Enabling Urban Alternatives. Crises, Contestation, and Cooperation

This book asks how thinking, governing, performing, and producing the urban differently can assist in enabling the creation of alternative urban futures. It is a timely response to the ongoing crises and pressing challenges that inhabitants of cities, towns, and villages worldwide are faced with in the midst of what has been widely dubbed as ‘an urban age’. Starting from the premise that current urban development patterns are unsustainable in every sense of the word, the book explores how alternative patterns can be pursued by the wide variety of actors – from governments and international institutions to slum-dwellers and social movements – involved in the on-going production of our shared urban condition. The challenges addressed include exclusion and segregation; persisting poverty and increasing inequality; urban sprawl and changing land use patterns; and the spatial frames of urban policy. As such the book appeals to urban scholars, policy makers, activists, and others concerned with shaping the future of our cities and of urban life in general. Additionally, it is of interest to students in urban planning, architecture and design, human geography, urban sociology, and related fields. Table of contents 1. Introduction: Introducing Urban Alternatives Jens Kaae Fisker, Letizia Chiappini, Lee Pugalis, and Antonella Bruzzese Part I Thinking the Urban Differently 2. ‘This Situation Can Be Duplicated’: Text as Radical Placemaking Tool George Francis Bickers 3. Terrains and Landscapes of Urban Politics Jens Kaae Fisker 4. Urban Dissensus: Spatial Self-Organisation at Wards Corner Sam Vardy Part II Governing the Urban Differently 5. Investigating the Democratic Potential of Temporary Uses in Urban Redevelopment Projects Peter Parker, Nina Vogel, and Lisa Diedrich 6. Mobilizing Alternative Modes of Cultural Governance in Berlin Friederike Landau and Janet Merkel 7. The Game of Participation in Amsterdam East: An Alternative to the Neoliberal or a Neoliberal Alternative? Zsuzsa Kovács, Peer Smets, and Halleh Ghorashi Part III Performing and Producing the Urban Differently 8. Urban Alternatives Through Cooperation: Autonomous Geographies and Recreational Running in Sofia, Bulgaria Andrew Barnfield 9. Alternative Spatial Styles: An Exploration of Socio-Spatial Youth Cultures in Turin Raffaella Ferrero Camoletto and Carlo Genova 10. The Spatial Features and Temporality of Urban Alternatives Antonella Bruzzese 11. Carving Enclaves of Alternative Urbanisms in Hong Kong Sonia Lam-Knott 12. ‘City of Light’: The Production of Urban Space by the Esoteric Spiritual Community of Damanhur, Italy Stefania Palmisano and Alberto Vanolo 13. Conclusion: Enabling Alternative Urban Futures 271 Jens Kaae Fisker and Letizia Chiappini