NEOTRADITIONALISM IN THE SUBURBAN LANDSCAPE: CULTURAL GEOGRAPHIES OF EXCLUSION IN VANCOUVER,CANADA

During the 1990s, urban geographers have become fascinated with what are termed “neotraditional landscapes,” yet have ignored the broader cultural contexts of neotraditionalism. In this paper, I use a more encompassing and culturally based conception of neotraditionalism to demonstrate a salience of neotraditionalism in the suburban landscape beyond strict neotraditional developments. My argument is that neotraditionalist beliefs are transforming “ordinary” suburban landscapes in subtle but distinctive ways beyond the presence of neotraditional developments. This different reading of suburban neotraditionalism is filtered through qualitative material collected during in-depth interviews in two suburban neighborhoods in Vancouver, Canada. Though the research is suggestive rather than definitive, I suggest that it has important implications for rethinking geographies of suburban exclusion.     

Style for the Zeitgeist: The Stealthy Revival of Historicist Housing Since the Late 1960s

A revival has occurred in the use of historical architectural styles for modern suburban houses but this has attracted little attention from journalists and academics. Those who have noted it disagree about when it began and gathered momentum. Newspaper and trade journal evidence for Canadian cities indicates that the revival began in the late 1960s; that it has reached market saturation; and that Victorian and neo-classical styles became dominant after 1980. Coinciding with the beginnings of inner-city gentrification, the historicist revival in suburban dwellings preceded the recent interest in neotraditional urban design. Not a fringe taste, it says something about the zeitgeist.     

The Unbearable Closeness of The East: Embodied Micro-Economies of Difference,Belonging, and Intersecting Marginalities in Post-Socialist Berlin

Abstract

This article examines the micro-politics of belonging in the post-socialist outskirts of Berlin, in Marzahn, one of many new urban immigrant settlement areas in Europe. More specifically, it focuses on what locals perceive as an acceptance-precluding conspicuous presence of nominally white immigrants of German ancestry from the former Soviet Union, the Aussiedler (resettlers). Long-term residents read and interpret these immigrants’ everyday embodiments by constructing what I call micro-economies of embodied difference in order to mark immigrants as non-belonging Eastern-European. In order to make sense of such practices and local antipathy towards the Aussiedler, I analyze the embeddedness of this suburban locality in the regional politics of belonging, showing how Marzahn and its long-time residents have themselves become post-wall Berlin's (and Germany's) internal Others, saturated with uncommodifiable traces of now-denigrated state-socialist Easternness. I suggest that in such a context these residents’ practice of ascribing the unwanted Easternness to recent immigrants works to deflect it in order to buttress their own claims to full membership citizenship in the unified Germany from which they have long been excluded. [Key words: belonging, immigrants, embodied difference, Othering, Easternness, Berlin.]     

Resisting urban renewal in Istanbul

In this article I examine grassroots responses to state-directed urban renewal in two poor neighborhoods in Istanbul. Through detailed analysis of resident perspectives and urban association tactics, I explore various factors that shape the trajectories of resistance to urban renewal, including solidarity networks, levels of participation and trust in local neighborhood associations, strength of neighborhood identity, extra-local support, and the traditions and channels of negotiation with state actors. I argue that these factors are articulated by a distinct “politics of compensation”—a term that I borrow from Ananya Roy—that is particular to the contemporary neoliberal condition. I find that grassroots mobilizations in Istanbul do not necessarily operate in opposition to neoliberalism; in fact, many struggles remain within the conceptual space of neoliberalism and its cost-benefit calculations. These findings contribute to the emerging literature on struggles against urban renewal in the global south.     

MEXICAN URBAN COLONIAS IN THE SALT RIVER VALLEY OF ARIZONA

The history of the Salt River Valley is often characterized as a boomtown narrative that highlights the exploding Anglo population and rapid suburban sprawl that followed World War II. Frequently overlooked is the fundamental role that Mexicans played in the early suburbanization process through the formation of urban colonias, or suburban Mexican settlements. Early Mexican suburbs, despite their rural atmosphere, were connected to the pre–World War II urbanization process in the Salt River Valley. Our research seeks to amend and clarify the urban historical record by documenting the diverse and dispersed array of Mexican suburban settlements, a process generated by industrial agriculture, decentralization, and residential segregation.     

