the ordinary city. ash amin, stephen graham. 1997
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
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The Ordinary CityAuthor(s): Ash Amin and Stephen GrahamReviewed work(s):Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 22, No. 4 (1997),pp. 411-429
Published by: Wileyon behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/623110.
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
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412
AshAmin nd
Stephen
raham
elements tends to be lost.
Oscillationsbetween
dire
predictions
of urban
doom and
optimistic
portrayals
f an
urban renaissance ervefurthero
confuse.
This
paper
aims
to draw on recent trands of
urbanresearch nd debate to evaluate thespecific
assets that ities nd
metropolitan egionsprovide
in an
era
of
globalization.
n
the first
ection,
we
review the dimensions of
the recent
urban
re-
discovery';
we
then
go
on to
diagnose
some
key
analyticalproblems
within his
burgeoning
wave
of urban
research
nd
commentary.
ection
three
attempts
o
develop
a new
perspective
n the
city
based on the dea that
contemporary
rban ife s
founded n
the
'multiplexing'
f
diverse
conomic,
social,
cultural nd institutionalssets
which
may
not all come
together
n the
city.
he
implications
of thisperspective orurbanpolicyand thequest
for social and territorial
ustice
are
explored
in
section
four,
whilst the
concluding
comments
argue briefly
hat social
justice
makes economic
sense.
The
'rediscovery'
f the
city
Between
the
early
1960s
and
early
1980s,
many
strandsof
commentary
nd
research,
articularly
in
the
Anglo-Saxon
world,
anticipated
progres-
sive dissolutionor erosionof cities as advanced
transport
nd telecommunications
nfrastructures
released
economic,
social
and cultural activities
from he need
for
patial
propinquity
nd
metro-
politan
oncentration
Boden
and Molotch
994).
n
the scenario
of
Alvin Toffler's
1980)
influential
'third
wave',
for
xample,
urban
nhabitants ould
escape
to
the rural
dyll
to
live,
work and
interact
from an
'electronic
ottage'
tied
into advanced
telecommunications
rids.
Anthony
Pascal
(1987,
602)
extended
his
prediction
y
suggesting
hat
with he assage f imewill ome] patial egularity;
the
urban
ystem
onverges
n,
even
f never
uite
attains,
omplete
real
niformity.
To
Pascal,
cities would
progressively
vanish'
as
their
chief
raison
d'e^tre
face-to-face ontact
-
would become
substituted
y
electronic
etworks
and
spaces.
New
rural societies
would
emerge
s
people
exercised their
new freedom
o locate
in
small,
attractiveettlements
etter uited to
their
needs.
If
cities
did not
exist',
wrote the
futurists,
Naisbitt nd Aburdene
1991,
329),
it
would
not
now
be
necessary
o invent hem
..
truly
lobal
cities
will
not be the
largest, they
will be the
smartest'. Even Marshall McLuhan
(1964,
366)
believed
that he
emergence
f
the
global
village'
meant hat
he
city
as
a form f
major
dimensions
must inevitablydissolve like a fadingshot in a
movie'. Some
critical
heorists oo
have
posited
some wholesale
evaporation
of the
city
as
a
'special'
place.
Paul Virilio
1987,
18),
for
xample,
asserts that cities are now
'overexposed'
to new
communications
echnologies,
which
effectively
serve to
evaporate
their
place-based
relational
meaning
in
some
pervasive
shift o a universal
'technological
pace-time'
where
elsewhere
egins
here and vice versa'.
Almost
n
awe of
such
doom
scenarios,
etween
the
early
1960s
and
early
1980s,
the
traditional
disciplinesof urban studies- particularly rban
geography
nd
planning
tended o confine
hem-
selves
largely
with
mapping
and
measuringpro-
cesses of urban conomic
estructuring
especially
deindustrialization and
highlighting
he social
crises associated
with the
collapse
of
inner-city
employment
(see,
for
example,
Martin
and
Rowthorn
1986).
Urban
planning
and
policy
debates became concerned
with
finding
olutions
to
urban crises
McKay
and Cox
1979)
but
neither
tended
to move much
beyond
their
oundaries,
o
question
or
engage
in the broader debates about
thefuture f cities.
And
yet,
from his
position
on
the intellectual
margins
ust
fifteen
ears
go,
the
tudy
f
the
city,
the
spatiality
f
metropolitan
ife and the
policy
challenges
of
contemporary
rbanism
have
come
to
hold
a
powerfulposition
within
ontemporary
social and
policy
sciences.
A
growing
range
of
research
s
focusing
attention n
understanding
and
analysing
the
'urban'.
Post-structuralist
nd
postmodern
debates
within the
humanities,
ul-
tural
studies,
geography
and
sociology
have
emerged
which seek
to
explore
urban
landscapes
as key sites of representationnd symbolization
(Westwood
and
Williams
1996),
identity olitics
(Keith
and
Pile
1993),
collective
memory
Boyer
1994)
and
consumption
Ellin
1995).
Writers
uch
as
Jim
Collins
1995)
and Rob Shields
1992)
have
helped
to
debunk
the absolutist
nd deterministic
scenarios
f
urban doom
and
collapse
of
theurban
public
realm
previously
offered
y
the
likes of
Michael Sorkin
1992)
and Paul
Virilio
1987).
A
wide
range
of commentaries
ave reasserted
he
multi-dimensional
ature f the ocial
and cultural
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
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The
ordinary
ity
413
life of the
city.
Media theorists ave stressed
hat
the
city
s an
'imaginary
ignification'
ithin
the
visual mediatization
f
modern
ife;
that the
city
'exists round
us and
also
lives within s'
(Robins
1996,
130).
The
nature
fthe
city
s a
clashing oint
fordiversesubjectivities,thnicities,orporealities
and
spatialities
as been stressed
y
cultural
om-
mentators
nd
geographers
Pile
1996).
And urban
political
conomists
have
explored
how the
fabric
of urban life is
deeply
imbued with
struggles
between
commodifying roperty
ndustries
nd
growing
portions
of disenfranchised rban and
immigrant opulations
Zukin
1995).
Meanwhile,
debates
about urban
economic
development
ave drawn on
regulation heory
nd
notions
of
flexible
specialization
to assert
the
renewed
mportance
f Marshallianmilieux t the
urban and regional evel in supporting ompeti-
tive,
creative
production
Amin
1994;
Scott
1988).
Stressing
the
extraordinarily
ocial nature of
modern
conomies',
Thriftnd Olds
(1996,
314-16)
argue
that,
n
volatile and
globalizing
economies,
trust nd
reciprocity,
orgedthrough
face-to-face
relational
etworks,
ecome
centrallymportant
o
many
economic
practices.
o
them,
it
s clear thatface-to-facenteraction
as
not
died out.
Indeed,
n
ome ense
t
hasbecomemore
mportant
s
reflexivity
including
n
enhanced
bility
o
ee oneself
as others
ee
us)
has
become
built
nto economic
conduct.ibid.,16)
Finally,
media
commentary
n
the
city
has also
grownrapidly
s
the
popular
mood
about cities
n
many
nations has become less dominated
by
a
sense of
collapse
and
crisis,
and more
open
to
positive
nterpretations
f
change
which stress he
opportunities,
itality
and assets
of urban life
(Jencks
996).
