Suchergebnisse

In this article, we propose to expand the field of urban political ecology (UPE) by analyzing the role of discourse in the production of urban nature. We exemplify our case by analyzing media discourses and exploring discursive modes of justification and hierarchies of worth mobilized in socialist and postsocialist struggles over allotments in what is now the Czech Republic. We unravel particular discursive strategies and arguments used to depoliticize the struggle and justify the abolishment of allotments. Using the example of allotments, we argue that incorporating a rigorous analysis of discourse in the scope and practice of UPE and paying close, explicit attention to how worth and value are mobilized might help us not only to better understand the complex processes of the production of socio-natures in (neoliberal) cities but also to empower UPE scholars with tools to further the fight for more just urban environments.

This paper explores the sociotechnical change necessary for the introduction of collaborative housing projects into the Czech super-homeownership housing regime. To better understand the obduracy of the current housing system, we examine the major barriers and threats to the implementation of such projects through a series of workshops with non-experts in selected cities. Our findings suggest that the housing system's obduracy is related to social imaginaries that we conceptualise as the 'imaginary of social inertia'. This form of imaginary, along with other factors such as a lack of supporting legal and financial infrastructures, creates a complex network of obstacles that reduce the likelihood of such housing projects gaining ground. In conclusion, our research emphasises the role of imaginaries in studying obduracy and thus provides valuable insights into the processes of urban sociotechnical change.