76 publications

On the conditions of ‘late urbanisation’

On the conditions of ‘late urbanisation’

What makes a place urban?

Critical realist perspectives on the urban growth system

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