Such a
changing
mood is
increas-
ingly
supported by
evidence of
(at
least
patchy)
urban
revitalization',
he
continuedurbanization
of
many
advanced industrial
nations
and
even
renewed population growth in many once-
declining
ndustrial ities that
had been
given up
as inevitable
cons ofurban
visceration
Parkinson
1994).
Three
strands of
urban
rediscovery
have,
we
would
argue,
been
especially mportant
n
raising
the
profile
of
cities:
the
rediscovery
of
urban
centrality;
he
stress n
cities s
economic
motors
of
national
development;
nd the
growing
ebates
on the
importance
of
'creative
cities',
bringing
together
complex ranges
of
cultural,
learning,
education and information
ilieuxfor
upporting
reflexive
nnovation. t is
necessary
o look at
the
central
rguments
epresented
ithin
hese
trands
if we are
to
understand
he
ways
in which
they
explain
the
apparent
growing
mportance
f
what
might e termedurbanassets'.
Urban
nodes n
global
networks
The first strand of
work,
deriving
from
such
authors
as Saskia
Sassen
(1991, 1994),
Manuel
Castells
(1989)
and
John
Friedman
(1995),
has
sought
to reassess
the
importance
of
large
metropolises
s
key
command nd control entres
within
the
interlocking lobalizing
dynamics
of
financial
markets,
high-level
producer
services
industries,
corporate
headquarters
and other
associated service ndustries
telecommunications,
business
conferences,media,
design
and cultural
industries,
ransport,roperty evelopments,
tc.).
A
recent
urvey
n
Europe,
for
xample,
ound hat
since the
mid-1980s,
therewas no
sign
hat enior ecision
makersn
the
controlnd
ommandectorsf he
uropeanconomy
were
willing
o use the
potential
fnew
elecommuni-
cations
echnologies
o ransferheir
perations
o
more
peripheral
ocations.
uite
he
reverse.
ajor
metro-
politan
reas,
ituatedt the
entre f
ommunications
networksnd
offering
asy
access to
national nd
international
nstitutions,
he
rts,
ulturalnd
media
industries,f nythingecamemore ttractiveo nter-
national
inance
ouses,
orporate
eadquarters
nd
producer
ervice
ompanies.
Parkinson
994,
)
The
key argument
ere
s
that
he
dispersal
of
the
productive
apacity
of transnational
orporations
(TNCs)
over
ncreasingly
lobal
distances
requires
a
parallel
territorial
oncentration f
high-level
headquarters'
functions t
the
apex
of the
global
urban
hierarchy
notably
London,
New
York and
Tokyo)
(Sassen
1991,
1994).
Advances
in
tele-
communications
re
being
used
to enhance the
centrality
f
global
cities
more thanthey rebeing
used to
support
third
wave'-style patial
decen-
tralization
see
Graham
1997). 'Cities
reflect he
economic
ealities f the
21st
century',
rites
Tony
Fitzpatrick
1997,
9),
the
Director f
Ove
Arup:
Remote
working
rom
elf-sufficient
armsteads ia the
Internet
annot
eplace
he
powerhouses
f
personal
interaction hich
drives teamwork nd
creativity.
These rethe
ornerstones
fhow
professional
eople
add value o their ork.
esides,
ou
annotook
nto
someone's
yes
nd see that
hey
re
trustworthy
ver
the nternet.
ibid.)
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
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414
Ash
Amin nd
Stephen
raham
Trust,
eciprocity,eflexivity
nd the minimization
of
risk
thus fuel
the
explosive growth
of
global
cities.
As Mitchelson nd Wheeler
1994,
88)
argue,
in
times
of
greatuncertainty,
elect cities
cquire
strategicmportance
s
command entres
nd
as
centralizedroducersf thehighestrder conomic
information.
Liberalization f
financialmarkets
nd
the
needs
of TNCs to
manage global
investments ave simi-
larly
underpinned
he
explosion
of
global
financial
centres,
where risk and
volatility
re
managed
through
ntense ocalization.
Cycles
of cumulative
causation
between the concentration
of
TNC
headquarters,high-level
financial
ervices,
other
producer
services
accounting,
dvertising,
nfor-
mation
technology
IT)
and business
consultancy,
etc.) nd thewiderurban ssets specialized abour
markets nd
support
services,
concentrations
f
cultural
nd
'soft'
social
assets,
access
to world-
class
property, ransport
nd telecommunications
infrastructures)
re,
in
turn,
seen to lead to a
growing
centralization
of
high-level
functions
within
global
cities.
Thus international
inancial entres
nd
global
cities
are seen to reassert
heir ocational
power
and
centrality
ecause
they
combine
unmatched
concentrations
f
advanced
support
services
and
infrastructure,
ith
the
highly
eflexive
orkplace
culturessuited to high-levelfinancialand cor-
porate
operations
n a
global
and volatile
world
economy
Thrift
994).
Moreover,
he
intensifica-
tion of electronic
elecommunications
inking
uch
global
cities
seems
to
require
ever-more ntense
webs of face-to-face
o-presence
n
tightly
oncen-
trated rban
districts.
his s because
such
globally
interlinked
T and
telecommunications
ystems
lead
to massive
increases
in flows
of real-time
information,
equiring
skilled
and
convincing
interpretation
n a continuous
asis
(Thrift
996b).
In
contexts
uch
as
the
City
of
London,
the face-to-
face work environment, he personal relations
between
City
nalysts
nd
the
struggle
o
improve
individual
access to
powerful
new
interpretations
of
complex
hange
ll become
crucial,
o maintain-
ing,
or
even
enhancing,
he
centrality
f
global
financial
apitals.
Cities
s national conomicmotors
The secondstrand f research
has
sought
o over-
come
the
notion,
articularly owerful
within
he
USA and the
UK,
that
ities nd
metropolitan
ife
are an economic
iability
pits
into which
public
subsidy
and social
support
must
go
to
prop
up
ailing
nd anachronistic rban reas.
The
assertion,
rather,
s that
rban
conomies re
critically
mpor-
tant motors forsupporting he developmentof
national economies
Jacobs
1984).
To Sclar
(1992,
30),
for
xample,
heeconomic
trength
f a nation
is
'nothing
more
than the sum of
the
economic
strengths
f ts
metropolitan egions'.
This
s a
view that s
filtering
nto
policy
circles.
Typical
here s the book
edited
by Henry
Cisneros
(1993),
ppointedby
the
Clinton
dministration
s
the
ecretary
ftheUS
Department
f
Housing
and
Urban
Development.
n the
ntroduction,
isneros
asserts
hat,
espitebeing nadequately
eflected
n
political
power
structures
nd
debates,
US cities
are the
coreof the
metropolitan
reas which
lay
a
pivotal
role
n
the
national
conomy.hey rovide
work
or
millionsnd
are hehome o
major
rivate
mployers,
the
port
of
entry
or
foreign oods,
capital,
nd
workers,
nd
the
port
of
exit
for
American
oods,
services
nd tourists.
hey
ouse
many
f heworld's
premier
nstitutions
f
ommerce,
ulture,
nd
earning
(ibid.,
1).
