Beyond Divided Territory::How Changing Understandings of Public Space in Northern Ireland can Facilitate New Identity Dynamics

The sectarian geography of Northern Ireland, whereby the majority of the population live in areas predominated by one religion or the other, is typically assumed to straightforwardly reflect the territorial identities of local residents. This conflation of place and identity neglects the role of place in actively shaping and changing the behaviours occurring within them. The present paper uses new developments in the area of social psychology to examine three case studies of place identity in Northern Ireland and explore the possibilities for change. A large scale survey of the display of flags and emblems across Northern Ireland demonstrates the extent of visible ter-ritorialisation, but also the relationship between understandings of space and the acceptability of these displays. Secondly, analysis of interviews with the Orange Or-der and nationalist residents concerning the Drumcree dispute illustrates how differ-ent constructions of space are used to claim and counterclaim rights to display iden-tity. Finally analysis of media and interview accounts of the St Patrick’s Day event in Belfast illustrate how new understandings of shared space can negate territorial identities and facilitate coexistence in the same place and facilitate good relations.

Gender and Public Space in Divided Cities

The paper addresses two connected questions: firstly, in what ways might ‘public’ and ‘private’ spaces in cities be gendered; and secondly, what might this mean for the possibilities for complex forms of civility in a divided city such as Belfast? The specific focus on gendered dynamics of entitlement to inhabit urban space in this paper begins with some consideration of debates about the quality and experience of everyday life in cities, and the emergence of commonsense notions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ behaviour. Following this, key research concerned with the gendered dynamics of claimed collective, and particularly national, identities are outlined, in order to consider the significance of this literature for any study of the gender dynamics of life in a contested political context such as Belfast.

Parades, Flags, Carnivals and Riots: Public Space, Contestation and Transformation in Northern Ireland

This paper explores one of the defining aspects of politics and identity in Northern Ireland: the control and utilization of public space, particularly urban public space. Ethnopolitical conflict consistently reveals itself through contestation over public space. The role of ritual events is important in the development of political identity and group cohesion. The symbolic landscape will be constructed through displays of identity by dominant groups and their ability to control that landscape by inhibiting displays by other groups. This will reveal itself through frequent contests over rituals and symbols. This paper looks at the role of ritual events in civic spaces in Belfast but particularly asks what role they might play in conflict transformation. The 1998 agreement offered political structures that provided for shared power after 30 years of violent conflict. At the same time, there was an increase in contestation over public space as political groups within the previously marginalized Catholic community demanded recognition within the public sphere and a rebalancing of the public space through changes to the previously dominant Protestant and Unionist expression of identity. The paper concludes by suggesting that in “shared space” a new civic identity that spans the political and ethnic divisions has started to develop in Belfast and that this might evolve despite an increased residential division throughout the urban area.

Pedestrian Priority Zones in the Context of Urban Mobility and Valorization of Public Space

The second half of the XX century was marked by a great increase in the number of people living in cities. Urban agglomerations became poles of attraction for migration flows and these phenomena, coupled with growing car-ownership rates, resulted in the fact that modern transport systems are characterized by large number of users and traffic modes. The necessity to organize these complex systems and to provide space for different traffic modes changed the way cities look. Urban areas had to cope with traffic flows, and as a result nowadays typical street pattern consists of a road for motorized vehicles, a cycle lane (in some cases), pavement for pedestrians, parking and a range of crucial signage to facilitate navigation and make mobility more secure. However, this type of street organization may not be desirable in certain areas, more specifically, in the city centers. Downtown areas have always been places where economic, leisure, social and other types of facilities are concentrated, not surprisingly, they often attract large number of people and this frequently results in traffic jams, air and noise pollution, thus creating unpleasant environment. Besides, excessive traffic signage in central locations can harm the image and perception of a place, this relates in particular to historical centers with architectural heritage.

The neoliberalization of street vending policy in Lima, Peru: the politics of citizenship. property and public space in the production of a new urban marginality

Neoliberalism is having a significant and global impact on political, social and economic life across spaces. This work illustrates how neoliberalism is attempting to change the ways in which the urban poor - particularly those that participate in street vending - use urban spaces in Lima, Peru. Using municipal policies, newspaper articles and local academic texts I argue that there is a changing marginality in Lima that is being experienced by street vendors, and currently in los canas of Lima. In particular, I discuss formalization, a neoliberal strategy in street vending policy, which is used with eradication and social assistance strategies in attempts to re-regulate street vendors.

