Where is Urban Politics?

Abstract

Where is urban politics? Abstract:We outline the rationale for reopening the issue of the spatiality of the 'urban' in urban politics. There is a long tradition of arguing about the distinctive political qualities of urban sites, practices and processes. Recent work often relies on spatial concepts or metaphors that anchor various political phenomena to cities while simultaneously putting the specificity of the urban itself in question. This symposium seeks to extend debates about the relationship between the urban and the political. Contributions draw on a range of intellectual perspectives, including geography, urban studies, political science and political theory, anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, planning, and environmental studies -indicating the range of intellectual traditions that can and do inform the investigation of the urban/political nexus.

The Urban Problematic II

“…The telling title of the recent Symposium, 'Where Is Urban Politics?' (Rogers et al, 2014), begins by 'outlining a rationale for reopening the issue of the spatiality of the "urban" in urban politics ' (Rodgers et al, 2014' (Rodgers et al, : 1552. The diverse articles collected under this heading satisfy the editors' intentional 'pluralism' but also represent a shared attempt to 'bring fresh perspective to how the urban might become political ' (2014: 1558).…”

Forced migration and the city

“…Activist citizens relentlessly pursue possibilities for writing new scripts. Whilst these tensions between the 'scripted' 'policing' of urban space and a more insurgent 'politicization' of the city have exercised debate within urban geography (see MacLeod and McFarlane, 2014;Rodgers et al, 2014), their impact has been limited when considering forced migration. Notably, the four areas of work discussed so far have all focused on the city as a regulatory space that seeks to 'align subjects with the state' (Uitermark and Nicholls, 2014: 975).…”

What is (still) political about the city?

“…A lot goes missing in this (lack of) relation of the urban to the political. For example, the urban roots of capitalist crisis and the recurring struggles associated with it; or urbanity as a way of life as well as the condition for political mobilisation in the urban realm; or the urban as a governmental category which shapes and provides fertile ground for political organisations and movements that endure and that are not only but to different degrees directed towards formal politics and other forms of governmental action (see Rodgers et al, 2014).…”