He
also draws attention
o
the mounts
f financial
and
physical
apital
sunk
ntourban
reas and
the
facts hatnearly80 per cent of the US population
live in
metropolitan
reas
anchored
by
central
cities and that
such areas
contribute
ver 80
per
cent
of
the
US
jobs.
There re
two sides to this
growing
ssertion f
the
importance
of cities
as national
economic
motors:
he idea of
the
city
as a
knowledge-base
and the
debate
surrounding
he
supposed
resur-
gence
of
agglomeration
conomies,
especially
n
industries
of flexible
pecialization
and
volatile
demand.
The former
Knight
1995;
Knight
and
Gappert
1989;
Ryser
1994)
stresses
that urban
economieshave not so much declinedas under-
gone
a
transformation
ased
on
the
increasingly
central
mportance
f reflexive
nowledge nputs
and
services
nto
contemporary
rban
economies
(through
cience,
ducation,
raining,
nformation
and
business
support
ervices,
nd a
high-quality
cultural
nd
social
milieux').
Here
the
emphasis
s
on
the
qualitative
spects
of urban economies
nd
the
increased dominance
of urban economics
by
symbolic
nd
representational
lows
and
outputs
rather
han
commodity
lows and
outputs
what
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
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The
ordinary
ity
415
Lash
and
Urry
1994)
term
economies
f
igns
nd
space'). 'Soft', ntangible
factors,
ased
on
tight
propinquity
and close
relational
interweaving
within the
urban
fabric,
re seen as the
central
underpinnings
of
urban
competitiveness
and
creativity, yingcities,in turn, nto globalizing
networks f
productive,
nformational
nd human
exchange.
uch
'soft',
eflexive oncentrations
re,
of
course,
nderpinned y
ntensematerial oncen-
trations
n
the form of
grids
of advanced
tele-
communications
and telematics
infrastructures,
massive
highway
and rail networks
within
cities
and the
physical
environments nd
property
markets
that
help support
concentrated
urban
centrality.
The
implication
f this
perspective
s that eflex-
ive,
knowledge-based
rban
strategies
must
tie in
to theirparticular rbanarenas,so releasing yn-
ergies
between the elements
f
a
city's
knowledge
fabric and the urban built
environment nd
strengthening
he
knowledge
cultures of cities
(Knight
1995)
through
pirals
inking
headquarter
functions,
media,
cultural and
arts
industries,
education and
information
services,
research
and
development,
nd
institutions f
science
and
technology. ity
development
and
planning,
n
this
approach,
needs to be
recast s a
'high
level
collective
earning rocess'
ibid.,
59).
The
second
research trand
attempts
o relate
debates about the shift fromFordism to post-
Fordism to
the
dynamics
of
urban
manufactur-
ing change.
The
argument
here is that
certain
privileged metropolitan
reas,
which offer
the
localization
nd external conomies
most
ppropri-
ate to
support
flexibly rganized
industrialdis-
tricts
of
small,
innovative
firms,
have
managed
to
re-industrialize
uccessfully
since the
1980s
(Storper
996).
The
rich
ransactional
pportunities
of such
cities,
within
the
post-Fordist
ontext f
shifting roduction
mixes
forvolatile
nd
fluctuat-
ing
markets,
has
allowed
districts f
specialist
small firms o engage in continuous nnovation
and
learning
Scott1988).
Once
again,
the
bility
f
cities to
insulate
against
risk
and
uncertainty
nd
to minimize
transactions costs
for a
diverse
range
of
knowledge inputs,
abour
sources and
external
suppliers
underpins
the
dynamism
of
such
key
Marshallian
industrial
districts
Amin
and
Thrift
992;
for
a
review,
ee
Storper
1995).
Indeed,
for
some commentators
e.g. Malmberg
and
Maskell
1996),
the
advantages
of
proximity,
associated
with
he
xchange
f
nformation,
oods
and
services,
nd the
advantages
of
face-to-face
contact,
ssociated with incremental
nnovation,
learning
nd the
exchange
of tacit
knowledge,
re
the assets of
comparative
dvantage
in a
global
context f
increasingly biquitous
formsof
codi-
fied,or scientific,nowledge.Thus localization s
a source of
dynamic earning
hat
reinforces,
nd
is reinforced
y,
the
agglomeration
f firms
n
the
same
industry.
Of
course,
these
localized
'Marshallian'
or
'learning'
ffectsre not
confined
to
cities
but are a feature of areas
of
intense
entrepreneurialgglomeration
urban
and
rural.
However,
he
relevant
oint
here s that hisredis-
covery
fthe
powers
of
agglomeration
s
forcing
reappraisal
of
the
comparative
ssets
of
cities
n
economic
ompetition.
'Creativeities'
The third
trand reasserts
he
importance
f
city
centres
y stressing
ow
urban
culture,
he
media,
entertainment,
port
and education
may,
with
appropriatepolicies,
nterlace
positively
within
framework f
public
space
to
support
the emer-
gence
of
'creative
cities'
(Landry
and Bianchini
1995).
As with the
preceding
position,
he answer
to
economic nd
social crises
within
ities
s seen to
be
through
reative
practice, ocusing
n
projects
of
urban
renewal and lived
experience
hat make
the
most of the
diversity,
ifference
nd
intersec-
tiontraditionallyfferedycities.Certain ities,t
is
argued,
have
experienced
renaissance s
arenas
of
symbolization,
ases for
new,
reflexive orms f
consumption
nd cultural
roduction,
nd sitesfor
intensewebs of
informationnd
communications
flows orientated
round their
night-time
cono-
mies
(Griffiths
995;
Lash
and
Urry
1994).
But the
diagnosis
and the
vision here
also relates
power-
fully
o urban
physical space
and
planning.
This
approach
is
more
normative,
ied in
with
active
policy
and
planning
debates,
specially
n
western
Europe
(see
Bianchini
et
al.
1988;
Montgomery
1995).
Building
on the
ong-standing ritique
f
mod-
ernist
lanning
Jacobs
961),
the
central
ssertion
here is that
ities
can thrive
nly
when
strategies
recognize
hat
'the
defining
haracteristics
f cities
are
high
density,
mixed
use, stimulus,
ransactions
and above
all
diversity'
Montgomery
995,
102).
New
shared
spaces,
new,
mproved
public
realms,
new
mixed-usedurban
landscapes,
new intercul-
tural
interactions nd an urban
time-spacefully
animated
nd enlivenedwith
rich
rray
f
social
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
7/20
416
AshAmin
nd
Stephen
raham
and cultural
ctivities
re seen to
be the
answer to
the
problems
f
decay,
lienation,
olarization
nd
the
crisis
in
urban
public space
(Bianchini
and
Schwengel
1991;
Worpole
1992).
Density,
ultural
diversity
nd
vitality,
inking
nd
intersecting
he
whole gamut of urban activitieswithina fine-
grained
patial
matrix,
re
seen as
the
key
to urban
renaissance.
