Zoekresultaten

Space production in times of Neoliberalism.

The right to the city is a concept that was first proposed by Henri Lefebvre’s book ‘Le Droit à la Ville’ in 1968 and that has been reclaimed more recently by social movements, thinkers and several progressive local authorities alike as a call to action to reclaim the city as a co-created space—a place for life detached from the growing effects that commodification and capitalism have had over social interaction and the rise of spatial inequalities in worldwide cities throughout the last two centuries. Today, the right to the city theory has inspired many social movements in the world, especially in the Middle East (e.g. Arab Spring movements and conquering the public squares of the cities by citizens, the Istanbul movement in Taksim square, the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York). Urban public space is the place where all the collective social movements and collective memory of citizens occur. However, the main question around the neoliberal city of today is how and who will create the public space and for whom will this space be created? The aim of this chapter is to discuss the triple notions of space production, collective use of space and the right to the city in the context of the neoliberal cities of the Middle East. We will use a desktop review and case study approach to explain how, in the neoliberal city of today, the occupation of collective space in favour of private profit upsets and impinges upon the general right to the city. All the while discussing the participation of citizens in the process of space production and the increase in the collective use of public space, hence extending and enlarging the citizenry’s right to the city.

Public play space : turning urban space into public places with games and play.

Designing creative places: the role of creative tourism

Creativity has become a strategy in the making of places, with cities and regions seeking to increase their attractiveness to the creative class, support the creative industries or to become ‘creative cities’. We examine how creativity has been utilised in placemaking in tourism desti-nations through different design strategies. A shift in theoretical focus from creative individuals towards creative districts or places is noted, in line with the developing field of creative place-making. Case studies of creative development indicate strategies need to be sensitive to local context, and follow some basic design principles. Creative placemaking includes consideration of resources, meaning and creativity, driven by clear vision, enabling participation, leaving space for creative expression and developing a coherent narrative

Criteria for a hybrid place: a tool for creating inclusive leisure venue

In a landscape where there is limited social mixing, leisure venues which host a vivid cross-section of Amsterdammers, stand out as shining examples of conviviality and hope. Inspired by the concept of hybridity, which breaks down divisions between groups and opens up space for interaction and innovation, we have dubbed such venues ‘hybrid’ places. So what are the secrets of a hybrid place? This tool is the result of trying to answer that question.

Happiness, Space and Place

There has been a rapidly growing number of studies of the geographical aspects of happiness and well-being. Many of these studies have been highlighting the role of space and place and of individual and spatial contextual determinants of happiness. However, most of the studies to date do not explicitly consider spatial clustering and possible spatial spillover effects of happiness and well-being. The few studies that do consider spatial clustering and spillovers conduct the analysis at a relatively coarse geographical scale of country or region. This article analyses such effects at a much smaller geographical unit: community areas. These are small area level geographies at the intra-urban level. In particular, the article presents a spatial econometric approach to the analysis of life satisfaction data aggregated to 1,215 communities in Canada and examines spatial clustering and spatial spillovers. Communities are suitable given that they form a small geographical reference point for households. We find that communities’ life satisfaction is spatially clustered while regression results show that it is associated to the life satisfaction of neighbouring communities as well as to the latter's average household income and unemployment rate. We consider the role of shared cultural traits and institutions that may explain such spillovers of life satisfaction. The findings highlight the importance of neighbouring characteristics when discussing policies to improve the well-being of a (small area) place.

Eventful cities as global innovation catalysts: The Sónar Festival network

As the economy becomes more globalized, a growing number of events are exerting an influence on activity and innovation globally in different fields. Therefore, we argue that "eventful cities" can act as important catalysts for eventfulness in other places as well. This article analyzes the case of the Sónar electronic music festival, an event that originated in Barcelona, Spain, but which now runs different editions in many cities worldwide. This empirical study of the innovation capacity of a cultural event examines how a locally based music festival has transformed itself by using the global "space of flows" to influence the local "space of places." The Sónar Festival has turned itself into a relational hub in a global cultural network, using stylistic innovations to link geographically dispersed nodes in order to create new products, open up new markets, and strengthen its own position as a global source of eventfulness.