Splintered networks: The colonial and contemporary waters of Jakarta

This paper queries the relevance of the ‘splintering urbanism’ thesis to postcolonial cities of the South, and responds to calls for the production of a decentered theory of urbanization through a case study of Jakarta. Drawing on archival and interview data, the paper demonstrates that Jakarta has, since its inception, been characterized by a high degree of differentiation of access to water supply, and of fragmentation of water supply networks. We document the origins of this fragmentation in the colonial era, and trace the legacy of the colonial constructions within the postcolonial city. Moreover, we demonstrate that the introduction of private sector management (in 1988) has not significantly disrupted, and certainly not caused, this pattern. In short, we provide evidence to support our claim that Jakarta’s water supply system is ‘splintered’ rather than ‘splintering’, and demonstrate that this phenomenon was not caused by the rise (or fall) of the ‘modern infrastructural ideal’. In order to explain this sustained fragmentation of infrastructure and access, the paper develops a conceptual framework of postcolonial governmentality that emphasizes the interrelationship between materiality, governmentality, identity, and urbanization, in particular through demonstrating how contested and evolving process of social differentiation are linked to the differentiation of water supply infrastructures and of urban spaces. Although we are wary of any simplistic comparisons between the colonial past and present, we argue that the optic of postcolonial governmentality provides a powerful lens for dissecting the power relations that continue to structure access to water supply and urban space in cities in the South.     

Technologies of austerity urbanism: the “smart city” agenda in Italy (2011–2013)

In the heyday of the late 2000s financial crisis, austerity urbanism became a dominant practice of state financial restructuring—an intensification in the encroachment of the neoliberal project into the agendas of local governments. In the specific case of Italy, which faced political and economic distress between 2011 and 2013, “smart city” policies became one of the foundational political technologies for the implementation of austerity measures. In this paper, I analyse how the smart city provided a lexicon for urban austerity through a series of different sites and vehicles of policymaking, from practitioners to companies and other institutions. I argue that smart city discourses and practices functioned as a political technology that was effective in justifying cost containment measures and supporting the shift to pro-innovation public expenditures. Yet, at the same time, the smart city techno-utopian vocabulary created spaces where other meanings and, potentially, alternative political outcomes were made possible by diverse alignments of knowledge and expertise.     

Living the good life? The rise of urban mixed-use enclaves in Metro Manila

Gated communities and other forms of privatized enclaves have become features of many cities. The rise of urban mixed-use enclaves, which integrate functions of work, entertainment and living, is a relatively new and understudied phenomenon that is expanding rapidly throughout the Global South. In this article, we advance the concept of enclave urbanism through a case study of Eastwood City in Metro Manila, the Philippines. We trace the enabling factors for mixed-use enclave creation and assess how the different functions are marketed and integrated in practice into one “live–work–play” development. Based on extensive qualitative research, we argue that the global capital accumulation strategy of real estate developers leads to a strong focus on production and entertainment functions, but neglects questions of liveability. We reflect on the implications of our findings for mega-urban regions and urban studies research.     

From EDUPUNK to Open Policy: Critical Technology Praxis within Higher Education

Emerging less than a decade ago, the term EDUPUNK sought to encapsulate the nascent rebellion against the corporatism and neoliberal ideology permeating digital aspects of higher education. A loose association of academic technologists with interests in net neutrality, open source software, hacktivism, and so on, the EDUPUNK movement has also been informing the adoption of various open practices in higher education, including open educational resources (OER). Intriguingly, university administrators and policymakers—attracted by aspects such as increased access and lower costs for students—are taking notice. In this article, I focus on developments from across the state of Virginia to introduce a critical praxis landscape from within higher education. Thus, I showcase some of the opportunities for critical technology praxis within the neoliberal(izing) university.     