Such
a
renaissance s
alleged
to
be
underway
already
in
cities across
Europe
as a
result f the
growing ecognition
f the
benefits f
metropolitan
iving
nd culture
y
west
Europeans
and
because of the
success of
strategies
imed at
promoting
ities
especially ity
entres)
with
high-
density
development
generating
ntense stimulii
and concentrated
transactions
amongst
and
between
diverseuses.
Problems
of
synecdoche
n
the new
urbanism
These strands f what we term he
rediscovery'
f
cities
together
eassert he role of
city
assets
in
contemporary
lobal change
nd,
n
so
doing,
raise
considerable
hope
for
revitalizing
urban
areas
through
which
so much of
human life
is now
conducted. But how do we reconcile his
utopia,
likely
o be
extended o
all
cities nd
their
artsby
urban policy-makers nd boosterists,with the
variegated,
fragmented
nd incoherent ature of
contemporary
rban life? The
three
strands
are
derived from
eadings
of
particular
ities or
par-
ticular
parts
of cities.
They
offer
pecific erspec-
tives and
partial representations
n
the
vast,
multi-dimensional
ange
of
processes
of urban
change
currently nderway.
Each
of the
perspec-
tives
tresses ts
particular
ecipe
f
ingredients'
s
centralto
the
'new urbanism';
each thus asserts
the
primacy
of certain
ocial, cultural,
conomic,
physical,
nvironmental
r
institutional
ynamics
within ontemporaryrban ife.Key interconnec-
tions
within
and between cities are
inevitably
privileged
whilst
others
never make
it
into the
theorist's r
practitioner's
nalysis
at all. As
Nigel
Thrift nd Kris Olds
(1996,
312)
put
it
in their
commentary
n
economic
geography,
hese
trands
of
urban
discovery
illustrate
he
xtraordinaryifficulty
f
eparating
ut
something
alledthe conomic'romthe ocial'
r
he
'cultural'r the
political'
r the exual' rwhathave
you.
The new
urbanism,
herefore,
oses analytical
problems
in
trying
to
understand
'wholeness'
within
he
ontemporary
rban,
n
dentifying
ow
the
urban
varies between
differentities and in
thinking
bout what
'urban
assets' mean for
the
way we currentlyonceptualize he urban'. In a
review
of
recent
heorizations f the
city,
Michael
Storper
1995,
28)
argues
that
many
fthe
entral
spects
f
ontemporary
rbaniz-
ation
receive ttention
in
current
rban
heory]:
he
service
ndustries,
nd
especially
inancialervicesnd
advanced usiness
ervices;
lows f
nformation,
nd
the
development
f
technologies
hat
make them
possible;
he
ocation
f
big,
multilocational
irms;
he
flows f
capital,
nowledge,
nd
goods
dministered
by
those
irms;
hefinancializationf
capitalism.
ut
none
f
he
global-duality,
orld
ity,
nformational
cityor post-Fordist,lexibleity] heories eviewed
seems o
put
hese
henomena
ogether
n
way
which
effectively
ccounts or heir ole
n
urbanization.
Two
problems
f
synecodoche,
lso
highlighted
recentlyby Nigel
Thrift
1996a),
might
lie at
the
source of these
problems:
he
methodological
dangers
of
overgeneralizing
rom one or a
few
examples
and the
danger
of
overemphasizing
particular spaces,
senses of
time
and
partial
representations
ithin he
city.
Turning
o
the first
roblem,
n inevitable ut-
come
of the
rediscovery
f the
city
within
o
many
research trands nddiscourseshas been the leva-
tion
of
ingle
or small
groups
of
urban
xamples
to
be
paradigmatic;
hat
s,
to offer
pparent
essons
for ll otherurban
areas.
Recently,
he notion
hat
'it
all comes
together
n
Los
Angeles' (City
1996;
Soja
1989)
has been most influential.
ut
each
of
the
bove
strands
f
workhas
proffered
ts
own set
of
paradigmatic xamples.
The new
examples
of
urban
centrality
n
global
networks
are almost
always
the three
global
financial
entres
London,
New York
nd
Tokyo)plus
second-tier
lobal
cities
like Paris and
Hong
Kong
(Knox
and
Taylor
995).
The stresson citiesas nationaleconomic motors
has
focused
attention n the innovative urban
industrial istricts
urrounding
os
Angeles
film
and television
n
Hollywood,
women's
clothing
n
Los
Angeles,
T in
Orange County,
tc.)
and those
developing
n the
third
taly'
(see
Storper
1995).
The creative itiesdebate
has focusedon
cities,
r
parts
of
cities,
with
especially
dramatic
trategies
and
apparently
uccessful
ransformations,
uch as
Curitiba
n
Brazil,
Barcelona
n
Spain
and Covent
Garden n London
(see
Griffiths
995).
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
8/20
The
ordinary
ity
417
The
problem
with
paradigmatic
xamples
s
that
analysis
inevitably
ends to
generalize
from
very
specific
cities,
both in
identifying
he
changing
nature
f urban
assets and
highlighting
ormative
suggestions
or
policy
nnovation
lsewhere.
What
should be a debate on varietyand specificity
quickly
reduces to
the
assumption
that
some
degree
of
nterurban
omogeneity
an be
assumed,
either
n
the
nature
of the
sectors
eading
urban
transformationr
n
the
processes
furban
change.
The
exception, y
a
process
of
reduction r totaliz-
ing,
becomes
the
norm,
applicable
to the
vast
majority
f what
might
be called
'unexceptional'
cities:
hat
s,
cities
which cannotbe
demonstrated
to
have
attained new
centrality,
o be
arenas of
flexible
specialization
and
industrial
districts
growth,
r to be
identifiably
creative'.
f
it
'all
comes together'n Los Angeles, he mplications
that all
cities are
experiencing
he
trends
dentifi-
able
in
Los
Angeles
and
thatwe
do not
really
need
to
understand
hese
processes.
The
second
problem
f
generalization
s the
risk
of
focusing
oo
much on
single,
solated
paces,
on
specific
enses of
time nd on
particular
epresen-
tationswithin
ities.
nevitably,
ector-specific
nd
place-specific
trandsof
researchmake it
difficult
to build
an
understanding
of what
Dematteis
(1988)
calls the
'multiple spaces'
that
become
relationally
constructed,
nterlinked nd
super-
imposed within extending urban' regions (see
Healey
et al.
1995).
Certain
enses of
space-time'
tend to
become
privileged
from he
whole
gamut
of
urban
life.
Thrift
1996b)
notes
similarly
hat
contemporary
ities
display
the kind
of
variegated
senses of
time
-
from he
intense
nstantaneity
f
the
financial
markets o
the new
urban
mythology
and
new-age
religions
as the
eighteenth-century
city.
And
Rob
Shields
(1995,
245)
reminds
us that
when we
analyse
the
city',
ur
depiction
s itself
representation,
partial
perspective
with
treacher-
ous
selective
vision'
which,
in
turn,
becomes
embroiled n thesocial production f the urban'.
