The Broken "I" : fragmentation of self and otherness in modern urban narratives

Ce mémoire mélange théorie et fiction pour explorer la technique narrative du “nous” performatif. Le premier chapitre démontre le role du discours dans le processus de formation d’identité, pour éventuellement démontrer que la nature performative du langage est responsable de la creation des constructions sociales du soi et de l’autre. En étudiant les failles de ce système, cet essai tentera de créer une entité narrative libre de ces contraintes. Un second chapitre théorique, après des exemples de fiction, se penchera sur l’entité narrative du flâneur, qui à travers sa relation intime avec la cité, souligne une dichotomie présente dans la relation entre le soi et l’autre. Le flâneur emergera comme un site de traduction dans lequel le “nous” performatif peut prendre action. Toutefois, les limites du flâneur en tant qu’outil narratif l’empêchera d’être la representation ultime de cette dichotomie. Après d’autres exemples de fiction, un troisième chapitre combinera ce qui aura été apprit dans les chapitres précédents pour démontrer que le “nous” performatif et sa dissolution du “je” et du “tu” mène à une narration qui est responsable, consciente d’elle-même et représentative de la réalité urbaine moderne et ses effets sur la création de l’identité.

Incorporating community history into urban redevelopment

A community history project must be relevant to each person within it so that they see themselves as part of the socio-cultural fabric of the area and feel a sense of ownership of their environment. The Mill Albion community history project is a diverse, multi-layered public history/art program that captures the social heritage of The Mill Albion and allows the community to contribute to their ongoing history. The Albion Flour Mill was built in 1930 at a time when Australia was feeling the effects of its worst economic depression and continued operations for more than 72 years. After ceasing operation in 2005 the site was left to deteriorate. The FKP Property Group purchased the land to undertake a new urban redevelopment project, drawing on the design principles of a traditional ‘village’, while valuing the importance of remembering the community that once included the Flour Mill. This paper reflects on the this project and showcases some of the culturally creative ways this community’s history was told, using methods such as digital stories, contemporary and historical photography and oral history.

Urban informatics

The increasing ubiquity of digital technology, internet ser-vices and social media in our everyday lives allows for a seamless transitioning between the visible and the invisible infrastructure of cities: road systems, building complexes, information and communication technology, and people networks create a buzzing environment that is alive and exciting. Driven by curiosity, initiative and interdiscipli-nary exchange, the Urban Informatics Research Lab at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, is an emerging cluster of people interested in research and development at the intersection of people, place and technology with a focus on cities, locative media and mobile technology. This paper seeks to define, for the first time, what we mean by ‘urban informatics’ and outline its significance as a field of study today. It describes the relevant background and trends in each of the areas of peo-ple, place and technology, and highlights the relevance of urban informatics to the concerns and evolving challenges of CSCW. We then position our work in academia juxta-posed with related research concentrations and labels, fol-lowed by a discussion of disciplinary influences. The paper concludes with an exposé of the three current research themes of the lab around augmented urban spaces, urban narratives, and environmental sustainability in order to illustrate specific cases and methods, and to draw out distinctions that our affiliation with the Creative Industries Faculty affords.

Chase over the Nile: The Social Evolution of Riverine Landscape in Urban Egypt

Throughout its history, Cairo evolved as a regional metropolis that sprawls along the banks of the Nile accumulating narratives of evolving social landscape. Overlooking the Nile reflected a privileged social position and place for the urban elite. In spatial terms, the urban bourgeoisie tend to develop living havens in enclaves that are distant from the populace’s everyday life. Ironically, exclusive settlements only attract urban growth further in their direction. This chapter offers an analytical reading of the socio-spatial structure of Cairo following the emergence and decline of a series bourgeoisie quarters along the shores of the Nile. It reports urban narratives based on archival records, documents and investigation of historical texts and travelers’ accounts. This essay argues that cities are essentially social constructs in which hierarchy and connectivity are fundamental aspects of its economic and spatial logic. Through social ambition and desire for upgrade, middle class infiltrate into bourgeoisie havens and sometimes encircle it, seeking better living condition inscribed by social mobility and connectivity to centres of wealth and power. Being both natural barrier and cohesive spine, the Nile helped Cairo to develop successive nucleuses of highly crafted urban experiences that have left their imprints on the contemporary urban scene.