高铁驱动中国城市郊区化的特征与机制研究——以京沪高铁为例

国际理论与实践表明高铁的建设能够推动城市郊区化的发展。现阶段中国高铁大规模建设,与快速城市化同步推进,使得这一影响更为深刻和复杂。在高铁新城形成的过程中,高铁站点发挥了一个"放大器"的功能,推动了以高铁新城为主体的城市郊区化进程。以京沪高铁为例,定性与定量相结合分析了以高铁新城为代表的郊区化模式特征:①大城市相对主动的郊区化;②规划建设的规模与定位偏高;③迅速改变城市原有空间格局等。从政府、市场和社会三者的角度,利用城市政体理论分析了高铁驱动城市郊区化的内在机制。最后指出高铁对于城市郊区化的带动效应存在着选择性和不确定性,应从区域层面对高铁沿线及周边城市的定位及关系进行协调,将高铁新城的选址、规划、开发和建设纳入到城市整体空间发展的脉络之中,同时应加强高铁新城规划的公众参与,从而更好的利用高铁驱动中国城市郊区化的可持续发展。     

THE CHANGING LOCATION OF TRADE AND SERVICES IN GUADALAJARA,MEXICO, 1994–2004*

The location of trade and services in Guadalajara, Mexico, is in flux as suburban commercial centers compete with the traditional downtown for new businesses and employment. Since the mid‐1990s a factor driving the change has been the introduction of American‐style big‐box retailers, corporate franchise supermarkets, and large suburban shopping malls. In this article I analyze the changing patterns of commercial and service businesses and employment from 1994 to 2004 in order to compare suburban and urban growth. My analysis includes comparative measures of change in neighborhoods immediately surrounding Walmart stores and by disaggregated types of commercial districts. Results indicate that a complementary relationship has developed: Suburbs are increasingly strong in the services, but the downtown remains a commercial hub. Moreover, some traditional small vendors in close proximity to Walmart may suffer, but growth in employment and in the service sector near Walmarts is high.     

The Transnational Assembling of Marina Bay,Singapore

From Shanghai's Pudong to Dubai's Marina, waterfront developments are increasingly popular urban forms worldwide. Drawing on the literature on urban assemblages, I explore how urban waterfronts are produced out of the transnational assembling of models, knowledge and expertise. My case study here is Marina Bay, Singapore, a landscape that like much of the rest of Singapore is a product of talent and ideas from elsewhere. In this paper, two strategies employed by Singapore's urban authorities to court global expertise for Marina Bay's development are examined – their formation of an international panel of experts in the fields of urban planning, policy and design, and their launching of international competitions to attract top design firms. Like transfer agents that enable policies to travel, I argue that these individuals and firms are situated within wider knowledge circuits that straddle the globe, and are thus well placed to filter and channel ideas from elsewhere to Singapore. Drawing on selected developments within Marina Bay, I trace the routes taken by these ideas, the changes they underwent as they travelled, as well as their relationships with the actors that facilitated their journeys. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the usefulness of understanding the urban as more‐than‐territorial in both theory and practice.     

The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America's Eden. Lisa Sun-Hee Park and David Naguib Pellow

In the past decade, Beijing has experienced dramatic spatial restructuring. In this paper, we test whether the conventional monocentric model of urban spatial structure can explain recent developments in Beijing’s land market. Using official land transaction data from 2008 through 2012, we find that (1) for commercial, mixed-use, and residential land parcels, both land prices and development intensities do not decline with distance from the urban center; (2) for industrial land parcels, land prices increase with distance from the urban center. These insignificant and positive land-price gradients defy the predictions of the monocentric model; such results are explained by examining Beijing’s evolution from a monocentric to a polycentric spatial configuration, which has been driven by various urban planning efforts and institutional reforms. Our analysis of post-Olympic Beijing land market dynamics leads to a fresh understanding of the city’s emerging polycentric metropolitan structure.     