So
much is
this the
case that
one
might
rgue,
as
Charles
Jencks
1996,
26)
does,
that
virtually
ll
theories
bout
he
ity
re
true,
specially
contradictory
nes.
The
ity
works
oth
s a
mediaeval
village
with
he
quivalent
f
13th
entury
nhabitants
pottering
bout,
nd a
global
network f
24
hour
traders.
Thus,
n
addressing
heir
key
sectors',
ites
and
processes,
he
trands f
thenew
urban
utopia
tend
to lead
from
aradigmatic
xamples
which
are
not
whole
citiesbut
specific
time-space'
samples
of
cities. Each
offers ts own
partial
and
specific
representations
f the
city
or the
'urban'
-
the
'yuppy'
spaces
of
power
and
centrality
or
the
global financialcentres, he high-tech ntrepre-
neurial
spaces
of industrial
districts
nd
tech-
nopoles,
the
flaneur-like
rban
strolling
of
the
advocates
of urban
creativity.
oo
often,
y
totaliz-
ing
from
pecific
pace-times
nd
contingent
epre-
sentations,
uch references
o the
'city'
tend
to
abstract
specific
urban
sites from
their
broader
interrelationship
ithin
arger
metropolitan
reas.
One
consequence
is the
failureto
capture
the
changing
relationships
etween
ntraurban
reas,
which
hould,
rguably,
e ofcentral
oncern
iven
the more
general
observation
hat ities end
to
be
splinteringnd fragmentingnto cellular zones,
extended
over
larger egions,
nd
geared
towards
specific
uses
whilst
excluding
others.2
t
thus
becomes
problematic
o
understand
the
ways
in
which
sites
of
strategic
entrality
nd
exchange
relateto areas
of
high-tech'
nnovation
nd
tech-
nopolis
development
Castells
nd
Hall
1994);
how
the cultural
nd
social
diversity
nd webs
of
city
centres
nterrelate
ith
housing
reas and
ghettos;
how
processes
of
mobility
nd
electronic
nter-
connection
through
telecommunications
weave
webs
through
hese
multiple
paces
and
tie
them
into wider systems of communications, rans-
actions
and information
low.
And,
without
this
understanding
fthe
ways
n which he
time-space
'bits'
of cities
do or do not
nterconnect,
t
becomes
difficult
o
develop
an
understanding
f the
wider
constitution
r
fragmentation
f
an urban
asset
base.
It also becomes
difficult
o
capture
what
the
'urban'
means
as a
superimposed
omplex
of
rela-
tional
webs,
a
complex
of
culturally pecific
epre-
sentations
Shields
1995)
and
as a
place
for
the
interconnections
f diverse
circuits
inking
nfra-
structure,
xchange,
nstitutionsnd
the
materially
and socially ivedworld.
The
multiplex
ity
We
would
argue
that
the
dominance
of
partial
interpretations
oncentrating
on
paradigmatic
examples,
or
specific
time-space
'samples',
is
making
t
increasingly roblematic
o hold
sight
of
the idea
of the
urban
as the
co-presence
of
multiple
paces,
multiple
imes nd
multiple
webs
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
9/20
418
AshAmin
nd
Stephen
raham
of
relations,
ying
ocal
sites,
subjects
and
frag-
ments into
globalizing
networks
of
economic,
social
and
cultural
change
(Dematteis
1988).
In
criticizing
artial
representations
n
urban
theory,
Rob
Shields
1995,
245)
has
argued
that
we need to constructmulti-dimensional
nalyses
which,
ather han
mposingmonological
oherence
and
closure,
llow
parallel
nd
conflictingepresen-
tationso coexistn
analysis.
We would
agree
that the
city'
now needs
to be
considered
s
a
set of
spaces
wherediverse
ranges
of
relational webs
coalesce,
interconnect nd
fragment.
The
contemporary ity
is a
variegated
and
multiplex
ntity
a
juxtaposition
f
contradictions
and
diversities,
he
theatre f ife tself.
he
city
s
not a unitary rhomogeneous ntitynd perhaps
it
neverhas been. t s
both
Engels'
1845,
reprinted
in
LeGates and
Stour
1996,
48)
site of
barbarous
indifference,
ard
egotism
on the one
hand,
and
nameless
misery
on the
other' and Lewis
Mumford's
1937,
reprinted
n
LeGates and Stout
1996,
85) collection
f
primary roups
nd
purpos-
ive
associations
..
an
aesthetic
ymbol
f
collective
unity'
that fosters
personal disintegration
nd
reintegration hrough
wider
participation
n
a
concrete nd visible
collective
whole'.
This
perspective
s closer to the
tradition,
niti-
atedbyLouisWirthnd later ekindled yRichard
Sennett
1970),
stressing
he essential
contradic-
tions
associated
with dense urban ife:
guarantee-
ing
anonymity
to individuals
(see,
especially,
Wilson
1991)
but
also
making
hemmore
anomic;
providing
visual
contact
but
lessening
social
contact;
glaringly ontrasting qualor
and
splen-
dour,
riches
and
poverty
see,
for
example,
Mike
Davis 1990 on Los
Angeles);
and
juxtaposing
ndi-
viduals withno sentimental r emotional ies with
associations
f
community
nd alliances of fate'.
The
multiplexity
f urban ife
uggested
by
this
perspective eeds to be taken eriously ycontem-
porary
urban research.
At
least four nterwoven
dimensionsof
multiplexity
eed
proper recogni-
tion
n
orderto overcome
he risksof
resorting
o
totalizing aradigmatic xamples
nd
overgeneral-
izing
from
arrow,
artialperspectives.
s a
result,
it
may
become
possible
to reassert
he
mportance
ofthenotion hat he
urban'
s both concentrated
complex
nd a
process
of
diverse relationalwebs.
First,
he
city
can
be seen as a nexus between
relational
proximity
n
a world of fastflows
and
what Paul
Adams
1995,
79)
has
called
time-space
extensibility',hrough
which
social,
economic nd
cultural elations ecome
stretched' ver
increas-
ingly
distant
(and distantiated)
links via the
operation
of
technical networks
primarily
ele-
communications and transportation nfrastruc-
tures).
We
would
argue
that
he
spatial
essence
of
urbanity
ies
in
recursivecombinations f what
Boden
and
Molotch
1994,
259)
called the
thick-
ness
of
copresent
nteraction',
here ntense
face-
to-face nteractions
ithin
rban
pace
coexist
with
mediatedflows
of
communication
nd
contact ia
technicalmedia to the
broader
city
and
beyond
(see
Thrift
996b).
The
complex nterlinkage
etween
place-based
relationalwebs
and distantiated nes is a
central
concernto both
contemporary
rban
theory
nd
policypractice. here reclearly iteswhereurban
propinquity
oes still matter the
financialdis-
tricts,
he
cultural
zones,
the
industrial
districts.
But,
ncreasingly,
here re also zones where
frag-
mentation nd
splintering
etween
adjacent
units
can
be the
norm as
exchange
and
interchange
becomes
disembedded
from he mmediate ocale
through
ast
ransport
nd advanced
telecommuni-
cations
ystems
Giddens 1990).