New York City: "gilt cage" or "promised land" ? : representations of urban space in Edith Wharton and Anzia Yezierska

This thesis explores the importance of literary New York City in the urban narratives of Edith Wharton and Anzia Yezierska. It specifically looks at the Empire City of the Progressive Period when the concept of the city was not only a new theme but also very much a typical American one which was as central to the American experience as had been the Western frontier. It could be argued, in fact, that the American city had become the new frontier where modern experiences like urbanization, industrialization, immigration, and also women's emancipation and suffrage, caused all kinds of sensations on the human scale from smoothly lived assimilation and acculturation to deeply felt alienation because of the constantly shifting urban landscape. The developing urban space made possible the emergence of new female literary protagonists like the working girl, the reformer, the prostitute, and the upper class lady dedicating her life to 'conspicuous consumption'. Industrialization opened up city space to female exploration: on the one hand, upper and middle class ladies ventured out of the home because of the many novel urban possibilities, and on the other, lower class and immigrant girls also left their domestic sphere to look for paid jobs outside the home. New York City at the time was not only considered the epicenter of the world at large, it was also a city of great extremes. Everything was constantly in flux: small brownstones made way for ever taller skyscrapers and huge waves of immigrants from Europe pushed native New Yorkers further uptown on the island, adding to the crowdedness and intensity of the urban experience. The city became a polarized urban space with Fifth Avenue representing one end of the spectrum and the Lower East Side the other. Questions of space and the urban home greatly mattered. It has been pointed out that the city setting functions as an ideal means for the display of human nature as well as social processes. Narrative representations of urban space, therefore, provide a similar canvas for a protagonist's journey and development. From widely diverging vantage points both Edith Wharton and Anzia Yezierska thus create a polarized city where domesticity is a primal concern. Looking at all of their New York narratives by close readings of exterior and interior city representations, this thesis shows how urban space greatly affects questions of identity, assimilation, and alienation in literary protagonists who cannot escape the influence of their respective urban settings. Edith Wharton's upper class "millionaire" heroines are framed and contained by the city interiors of "old" New York, making it impossible for them to truly participate in the urban landscape in order to develop outside of their 'Gilt Cages'. On the other side are Anzia Yezierska's struggling "immigrant" protagonists who, against all odds, never give up in their urban context of streets, rooftops, and stoops. Their New York City, while always challenging and perpetually changing, at least allows them perspectives of hope for a 'Promised Land' in the making. Central for both urban narrative approaches is the quest for a home as an architectural structure, a spiritual resting place, and a locus for identity forming. But just as the actual city embraces change, urban protagonists must embrace change also if they desire to find fulfillment and success. That this turns out to be much easier for Anzia Yezierska's driven immigrants rather than for Edith Wharton's well established native New Yorkers is a surprising conclusion to this urban theme.

Burnett Lane : Curatorial Rationale & Scoping Report

Mindful of time line and budget limitations this document, as requested by BBC, acts as an inspirational scope, identifying more ‘live’ opportunities than possible within the current budget. The document's secondary purpose is to identify through consultation, concept development of ideas and budgetary costs associated, a number of projects within this document that can be successfully achieved within the current circumstance. A limited, but successful outcome in this initial phase will help to ensure the continuing invested support of stake-holders, not only in Burnett Lane but in relation to the creative scope of other laneways as identified in the BCC laneway document.

A vision of the past : The Mill Albion

This paper examines The Mill Albion community history project, a diverse, multi-layered public history/art program that captures the social heritage of The Albion Flour Mill, as told through images produced as part of a research consultancy undertaken by QUT for FKP Property Group. The Albion Flour Mill was built in 1930 and continued operations for more than 72 years. After ceasing operation in 2005 the site was left to deteriorate. The FKP Property Group purchased the land to undertake a new urban redevelopment project. This paper reflects on the project and showcases some of the culturally creative ways this community’s history was told, using images.