基于遥感分析的无锡市城乡过渡地域嬗变研究

对无锡市30年遥感影像分析表明,20世纪90年代中期之前,无锡市城乡过渡地域用地形态主要以郊区农业形态存在,从1998年以后,郊区农业形态消失.城乡过渡地域从行政区划概念下的郊区嬗变为具有新型城乡关系的城乡耦合地域,但行政区划的调整滞后于空间用地形态及社会属性的嬗变;通过建立嬗变模型,分析影响无锡市城乡过渡地域的嬗变因素,外部控制因素主导着城乡过渡地域嬗变,同时引导内部控制因素变化,并且城乡过渡地域嬗变具有不可逆转性,城乡统筹规划中应强化乡村外部条件促进乡村发展.     

Property advertising and the representational production of suburbia: “Functional suburbs” and “lifestyle suburbs” in Auckland

This paper joins literature on suburban advertising with Lefebvre's concept of representational space to analyse property advertisements as part of the representational production of suburban space. Based on comparative analysis of advertising material for suburban residential developments on Auckland's “North Shore” in two time‐periods—1950s and 2010s—the paper examines changes and continuities in thematic content. While property advertisements in the mid‐1900s emphasised the “functional suburb,” paying attention to attributes such as quality of utilities and proximity to the central city, more recently advertisements have more strongly emphasised the “lifestyle suburb,” with a focus on middle‐class community and natural amenity.     

北京郊区女性居民一周时空间行为的日间差异研究

伴随城市空间向郊区急剧扩张,郊区已成为快速城市化过程中疏解城市人口和功能的重要空间。作为兼顾工作与家庭的双重工作者,郊区女性居民的日常生活面临着新的挑战。基于2012年北京居民日常活动与交通出行调查的第一手资料,采用时间地理学研究框架,以一周的活动日志数据为基础,从时间节奏和时间分配的角度分析郊区女性的时间利用特征,并通过标准置信椭圆对GPS轨迹数据进行了活动空间刻画,探讨不同活动在城市不同空间中的发生日间差异。结果表明,在时间上,郊区女性的日常生活具有规律性、丰富性和细碎性的特点;工作日的时间分配以工作活动为中心,从周一到周四的差异性不显著;休息日的时间分配以家务和休闲活动为主,并且在休息日内部出现周日出行时间相对较少的差异。在空间上,大部分郊区女性居民选择在郊区附近就业,日常生活中的购物、休闲活动也主要在郊区空间发生;在休息日,购物活动向城区空间内延伸,休闲活动的空间范围虽然相比于工作日有所扩大但仍主要在郊区空间内部完成。     

Concentration or Dispersion? Location Choice of Commercial Developers in the Portland Metropolitan Area, 2000–2007

This study develops nested logit models to explore the location choice of commercial developers in the Portland metropolitan area, a region that is widely known for its progressive urban growth management. The purposes are to study the dynamics of urban spatial structure from the supply side of the real estate market and to test the capacity of regional governments to manage urban growth by influencing the location choices of developers. The model results indicate that commercial development in the Portland region showed a clear trend of decentralization from its central city. Decentralized commercial developments were not generally dispersed in suburban areas either. Instead, commercial developers tended to locate them in locations within or in close proximity to employment subcenters. Among many control variables tested in the models, availability of vacant land zoned for commercial and industrial purposes proved to be the most important predictor for new commercial development.     

The political topology of urban uprisings

This article examines the relationship between political uprising and megaproject-based global city reform in Paris and London. On the one hand, it considers the banlieue uprisings in Paris in November 2005 as an impetus for the Grand Paris renewal initiative launched in April 2007. This is compared with the large-scale reformations of space across London in advance of the 2012 Olympics as a contributing factor in the riots of August 2011. In both of these cases there is an integral though indirect link between urban planning and resistance. Engaging with Marxist political theory and critical urban geography, I argue that uprisings and global city developments relate in a mutually constitutive fashion. I also locate the suburbs, broadly defined, as an important site of contemporary political antagonism. I use the concept of “political topology” to suggest that global city pursuits present a new mode of uneven development that has not yet been adequately met in thought or practice. The two cases are thus used to open up to a more general analysis of twenty-first-century urban politics.     