Areas existwhere
neighbours
may
not know
each
other nd tend to
relate
through
telematics
nd
automobiles
with
friends,
relatives and entertainment
ources
stretchedcrossthecity nd furtherfield.Adja-
cent
firms
n
many
new business
parks
-
most
notably
back-offices
may
have few
nterlinkages
whilst
each
remains
trongly
ied
in with
distant
circuits
of
corporate,global exchange.
And the
exchange
of
cultural
ymbolization
nd
products
in
many
housing
reas
may
be as
much
technically
mediated as
operantthrough
ace-to-facenterac-
tions
n
urban
places,
as
satellite,
igital
nd
cable
TV,
he nternetnd other ommunications
ystems
support disembedding
fromthe local.
Thus the
'extensibility'
f
nterpersonal
onnections
in
the
economyand through ocial interaction,nd cul-
tural
exchange
-
'both
in
place
and out of
place'
(Adams
1995,
279)
-
makes the
city
much more
than the arena of
place-bound
or
place-mediated
relationships.
The
mportant oint
for ur
purposes
s that his
complex interweaving
f
place-based
and wider
relational
webs,
and the
ways
in
which
they
bring
together
or
do
not,
as
the
case
may
be)
the
multiplex pace-times
fthe
city,
as tended to be
ignored y
the iterature n urban
rediscovery'.
n
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
10/20
The
ordinaryity
419
particular,
he
balance
n a
city
etween
ntegration
and
fragmentation,
nd the
mpact
of this
balance
on
economic
success,
s
insufficiently
onsidered.
We would
suggest
hat he
nature
f the
balance
s
likely
o be
critical
n
assessing
urban
creativity,
he
propensity f citiesto innovate and the complex
interactions etween economic
'competitiveness'
and
social
cohesion'.
Secondly,
nd
following
from
this,
we would
stress
he
unique
place density
nd boundedness
ofthe
city,
erhaps
ven
as
a
source
of
comparative
advantage
in
a world of
ubiquity
and incessant
global
flow.
Underlying
ll three
nterpretations
f
the new
urbanism s the
emphasis
that
uccessful
relational
proximity
tends to
be concentrated
within
dense
clusters,
quarters
and
districts f
knowledge
and
knowledgeable people,
within
agglomerations f specialized firms, r withina
critical mass of cultural
creativity.
n
addition,
there is a
common
perception
that absolute
advantage
often erives from set of
mmobile
r
non-tradeable
factors,
notably
tacit
knowledge,
informal r
face-to-face
ontact and relationsof
reciprocity
nd trust.
This raises the
key
question
of the
relationship
between
dense,
creative nodes within
cities and
wider
urban
spaces.
One
way
of
reconciling
he
two
perspectives
would be to
argue
that
places
of
dense
creativity,
nnovation,
learning
and
reciprocityre slands within heirmultiplex rban
contexts
insulated,
geographically
nd
socially,
from
verything
lse
that
urrounds
hem.
t
seems
to
be
the
case
that
lusters
f
creativity
end to be
confinedto
particular
parts
of the
city,
uch
as
inner-city
ndustrial
istricts,
ultural
omplexes
r
central
business
districts. uch an
interpretation
lends
support
o the normative
esire of observers
as
differents
Jane Jacobs
and
Lewis
Mumford,
that
the
city
be
composed
of
clearly
defined
boundaries,
ike
many villages
Wilson
1995).
The
idea of
enclaves
may
help
us to
explain
why,
for
example,
Los
Angeles
is, at once, a
city
both of
vast
economic
dynamism
nd
devastating
ocial
blight:
the
economically
ctive and the
poor
are
simply
kept
apart.
But
this is
only
a
partially
correct
iew,
not
east
because the clusters
f
pros-
perity
re
not hermetic
nclaves,
uncontaminated'
by
the
outside. Cultural
and
creative
districts,
or
example,
draw
centrally
n the
cross-fertilization
of
in-here nd out-there
nfluences,
ot least in
order to
satisfy
he
exotic desires of the
sought-
after
professionals
nd
experts
who make
high
demands on their
proximate
physical
and
social
environment.
The thirddimension
of
the
multiplex
ity,
ong
recognized
n
urban
research,
s the
mportance
f
urban
heterogeneity.
With
the
easy
separation
between he social', political',cultural' nd econ-
omic'
becoming
moreand more
problematic,
we
must
clearly
mphasize
the
ways
inwhich
contem-
porary
ities end
to be concentrationsf
multiple
rationalities,
ultiple
ocio-spatial
ircuits,
iverse
complexes
of
cultural
hybridity
nd the
interlink-
age
of
complex
ranges
of
subjectivities
nd
time-
spaces.
Such
heterogeneities
re
central o the
new
urbanism
nd
are,
s we
argue
ater,
ssential o
the
dynamics
of the
contemporary
urban'. These
are,
simultaneously,
ources
of economic
dynamism
and
cultural
innovation,
and
pointers
to
new
notions of urban governanceand institutional
innovation.
Two
recent, interlinked,
dvances
in
social
theory
dd
significant
heoretical
upport
to
our
emphasis
on
urban
heterogeneity
ithin he
multi-
plex
city.
n
so
doing,they
work to
undermine
he
very
dea that
we
can
simply
and
unproblemati-
cally
generalize
the
'city'.
First,
elational
rather
than absolute theories
of
time-space
re
rapidly
gaining
nfluence
n
geography
nd urban studies
(Harvey
1996;
Thrift
996a).
The
unthinking
ccept-
ance
withinurbanstudies that ime
and
space
act
simply s objective, nvariant, xternal ontainers
for the urban
scene is now
collapsing.
Harvey
(1996)
draws on
Whitehead's
relational heories o
suggest
that the
heterogeneous
xperience
and
constructionf timewithin
ities
s a real
phenom-
enon.
'Multiple processes',
he
writes,
generate
multiple
real
as
opposed
to
Leibniz's ideal
differ-
entiation
n
spatio-temporalities'
ibid., 59,
origi-
nal
emphasis).
Crucially
for
the notion of the
multiplex
ity,
t
is
'cogredience'
or
'the
way
in
which
multiple processes
flow
together
o
con-
struct
single
consistent, oherent,
hough
multi-
faceted
ime-space
ystem'
ibid., 60-1) that s the
key
concern.
he urban
becomes n
embedded and
heterogeneous
ange
of
time-spaceprocesses;
the
multiplex
ity,
y mplication,
cannotbe examined
independently
f the
diverse
spatio-temporalities
such
processes
contain'
(ibid.,
263-4).
Similarly,
drawing
on
his
long-standing
ork
on
time
geog-
raphy
(Thrift
t
al.
1978),
Nigel
Thrift
1996a,
2)
asserts hat
time s a
multiple henomenon;
many
times are
working
hemselves ut
simultaneously
in
resonant
nteraction
ith
each
other'.