Chaos and creativity of play : designing emotional engagement in public spaces

How do we create strong urban narratives? How do we create affection for our cities? Play, an essential part of any species' biological existence and development, can often be perceived as chaotic and derogatory to social and spatial order. Play is also often perceived as a creative force which generates social and spatial value. This paper looks at the design approaches to both chaotic and creative perceptions of publics at play in urban space. Commonly, Urban and Architectural Design constitutes reactive management of perceived chaos, which derogatorily effects our sensory and emotional engagement with space. Alternatively, Urban and Architectural Design can appeal to the creativity of play, by encouraging unsolicited novelty that is vital to strong experiential narratives in the city and iterating environments that encourage the emergence of physical, emotional and cultural invention. These perceptions of chaos and creativity affect the design methodology of professional practice. Tested through the exciting vehicle of Parkour as urban narrative, the constraints and opportunities of both approaches are presented.

Narrativas Urbanas, Grafite e Pós-modernidade

O presente trabalho visa demonstrar de que maneira os grafites se enquadram nos modos de narração e construção de laços de sociabilidade da sociedade pós-moderna. Segue-se o pensamento de Gianni Vattimo que questiona a ideia outrora dominante de uma história universal e linear, característica do pensamento moderno. O filósofo propõe que pensemos na figura fragmentada de mosaicos de narrativas onde prevalecem histórias locais de grupos antes vistos como subculturas. Com a difusão e acessibilidade aos diversos meios de comunicação, vislumbra-se a emergência de vozes outrora silenciadas pelo status quo, permitindo a materialização das várias weltanschauung (visões de mundo) dos grupos sociais na contemporaneidade. A disseminação dessas vozes não procura mais apresentar a história por meio de fatos concretos de um saber legítimo, mas através de fábulas que permitam a visualização e despertem o imaginário desses grupos sufocados. Na sociedade pós-moderna existem tantas narrativas locais quanto tribos urbanas. Ademais são abordadas as tensões existentes entre grafite e pichação e da comercialização e institucionalização do grafite sob a alcunha de "arte urbana". Também é destacado o papel dos museus na formação de identidades e de patrimônios locais e de como essas instituições culturais exercem influência na constituição de novos imaginários sociais ou na manutenção destes, que estão presentes na sociedade contemporânea. As cidades, bairros e territórios, e o sentimento de pertencimento, são essenciais para que as intervenções urbanas possam ocorrer. Assim, é explicitada a relação das diversas tribos urbanas com os espaços das cidades, os desdobramentos da globalização sobre esses grupos e a constituição de memórias subterrâneas, que podem se constituir em forças de resistência aos movimentos culturais midiáticos

Le devenir-imperceptible de l'urbaniste : une lecture de l'éthique chez Gilles Deleuze : expérimentation sensible du pont Jacques-Cartier à Montréal.

Ce mémoire s’inscrit dans une approche émergente en urbanisme qui cherche à mettre en dialogue les théories et les pratiques de l’urbanisme et la pensée du philosophe français Gilles Deleuze. Depuis quelques années, la pensée de Gilles Deleuze (surtout ses travaux coécrits avec Félix Guattari 1972; 1980) commence à s’immiscer dans les débats contemporains en urbanisme. Les travaux de Kim Dovey (2010; 2012), Jean Hillier (2005; 2007; 2011) et Colin McFarlane (2011a; 2011b) constituent les exemples les plus achevés d’une réflexion deleuzienne sur l’urbanisme. À degrés divers, ces auteurs mobilisent surtout cette pensée pour sa capacité à appréhender la complexité, le changement et l’instabilité (assemblage thinking). Pourtant, cette mobilisation de la pensée deleuzienne en urbanisme laisse largement intouchée le projet éthique et politique au coeur de la pensée de Gilles Deleuze. Le projet qui anime ce mémoire est d’explorer ce qu’une éthique deleuzienne peut apporter aux théories et pratiques de l’urbanisme. Cette éthique implique notamment un questionnement radical du cadre étatique dans lequel l’urbanisme s’insère, ce que ce mémoire appelle le «devenir- imperceptible » de l’urbanisme. Un travail empirique, constitué de 14 récits de ville prenant pour objet le territoire du pont Jacques-Cartier à Montréal, accompagne et poursuit cette réflexion théorique. Ces différents récits révèlent le pont Jacques-Cartier comme un lieu producteur de territoires, de mémoires et d’affects. Cette démarche terrain allie certains éléments de l’assemblage thinking et une éthique professionnelle deleuzienne. Elle explore la possibilité d’un rapport réellement sensible entre le territoire, l’urbaniste et les personnes concernées par une entreprise urbanistique.