"Here a Ghetto,There a Ghetto": The Value and Peril of Comparative Study

This commentary questions whether ethno-racial identities play no role in recent developments in France's banlieues, as Wacquant argues. Wacquant's point that the French banlieues should not be simple-mindedly equated with American "ghettos" is well taken. However, there is no doubt that ethno-racial identities are growing in political and social salience in France. There should be a way to conceptually take these developments into account, without interpreting them as mere replications of American racial politics. I argue that Wacquant overlooks the roles that partisan politics and public opinion will likely play in either assisting or hindering his proposed public policy changes. Change, whether incremental or revolutionary, will depend on the ideas and actions of party politicians and citizens. I also ask whether recent assertions of banlieue identity might be interpreted as somehow violating French core values.     

On feminism and feminist allies in knowledge production in urban geography

In this response to Ananya Roy’s paper, I ask: who are the allies of feminist knowledge production about the urban? To explore this question, I specifically ask what feminist scholars may find of use in two books, namely Arrival Cities by Doug Saunders and Implosions/Explosions edited by Neil Brenner, that are representative of two major discourses on the urban, respectively, the “Urban Age” and planetary urbanization, currently favored by policy bodies and (some) academics. Their limited engagement with politics leads me to conclude with a call for a feminist mode of situated knowledge production to engage with (the limits of) urban theory and the urban as a site of praxis.     

Beyond Postmetropolis

Three recent developments have created new challenges and opportunities for urban geography and geographers: the rediscovery of the generative power of cities, the cross-disciplinary diffusion of critical spatial perspectives, and rising interest in regions and regionalism. With these new developments as background, I reflect upon some of the ideas and themes introduced in Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions, published in 2000. Like the book, this effort to move beyond Postmetropolis is divided into three parts: Remapping the Geohistory of Cityspace; Six Discourses on the Postmetropolis; and Lived Space: Remembering 1992 in Los Angeles. Some of the same themes are taken up, often with a different emphasis, in the accompanying essays by Robert Beauregard, Mona Domosh, and Deborah Martin.     

House broken: homelessness,housing first,and neoliberal poverty governance

Housing First (HF) is the new orthodoxy when dealing with the small, long-term, visible and recalcitrant fraction of the greater homeless population. Unlike more traditional, “treatment first” models that expect “self-sufficiency” before clients should achieve housing, this markedly cost-effective program/policy rapidly places homeless people who “consume” the most state resources into their own subsidized apartment. Many conclude that such an upending renders HF an exceptionally progressive program that ousts the disciplinary, paternalist traditions of poverty governance. Using evidence from two programs in metropolitan Phoenix, AZ, however, I argue that housing indeed comes first, but paternalism is right there behind it. Further, I argue that the program’s apartment lease – in what remains commodified housing – is no benign social relationship. It is, rather, a lever of market discipline. In HF, the abstract compulsions of the market significantly but incompletely replace the older, more paternalistic and personal models of disciplinary case management. As such, HF exemplifies a form of neoliberal poverty governance despite its relatively “progressive” platform.     

A resurgence in urban living? Trends in residential location patterns of young and older adults since 2000

ABSTRACT

Some have heralded a resurgence of urban living in the U.S., particularly among young adults. Are Americans abandoning suburbs in favor of more urban lifestyles? What is the scope and scale of this urban resurgence? We develop a typology of neighborhoods to analyze the residential location of young and older U.S. adults from 2000 to 2011–15. Census and national travel survey data reveal that suburban population growth continues to outpace that in urban neighborhoods. Although young adults are more likely than older adults to live in urban neighborhoods, recent urban population growth is neither associated with suburban decline, nor being led by young adults. Significant recent population growth in the newest, suburban neighborhoods suggests that greenfield development remains the primary means to increase American housing supply. Shifting metropolitan growth from the suburban fringe would likely require expanding housing supply in urban neighborhoods, and bringing urban amenities to established inner-ring suburbs.