A place for politics in urban theory : the organization and strategies of urban coalitions
Division of labour ; Local economy ; Local policy ; Locality ; Urban conflict ; Urban policy ; Urban theory
The A. concludes that urban coalitions are necessarily related to changing wider divisions of labor and modes of regulation. The urbanpolitical economy recognizes that processes acting at various scales produce unique forms of urbanpolitics
The sub-discipline of urbanpolitics has been constructed in opposition to a traditional version of institutional theory. Attention has shifted towards the broader influences on local decision-making and to the growing fragmentation of government
and the rise of partnerships. The article argues that recent developments call for a reformulated theory of the institutional constraints which urbanpolitical processes operate.
From urbanpolitical economy to cultural political economy : rethinking culture and economy in and beyond the urban
Cultural studies ; Cultural turn ; Political economy ; Urban geography ; Urban policy
Moving the argument from inquiry on the nature of the economy itself to the transformation of the role of culture and economy in understanding the production of urban form from perspectives based in urbanpolitical economy, the paper focuses on how
the challenges posed by the cultural turn have enabled urbanpolitical economy to participate constructively in interdisciplinary efforts to reorient political economy in the direction of a cultural political economy.
Farm laborers and the new urbanpolitics : bridging the urban-rural divide
Colorado ; Farm ; Farmer ; Local policy ; Public service ; Rural-urban relations ; Seasonal work ; United States of America ; Urban fringe ; Urban policy
The provision of services to farm labor is examined as an extension of the new urbanpolitics. Concern for farm workers on the urban-rural fringe (example of Boulder County) enhances understandings of local politics in three ways. It draws attention
urban-rural dichotomies and their role in shaping local politics.
to the wide array of political agents operating at the local level. The role of scale in creating uneven development within metropolitan areas is highlighted. Attention to the politics of service provision for farm labor makes clear the need to re-evaluate
Beijing ; Centrality ; China ; Perception of the urban environment ; Policy ; Political geography ; Power ; Semiotics of space ; Social practice ; Urban area ; Urban landscape ; Urban morphology
The paper reviews the relevant geographical literature on space, place and politics, then sketches the morphological evolution of the Square and the multiplicity of political meanings concretized in it. It examines the spatial practice of 20th
century oppositional movements focusing on the struggle for the Square in 1989, to demonstrate the extraordinary power of apparently placeless political movements over the production and definition of space.
Between process and individuation : translating metaphors and narratives of urban space
Daily life ; Theory ; Urban area ; Urban life ; Urban sociology
The A. wants to explore more closely Lefebvre's injunction for a careful examination of the relationship between space, language and politics. He wants to examine the metaphors used by scholars theorizing urban space and everyday urban life
. Conceptual and political problems are associated with the adoption of various metaphors about urban space.
The regional dimension of the socio-politicalurban-rural conflict in Slovakia
Behaviour ; Cleavage ; Election ; Electoral behaviour ; Political behaviour ; Political party ; Rural-urban relations ; Slovak Republic ; Social conflict ; Social geography ; Urban region
at national, but also at the regional level. Evaluation of level and dynamics in socio-political cleavage between rural and urban space is one of the most important research ambitions of this study. - (EN)
Political behaviour of citizens is traditionally formed by a wide range of factors that influence their voting decision in the election. Dichotomy of both the space and society into the town and the countryside generates different election results
constantly. A key aim of this paper is to assess the extent of rurality concerning the electoral support of relevant political parties operating on the Slovak political scene after the groundbreaking elections held in 1998 until ballots of 2010 not only
The A. attempts to reconstruct the urbanization process as a political and an ecological process. In Guayaquil, water becomes subject to an intense social struggle for control and access. The A. documents and analyzes the historical geography
of water control in the context of the political ecology of the urbanization. The urbanization process is written from the perspective of the drive to domesticate nature's water and the necessity to push the ecological frontier outward as the city expands.
Technifying public space and publicizing infrastructures : exploring new urbanpolitical ecologies through the square of General Vara del Rey
Architecture ; Infrastructure ; Madrid ; Political ecology ; Public space ; Spain ; Technology ; Urban area ; Urban planning
The article explores new ways of integrating technology, nature and infrastructures into urban public spaces. It is done through a case study, the design of this square of Madrid, which is offered here as a model to explore a novel urbanpolitical
ecology. Through the double movement of ‘the technification of public space’ and ‘the publicization of infrastructures’, the square aims to rethink the political ecology of urban public spaces. The transformation of infrastructures into fully visible
, public and political agents provides a useful model to address the growing proliferation of infrastructural and technological elements onto contemporary urban surfaces and to open up the possibility of new forms of civic participation and engagement.
Gentrification and the politics of the new middle class
Canada ; Election ; Gentrification ; Inner city ; Middle class ; Social class ; Social status ; Urban district ; Urban policy ; Urban society
in redefining the urbanpolitics of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver is examined. The role of a gentrifying middle class in challenging an hegemony of growth boosterism, and the attempt to sustain a regime of reform politics, are assessed.
The A. seeks to specify a social lacation for left-liberal politics among a distinctive cadre of social and cultural professionals, the cultural new class. The part played since 1968 by the cultural new class in the gentrifying districts
Postmodern urbanpolitics in South Africa : the case of Stellenbosch (2000-2004)
Difference ; Identity ; Local government ; Multiculturalism ; Post-apartheid ; South Africa ; Urban policy ; Western Cape
The paper adopts a postmodern perspective to account for post2000 electoral urbanpolitics in the municipality of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa. The significance of the changes in the political party control of the municipality
are analysed, including the impact of the floor crossing legislation. The paper highlights the critical elements of the new politics of multiplicity, difference and identity, and strategic alliances. - (AJC)