Lugares de fronteira: as tascas localizadas nas portas da muralha Fernandina de Évora

Esta dissertação de mestrado tem por objecto de estudo o conjunto das tascas localizadas nas portas da Muralha Fernandina de Évora. Praticamente desaparecidos espaços ainda íntegros, pode-se considerar que estas construções integram uma rede de estabelecimentos composta por estruturas militares, religiosas, de lazer e de carácter colectivo, que se encontram associadas e caracterizam as portas medievais de Évora. O objectivo desta investigação é o estudo urbanístico e arquitectónico das portas urbanas, e o modo como os estabelecimentos de venda de bebida configuraram as diversas narrativas urbanas a partir de diferentes orientações políticas ao longo dos tempos. O caso de Évora é tomado como base de trabalho por ser legível ainda uma imagem de conjunto, a partir de vestígios, exemplares minimamente conservados, fontes históricas, impressas e fotográficas. A articulação urbana típica e recorrente, na relação directa tasca-porta, pode-se encontrar noutras cidades alentejanas, e nas cidades amuralhadas em geral; PLACES OF FRONTIER: THE TAVERNS LOCATED IN THE GATES OF EVORA'S FERNANDINA WALL ABSTRACT: This dissertation has as subject the study of the taverns located in the gates of Évora's Fernandina Wall. Despite the almost disappearance of intact spaces, it can be considered that these buildings are part of a network of institutions composed of various structures such as military, religious, recreational and collective character, which are associated and feature the ancient medieval gates of Évora. The aim of this investigation is the urban and architectural study of the urban gates, and how the beverage outlets have represented the various urban narratives from different political orientations over time. The case of Évora is the base of work by being a readable group, from traces, minimally preserved specimens, historical, printed and photographic sources. The typical and recurrent urban articulation, in a direct relation tavern-gate, can be seen in other Alentejo towns, and walled cities in general.

Narratives of Spatial Division: The Role of Social Memory in Shaping Urban Space in Belfast

The paper examines the role of shared spaces in divided cities in promoting future sustainable communities and spaces described as inclusive to all. It addresses the current challenges that prevent such inclusiveness and suggests future trends of its development to be of benefit to the wider city community. It explains how spaces in divided cities are carved up into perceived ownerships and territorialized areas, which increases tension on the shared space between territories; the control of which can often lead to inter-community disputes. The paper reports that common shared space in-between conflicting communities takes on increased importance since the nature of the conflict places emphasis on communities’ confidence, politically and socially, while also highlighting the necessity for confidence in inclusion and feeling secure in the public domain. In order to achieve sustainable environments, strategies to promote shared spaces require further focus on the significance of everyday dynamics as essential aspects for future integration and conflict resolution.

Danger zones and hot spots: Traversing Canadian and Australian narratives of urban multiculturalism

The ethnicity of urban space has long been an element in the burgeoning discourse of national multiculturalisms; so much so that spatial theorist Edward Soja uses the term “ethni-city” to speak of so-called postmodern or postcolonial urban geographies (239). In our focus on the urban, we point to both the conceptual and material thresholds of multiculturalism within the borders of the city, as well as the internal urban/suburban borders that delineate belonging. These are often as strongly patrolled as larger national borders. In taking up Sneja Gunew’s call in Haunted Nations for comparative and critical work on multiculturalisms, this paper offers preliminary and exploratory avenues and points of departure, and aims to particularise the multicultural as an encounter and experience that is regulated spatially and corporeally.