The urban land debate in the global South: New avenues for research

The global ‘land grab’ debate is going urban and needs a specific conceptual framework to analyze the diverse modalities through which land commodification and speculation are transforming cities across the globe. This article identifies new avenues for research on urban land issues by drawing on an extensive body of academic literature and concrete cases of urban land transformations in Asia, Latin America and Africa. These transformations are analyzed by focusing on three types of urban investments – investments in property, investments in public space and public services, and investments in speculation, image building and ‘worlding’ – and the way these investments are intermingled with and enhanced by processes of gentrification and speculative urbanism. Addressing real estate and infrastructure investments, speculation and gentrification through a land-based lens allows us to deepen the discussion on urban land governance in the global South. We argue that urban land acquisition cannot be thoroughly understood in isolation from the workings of urban real estate markets, public policies, and displacement processes. The urban land grab debate needs to consider the dialectic interplay between land use change and general socio-spatial transformations both in central – or recentralized – and peripheral areas. This is why we plea for a kaleidoscopic perspective on urban land governance by uncovering the complex patchwork of urban land acquisitions and their diverse temporalities and spatialities, their hybrid character in terms of actors involved, and the multiple and often unpredicted ways in which urban dwellers try to gain control over and access to urban land.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Women, Work, and Ideology in the Third World . Haleh Afshar, ed. The Birth of the National Park Service. The Founding Years 1913–33 . Horace M. Albright Theatres of Accumulation: Studies in Asian and Latin American Urbanization . Warwick Armstrong and T.G. McGee. New Tools for Social Scientists, Advances and Applications in Research Methods . William D. Berry and Michael S. Lewis -Beck , eds . Uncertain Dimensions: Western Overseas Empires in the Twentieth Century . Raymond F. Betts. Geography of Sugar Cane . Helmut Blume. The Mines of Neptune: Minerals and Metals from the Sea . Elisabeth Mann Borgese. Geographical Dimensions of Energy . F.J. Calzonetti and B.D. Solomon, eds. Statistical Methods for Geographers . W. A. V. Clark and P. L. Hosking. In The Wake of Columbus, Islands and Controversy . John DeVorsey, Jr., and John Parker, eds. Housing, States and Localities . Peter Dickens, Simon Duncan, Mark Goodwin and Fred Gray. Physician Location and Specialty Choice . Richard L. Ernst and Donald E. Yett. Practical Ecology for Geography and Biology: Survey, Mapping, and Data Analysis . D.D. Gilbertson , M. Kent and F.B. Pyatt Large Scale Water Transfers: Emerging Environmental and Social Experiences . Genady N. Golubev and Asit K. Biswas, eds. The Nature of the Environment . Andrew Goudie. Planning for Population Change . W.T.S. Gould and R. Lawton. The Niger and its Neighbors: Environmental History and Hydrobiology. Human Use and Health Hazards of the Major West African Rivers . A.T. Grove, ed. Remote Sensing of Ice and Snow . Dorothy K. Hall and Jaroslav Martinec. Atlas of Antebellum Southern Agriculture . Sam Bowers Hilliard. Galilee Divided; The Israel-Lebanon Frontier, 1916-1984 . Frederic C. Hor . Plains Country Towns . John C. Hudson. Agricultural Geography: A Social and Economic Analysis . Brian W. Ilbery. Industry in the 1980s: Structural Change and Interdependence . U.N. Industrial Development Organization. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States . Kenneth T. Jackson. The Industrial Geography of Italy . Russell King. Studies in Linguistic Geography: The Dialects of English in Britain and Ireland . John M. Kirk, Stewart Sanderson, J.D.A. Widdowson, eds. Tourism: A Community Approach . Peter E. Murphy. Cities and Services: The Geography of Collective Consumption . Steven Pinch. An Historical Geography of Europe 1800–1914 . Norman J. G. Pounds. An Introduction to Human Ecology Research on Agricultural Systems in Southeast Asia . A. Terry Rambo and Percy E. Sajise, eds. Discovering Past Landscapes . Michael Reed, ed. Managing the Ocean: Resources, Research, Law . Jacques G. Richardson, ed. Carta fitosociologica de la transecta botanica de la Patagonia Austral . F.A. Roig , Juan Anchorema , Orlando Dollenz , A.M. Faggi and Eduardo Mandez Intermetropolitan Migration in Canada: Changing Determinants over Three Decades . R. Paul Shaw. Chinese Cities—The Growth of the Metropolis since 1949 . Victor F. Sit, ed. Urbanization in the World-Economy . Michael Timberlake, ed. The Al Business: Commercial Uses of Artificial Intelligence . Patrick H. Winston and Karen A. Prendergast, eds.     