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
11/20
420
Ash
Amin nd
Stephen
raham
Secondly,
new
theoretical
onceptions
f
space
and
place,
nfluenced
y
the
ctor-networkheories
of
Michael
Callon
(1986,
1991)
and
Bruno Latour
(1993),
stress the need
for
fully contingent
nd
relational
pproaches
o
social
ordering'
nd to the
configurationftechnical rtefactsBingham 996;
Hinchliffe
996;
Murdoch,
forthcoming). key
motivation ere s to
attack he essentialist
echno-
logical
determinism f writers
such as
Virilio,
Sorkin and
the new
cyberspace
gurus
such
as
Negroponte
1995).
Absolute
paces
and times re
meaningless
here.
Agency
is
a
purely
relational
process.
Technologies
have
contingent,
and
diverse,
ffects
nlythrough
he
ways they
ecome
linked
into
specific
social
contexts
by
human
agency.
n
this
perspective,
ocial
ordering
ccurs
through
he
complex
efforts f both humans
and
non-humans o engage otheractorsthrough er-
formative
ctions
hat
re
fundamentally eteroge-
neous and
impossible
o
generalize
Thrift 996a).
'Agency'
is
defined as
a
'precarious,
ontingent
effect,
chieved
only by
continuous
performance
and
only
for
the
duration of
that
performance'
(Bingham
996,
47).
Such a view
underlines orce-
fully
hat,
ather han
simplybeing impacted' by
new
technologies, living, breathing,corporeal
human
beings,
rrayed
n
various
reativelympro-
vised networks f relation till exist as
something
more than
machine
fodder'
Thrift
996b,
466).
Such theories would support our view that
multiplex
cities
are thus
complex performative
arenas whererelationalwebs weave
layers
forder
between
heterogeneous
ocial
groups,
filieres
f
firms,
governance
agencies,
etc.
But
such
an
emphasis
on
contingent
nd
heterogeneous
ocial
practices
hallenges
the
very
dea
that
generaliz-
ation
can be made about what the
city'
s. It
also
supports
relational
perspectives
of the hetero-
geneity
of
space-time.
Thus
Nigel
Thrift
ibid.,
1485)
stresses
thehybridutcome fmultiple rocesses f social
configuration,
rocesses
hich
re
pecific
o
particular
differentially
xtensive ctor-networks
made
up
of
people
and
things olding
ach other
ogether)
nd
generate
heir
wn
space
and own
times,
hich
will
sometimes,
nd sometimes
ot,
be coincident.
here
s,
in
other
ords,
o
bigpicture
f he
modern
ity
o
be
had but
nly
set
of
onstantlyvolving
ketches.
The focus on the
heterogeneousways
in
which
social
'ordering'
occurs
for human actors within
the
multiplex
ity
allows
due
recognition
f the
stark
differentiationf the
time-space pportuni-
ties
of different
ocial
groups.
For
the diverse
time-space
rdering
f
the
city
means that
social
actors
and
groups
have
very
different
bilities
o
engage
in
actor-networks hat allow
personal
extensibility nd so extend their time-spaces
beyond
their
immediate
corporeal
environment
(Dear
1995;
Graham and Marvin
1996).
Thrift
(1995),
for
xample,
ontrasts
he
global
time-space
extensibility
f the
electronic ecurities
traders
(with
their
high-band
telecommunications
et-
works,
their
relentless
global
travel and their
critical ole
n
shaping
global
urban
systems)
with
the network
hettos'
r 'off ine
spaces'
(Graham
and
Aurigi
1997)
where few
telecommunications
penetrate.
ere,
the
space
of flows
omes
to a full
stop.
Time-space ompression
means time o
spare
and thespace togo nowhere' Thrift995,31).
The fourth nd final
dimension f the
multiplex
city
hatwe
would stress
s
the
concentrated
nd
complex
institutional
ase
within
cities.
Largely
ignored
by
the
research
n
global
cities,
we would
argue
that he
growing
ocial
complexity
f
urban
governance
s a
critical
aspect
of the
changing
urban asset base within a
globalizing society
(Judge
et al.
1995).
Formal,
hierarchical
urban
government
ives
way
to more
complex
webs
of
urban
governance
nd,
as
such,
onsiderably
aises
the
potential
f
cities
s the
site
of
a
large
number
and varietyof institutions.ndeed, debates in
urban
politics,
specially
he
ncreasingly
nfluen-
tial
discussions
of urban
regime theory
Stoker
1995),
are
beginning
o stress
the
complex
inter-
dependencies
between formal
government
nd
wider
ranges
of
governance
(public, private,
voluntary
nd
hybrids)
n
cities.
Some
argue
that
these shifts
mprove
the
potential
for
nteractive,
cooperative
tyles
of
governance
which are more
decentralized nd
more
n
keeping
with the com-
plex
demands of
social
innovation
within
ontem-
porary
ities
Mayer
1995).
Whilstwe
will
return
o
issues ofurbangovernance n more detail in the
next
section,
we
would assert
here
the
crucial
importance
of
decentred,
ntegrative
nd
inter-
active
governance styles
within the
broader
dynamics
f
the
multiplex
ity
Amin
nd
Hausner
1997;
Healey
1995).
Understanding
he
interrelationships
etween
these
four imensions
would,
we
argue,
help
urban
research o overcome
he imits f
partialperspec-
tives
nd
its
tendency
o
rely
n
paradigmatic
ases.
It
would
enable more ubtle
perspectives
n
urban
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
12/20
The
ordinary
ity
421
multiplicity
tressing
he nterconnections
etween
the
complex
time-space
ircuits
nd dimensions f
urban
ife,
s
well as the
diversity
nd
contingency
of the
urban world.
And it
might
help
us to
improve
ur
understanding
fthecircumstances
n
whichthedifferencesnd tensions f themultiplex
city
nourish
r,
t the
very
east,
do notundermine
city
assets of the sort
emphasized
earlier.Thus
urbanresearch
may
be enabled to
analyse
thecom-
plex,
virtuous
spirals
of
growth
nd the
circum-
stances
in
which
the
time-space
ircuits
f cities
uncoil
n
spirals
of decline
so
threatening
he
sites
of
growth
nd
creativity.
uch a
perspectivemight,
therefore,
elp
inform
considerations
of
urban
policy
and
planning,
s well as
broader debates
about
the
omplex
ensions
inking
rban
conomic
'competitiveness'
nd
urban
social cohension'.
In the next ection,we move in such directions
by speculating
on
the
factors
hat allow virtuous
synergies
nd
connectivities
o
be sustained
within
contemporary
ities.Our
thesis s thatone central
factor
may
be the
existence
f
projects
r senses
of
social cohesion which
serve to
provide
a
genuine
sense of
collectivity
nd
belonging
across
the
social
and
spatial
divides
in
a
city.
This we
propose against
he dea that
reativity
temsfrom
the
anarchy
of urban
diversity
nd
conflict
i.e.
the
properties
f
the
melting ot),
or from
rojects
which seek to
hegemonize
particular
social
agendas over a city.
The
just city
We
strongly gree
with
Sharon
Zukin
(1995)
and
other
critical
eadings
of the culture f
cities
that
the
consumption-based
turn in
contemporary
urban
policy
does not
provide
the sort of
'glue'
or
commonality
hat
produces
virtuous
pirals
of
growth
and
dynamism.