Nietzsche et le tournant dans la pensée de Martin Heidegger : examen d'une thèse de Hannah Arendt

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Pensée, politique, totalitarisme : lire Platon avec Hannah Arendt

Cette étude, qui s'intéresse aux appropriations de l'Antiquité grecque au XXe siècle, se propose d'analyser les impacts de la lecture de Platon sur le développement de la pensée politique et éthique de Hannah Arendt. Notre approche du sujet est historique et philosophique. Premièrement, nous considérerons la toile de fond biographique, intellectuelle et historique de cette lecture. La relation intellectuelle entre Hannah Arendt et Martin Heidegger reçoit une attention particulière, puisque le Platon arendtien présente parfois des similarités avec celui de Heidegger. Nous considérerons également la réception de Platon en Allemagne entre la période de Weimar et l'après-guerre : les lectures idéologiques de l'époque nazie, et le débat autour du statut de Platon en tant qu'ancêtre du totalitarisme, clamé par Karl Popper, ont assombri la réputation philosophique de Platon jusqu'à la fin du XXe siècle. Nous trouvons des échos de ce climat intellectuel particulier dans le traitement de Platon chez Arendt. Dans un deuxième temps, nous examinerons les thèmes et les motifs de la lecture arendtienne en observant minutieusement une sélection d'ouvrages, d'essais, d'ébauches d'Arendt, en plus des notes du Journal de pensée (Denktagebuch) et des extraits de dialogues de Platon sur lesquels s'appuient sa lecture. Arendt déconstruit, transforme, altère et utilise ces textes afin de démontrer que notre tradition de pensée politique s'est édifiée sur un mépris de la politique qui trouve sa source dans la pensée platonicienne. Ce mépris culmine dans la pensée de Marx et le totalitarisme. Mais les réflexions d'Arendt sur la pensée, le jugement et la conscience, et son traitement du cas Eichmann suggère qu'elle s'approprie par moments la pensée de Platon. Des comparaisons avec d'autres penseurs émigrés allemands, qui s'inspirent aussi de Platon et des Grecs pour édifier leur pensée politique, Leo Strauss et Eric Voegelin, vont nous permettre d'affiner notre compréhension du Platon d'Arendt.

Assessment of conditions that make habitable the public space of Colombian cities

This paper presents the assessment that inhabitants of some Colombian cities did on the conditions that contribute to the livability of public space. Seven hundred and forty people, inhabitants of Yopal, Villavicencio, Valledupar, Popayán, Pereira, Pasto, Neiva, Montería, Medellín, Fusagasugá, Cúcuta, Cartagena, Cali and Bogotá participated in the study. The assessment of the conditions that contribute to the livability of public space was carried out using an instrument composed of 48 items that inquired about the level of contribution that can have different conditions on the quality of public space, from a scale five points ranging from: Does not contribute at all (-2) to: Contribute significantly (+2). The results show the conditions that most affect the habitability of public space in Colombia, as well as the differences between cities according to the assessment made by participants about the general state of public space in cities. Multidimensional analysis (SSA) evidence a structure that reflects the function that public space plays in people’s assessment on Colombian cities. It is discussed the implications of the findings for urban planning and management and the designed instrument is proposed as a tool to assess the quality of urban public space.

El pensamiento de Hannah Arendt, una visión global.

Tal i com anuncia el títol, l’article pretén introduir al lector que no coneix a Hannah Arendt en el seu pensament, a través dels seus temes essencials, introduint l’acció i la política com la dimensió més important de l’acivitat humana, en la mesura que és capaç de crear el món en el que el sentit comú permetrà l’aparició de la llibertat i la responsabilitat; es planteja també, ja dins l’àmbit de la vida contemplativa, on es planteja el judici moral i l’anàlidi de concepte –clau en la nostra autora- de la banalitat del mal, el que obliga a nalitzar el seguiment arendtià del judici a Eichmann i l’anàlisi més general del totalitarisme, fenomen que introduiex les seves arrels i troba la seva explicació en la modernitat. Com a conclusió, s’introduiex la proposta política de la nostra autora, el republicanisme, forma política defençada per la nostra autora en la mesura en que l’acció humana permet arribar al consens.

1945 - A new order of centuries? : Hannah Arendt and Hermann Broch’s “The Death of Virgil”

Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv