'Towards a Purer City': Problem Localities and Their Inhabitants from the Perspective of Local Authorities

Abstract

Drawing on the results of a qualitative study conducted in twelve Czech cities, the authors discuss how 'problematic localities' are represented in the narratives of local politicians and public offi cials. They analyse the ways in which these localities are categorised and how these categorisations are used to legitimise the specifi c treatment of these places and their inhabitants. City governance and administration are considered to be a part of a modern tradition of urban planning and city management, which is analysed in the fi rst part of the study. The second, empirical part shows how 'common sense', ethnicised attributes are activated and applied to the localities and their inhabitants in the narratives of politicians and public offi cials. These attributes are associated with a notion of impurity, which leads to the need for surveillance, discipline, or purifi cation. From their analysis of these narrative practices the authors suggest that the borders of entitlement and the borders of responsibility are constructed. The borders of entitlement defi ne who deserves the care provided by a state or a city; the borders of responsibility then delimit the symbolic space in which the state or city is perceived by its representatives to be responsible for the situation of its inhabitants and citizens. A crucial role is played in the process of border formation by (1) the application of ethnicised categories and inconsistent defi nitions of the objects of municipal and state care and by (2) the forms of ownership that apply to the housing stock in which these objects, that is, people, live.

Urban Social Problems and Marginalized Populations in Postsocialist Transition Societies

“…With regard to strategies to combat homelessness, outer actors often suggested rather vaguely that "someone has to solve the problem," not only because of public complaints but also owing to the negative image projected on Prague city center. The emphasis on the image and symbolic value of the city center that deserves protection and purification from the signs and "bearers" of visible marginalization was evident in the discourses of the outer municipal respondents (compare with MacLeod 2002; Vacková, Galčanová, and Hofírek 2011;Vašát 2012).…”

“…Using an interview design, Kostelecký, Patočková, and Illner (2012), for instance, concluded that the spatial concentration of socioeconomic problems in Prague, the Czechia, is relatively low and concentrated at the micro level (see also Sýkora 2009;. Thus, although social regeneration policies are rarely among the political priorities of government (Kostelecký, Patočková, and Illner 2012), the representation of "problematic neighbourhoods" in the narratives of local politicians and public officials has become evident in the "specific treatment" of certain cities and their inhabitants (Vacková, Galčanová, and Hofírek 2011). Such forms of applied institutional repression affect the daily practices and spatial mobility of the poorest class in urban areas (Vašát 2012), just as they affect other aspects of social behavior (e.g., Hejnal 2013b).…”

“…First, from the perspective of city planning and practice, the perception and interpretation of social phenomena by key actors is crucial. These agents guide urban development by proposing, designing, and implementing policy interventions, and thus their perceptions and attitudes are translated into political and administrative praxes (Vacková, Galčanová, and Hofírek 2011). Moreover, as Galster (2001) noted in his neighborhood-level study, the flows of resources are governed by the perceptions of key actors.…”