Suchergebnisse

"Everybody is talking about space. In fact, for some time now scholars in the social and cultural sciences have been giving particular attention to space and space theory. The starting point of this paper is the proclamation of a 'spatial turn' in American radical geography in the Tate 1980s. After a critical reconstruction of the history of the 'spatial turn' two main scholars come under observation: Henry Lefebvre and Michel Foucault. This paper shows the construction of these scholars as references of the 'spatial turn'. Looking specifically at the core of the criticism of the spatial turn - the reproach of determinism - this paper discusses and analyses the most popular spatial turn claim: the argument that there is no danger of determinism because of the nature of space as a 'social construction'. The aim of the paper is to explore the meanings of these positions and assess why they are still important for current discourses." (author's abstract)

During the British occupation of Egypt in the beginning of the 20th century, several suburban developments were established on the periphery of the city of Cairo. These initially attracted the small British community and later foreigners and Egyptians, mainly from the elite community. These suburban developments, including Ma'ādī, Zamālik, Heliopolis, Qubbah-Gardens, and Garden City, became the fashionable residential quarters of Cairo. Until now, some of these areas still represent the distinguishable residential settlements of the city. Ma'ādī, Zamālik, and Heliopolis specifically are nostalgically appropriated in the design of recent suburban developments around Greater Cairo. Some of the 20th century suburban developments around Cairo are labeled or described as "garden cities." During the early 20th century, two thriving British town planning movements emerged, namely, the garden city movement and the garden suburb movement. This study investigates the hypothesis that these suburban developments, are indeed "garden suburbs" like the British movement, despite that few are labeled or described as "garden cities,". Although several studies have examined the historical development of such settlements, their relation, however, to the British planning movements and their transfer process received little attention from planning historians. Few studies also analyze the urban design aspects that made these suburban developments distinguishable since their foundation and until today. To guide the validity of this study's hypothesis, a set of research questions are formulated: (1) What is the difference between the garden city and the garden suburb movements? (2) How were the British planning movements transferred to Egypt? (3) What are the urban design aspects that makes these suburban developments distinguishable as garden suburbs? To answer these research questions, a historical morphological urban analysis is conducted through case studies. The study first studies the difference between the garden city and the garden suburb movements, mainly in Britain, through the analysis of publications on the promoter of both movements: for the garden city, E. Howards' book "The Garden City of Tomorrow," published in 1902, and for the garden suburb, R. Unwin's books "Town Planning in Practice," published in 1909, and "Nothing Gained from Overcrowding," published in 1912. Then a morphological urban analysis of Letchworth Garden City and Brentham Garden Suburb, considered the first examples of each movement, is conducted. In order to analyze the transfer process, the study adopts M. Volait and J. Nasr's theory on transporting planning, through investigating the authority in power responsible for the establishment of these suburban developments. This is followed by the morphological urban analysis of three suburban developments around Cairo, namely, Zamālik, Ma'ādī, and Heliopolis. The morphological analysis focuses on the background of their establishment, authority in power responsible for the development, design principles, urban context, street typology, residential block typology, social infrastructure, and social target group. Finally, the study compares between Brentham, Letchworth, Zamālik, Ma'ādī, and Heliopolis. The comparative analysis aims to highlight the differences between the studied cases of Cairo and how they are different from or alike the British movements. This study concludes that the suburban developments around Cairo during the British occupation, are in fact garden suburbs, despite that some are being described or labeled as garden city. This movement was exported via urban land development companies with foreign European capital, rather than via colonial dominance. It finally highlights a set of urban design aspects that distinguish them as garden suburbs of Cairo. This study hopes to support future conservation plan of these areas and the design of future suburban developments.

"While urban life can be characterized by endeavors to settle stable and safe environments, for many people and living entities urban space is rarely stable or safe; it is uncertain, troubled, imbued with challenges, and perpetually under pressure. As the notion of unsettled appears to define contemporary urban experience, this multidisciplinary book investigates the conflicts and possibilities of settling and unsettling through open and speculative analysis. The analytical prism of unsettled renders urban space an indeterminate ground unfolding through routines, temporalities and contestations in tension between settling and unsettling. Such contrasting experiences are contingent on how urban societies confront, undergo and overcome turbulence and difficulties in time and space. A collection of contributions drawing on theoretical reflections and empirical accounts-from Argentina, Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Vietnam-give insights into past and present plural uncertainties, antagonisms and ambivalences in a variety of urban forms, relations and expressions. The chapters reveal conditions under which unsettled might tie down or unleash transformative, liberatory and emancipatory potentials. This book is for students, professionals, and researchers interested in the uncertainties, foundations, disturbances, inconsistencies, residuals and blind fields which constitute the urban both as lived space and as social, cultural and political ideal"--