Southern urbanism or a world of cities? Modes of enacting a more global urban geography in textbooks,teaching and research

Despite growing attentiveness to cities in the global south, questions remain as to how to enact a more global urban studies. We analyze five contemporary textbooks as a lens into how southern cities ought to be incorporated in teaching as well as the field of urban geography. We find both separate chapters for southern cities (southern urbanism), and southern cities integrated into existing thematic chapters (a world of cities). We further show that i) the global south is 2–33% of the content; ii) information about the south is typically more general than the north, but never as universal trends iii) representations differ not just in content but in style and iv) the south is exemplar or exception rather than as a source of theory. We suggest that geographers must continue their efforts in thinking about how southern cities should be incorporated in urban geography in and outside the classroom.     

Tracing faith-based service landscapes: the contours of messiness at the Open Door Community in Atlanta

A burgeoning geographic literature examines the politics of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in neoliberalized social welfare landscapes. This scholarship on FBOs in the “postsecular city” argues for a “messy middle ground” that explores moments of subversion and resistance, but avoids drawing a clear dividing line between those groups that advance neoliberal agendas and those that resist them. In this paper, I use a case study approach to examine the contours of “messiness” at the Open Door Community, an FBO in Atlanta. The subjectivity of FBO participants is argued as integral to the complex set of perspectives that pre-empt any easy classification of FBO politics. Multiple, conflicting subjectivities and power disparities characterize even FBOs with emancipatory agendas.     

Moving policy: global and local characters circulating bus rapid transit through South African cities

In this paper, I explore the variety of actors who circulate international best practice around the world. I trace the introduction and adoption of bus rapid transit (BRT) projects and policies across six South African cities through international and municipal policy actors, to expose the role of individuals moving policy within the messy and tangled process of policy circulation. The analysis demonstrates the particularly important role of local actors in localizing global practice. While cities may learn of circulated forms of knowledge through innovative and dynamic individuals, policy is adopted only through local actors with governmental support. This premise adds a critical dimension to the policy mobilities field by demonstrating that adopting localities are instrumental in cultivating a receptive ground for the application of circulated policy. Global best practice does not simply float around waiting to be selected, but rather local policymakers are actively seeking and transforming innovations such as BRT.     

Situating the Anthropocene: planetary urbanization and the anthropological machine

The anthropological machine is the discursive framework, the dispositif that grounds “Western man” in a sense of civility, secured through a violent division within and between the human and nonhuman: not the after-effect of the civilizing act but its very foundation. This paper explores Agamben’s machine at multiple sites: in its expression in everyday lives of urban citizens, and its legitimation of capitalist urbanization on broader spatial and temporal scales, its “worlding” through planetary urbanization and normalization of climate change. Complicit in capitalist urbanization and climate change, the anthropological machine has acted as a “switch point” since the 1600s. It now frames an emergent response: triage as the inevitable sacrifice of some peoples and parts of the planet to preserve others. If the urban is to become the site of mondialization, confronting the apparent inevitability of triage we must think beyond the either-or of a people or a planet. Thought in relation to the urban, the anthropological machine offers a meeting ground between urban political economy and assemblage urbanism. It enables us to situate the Anthropocene and differentiate the urban. But it also exposes a deep divide between scholars reframing the human beyond “Western man”: between those for whom the more-than-human expresses the dreams of a biophilic city and those for whom the less-than-human is increasingly its living nightmare.