At
worst,
efforts o
embellish
ublic spaces
conceal a
design
to
reclaim
them for
social
groups
possessing
economic
value as consumersor
producers
nd to exclude
the less well-off nd the
hawkers of street
ife.
Indeed,
Elizabeth
Wilson
(1995,
158)
sees the
politics
f
this ocial
ghettoization
f
public
spaces
as
part
of a subtle
undercurrent
n
which invisi-
bility
s a crucial
feature f modern
inequality'.
At
best,
the
supposedly
more nclusive
pectacle-
based
city projects,
such
as
glamorous
public
works,festivals,
xhibitions,
themed'
commercial
spaces
(Gottdeiner
1997)
and
large
reclamation
projects,
end to
provideonly
a
temporary
llusion
of
urban
unity
nd
a
populist
ense of
place. They
are
generally
he
products
f
narrow rban
growth
coalitions
r urban
regimes,
made
up
of
architects,
planners,building
and financial
peculators,
nd
big
corporate
nterests,
or whom
urban
unity
s
primarily matterof paperingover real urban
social
problems
nd
divisions,
o
that
nvestment,
the
expert
lasses
and consumer
expenditure
an
return o the
city
Judge
t al.
1995).
Concentrating,
s much
ofthe iterature
oes,
on
the
cultural
experience
of new consumer
spaces
can
often
gnore
he
arger
ocial contexts
n which
they
are
produced
and
the
strengthened
ocio-
spatial segregation,
ocial control
nd surveillance
with
which
they
are often ssociated.
An inter-
active focus
on the
phenomenology
f environ-
mental
experience
in
consumer
spaces',
writes
Mark Gottdeiner1997,134), can overlook heway
these
places
filter
eople
according
o the
patterns
of
class, race,
and
gender segregation'.
Christine
Boyer
1995,
1996)
has extended
this
argument
o
a
macro-scale
view of urban
spatial
and
social
restructuring.
he
suggests
that economic
and
welfare
restructuring
nd
planning practices
re
forcing
yper-polarization
n
large
US cities. She
argues
thatwhat she
calls
the
figured ity' Boyer
1995,
82)
-
the
grids
of
isolated,
mageable,
care-
fullydesigned
and
controlled
onsumption
odes
foraffluent
roups
-
now
overlay
the
disfigured
city' - the neglected,unimageable, interstitial
spaces
for he
poor.
Design
and
planning, ransport
and
telematics
nfrastructures,
egressive ystems
of urban
politics
and taxation nd intensive ur-
veillance
systems
work
to
keep
the two
utterly
segregated.
o
Boyer
ibid., 05),
a
strange
ense
f
urbanismow
nvades he
ity,
ull
of
nconsistencies,
ractures
nd voids.
Homogenized
zones
valued
nd
protected
or heir
rchitectural
nd
scenographic
ffectsre
juxtaposed
nd
played
off
against
reas f
uperdevelopment,
hilemonumental
architecture
ontainersave turned he urban
treet
inward ndestablishedheirwn etof
public paces
and
services
within
rivatizedayers
f
shops,
es-
taurants,
fficesnd
condominiums.
n
between
o
the
back
nd
beyond,
ie
the reas
f
he
ity
eft o
decay
and to
decline,
ntil
he
day
when
hey
oo
will
be
recycled
nd
redesigned
or
ew
conomic
nd
ultural
uses.
There s no real urban
equity
or
unity
here,
nly
the totalization f one
particular
urban rhetoric
(Beauregard
1996).
As
John
Lovering
1995,
119)
observes,
his
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8/10/2019 The Ordinary City. Ash Amin, Stephen Graham. 1997
13/20
422
AshAmin nd
Stephen
raham
reconstruction
rombove f ocal conomic
itizenship
is
shaped by
the
patronage
f the new
regulators,
ratherhan
y
universalistic
orms
mbodied
n tradi-
tional emocratic
rocesses.
There s no
attempt
o use difference
s a source
of
urban renewal,nor is thereany regardforthe
possibility
f
creativity
n
diversity.
Public
paces,
rban
itizenship
nd economic
creativity
What
are the sources
of
creativity
n
diversity?
How can
they
hallenge
n
interpretation
f
urban
multiplexity
s social
and
economic
degeneration?
One
simple
but
mportant
ource
for haron
Zukin
(1995,
42)
is what she describes
as
the
'civility,
security,
act,
nd
trust'
hat
s to be found
n
cities
in
which the
public
arena
-
in whatever
hape
or
form - remains a theatrefor
'mingling
with
strangers'.
he
effect
s the evolution
of a shared
citizenship
across the
urban
spectrum
-
class,
gender,
ethnic and
sexual
-
constructed
round
the
everyday
social
confidence
hat
comes
from
individuals
and
communities
making
use of the
right
f
access
to a
public
space
shared
withothers.
For
Zukin,
it
is
everyday
street-life,
n
bazaars,
ordinary
hopping
streets,
markets,
afes
and
so
on
that s
the
mainspring
f such
a shared
public
culture,
not
the new
temples
of consumerism
r
privilege,
because
it is
at this
level of
everyday
social
practices
hat ocial
vitality
nd cultures
f
socialization,
alk,
negotiation
nd
understandings
are
produced.
Public
spaces,
thus
defined,
are the
primary
ites
f
public
ulture;
hey
re
the
window nto
city's
oul
.. Public
paces
re
mport-
ant because
hey
re
places
where
trangers
ingle
freely
..
As
both ite
nd
sight,
meeting
lace
and
social
taging
round,
ublic
paces
nable
s to con-
ceptualize
nd
represent
he
ity
tomake
n
deology
of ts
receptivity
o
strangers,
olerance
f
difference,
and
opportunities
o enter
fully
ocialized
ife,
oth
civic
nd commercial.
ibid.,
60)
The difference
etween
public
spaces
as
a
source
of threat
nd
fear,
nd
public
spaces
as
an arena
of
active
civic
life rests
to a considerable
degree
on
whether
they,
nd
the
general
urban
social
and
political
milieu
enveloping
them,
are
spaces
of
social
interaction.
s
shared
spaces,
they
an
play
an
important
ole
in
helping
to
develop
a civic
culture
hat ombines
he elf-belief
nd
autonomy
rooted
in the
widespread practice
of
citizenship
rights
with
the
potential
or
olerance
nd cultural
exchange
offered
y
mingling
with
strangers.
ur
interpretation
f civic culture
hould,
to be
sure,
not
be
confused
with
the moral and
normative
demands
made
by
contemporary
ommunitarians3
who
envisage
renewal
through
he
inculcation
enforced r otherwise of a civicvirtuegrounded
in
good
and
responsible
ocial
behaviour.
Apart
fromnot
sharing
theirmoral
constructivism,
e
remain unconvinced
that
good
and
responsible
citizenship'
s a source
of urban renewal:
t
might
produce
ompliance
nd
help
to cut
down the osts
of anti-social
ehaviour
ut ts
inks
with
reativity
are,
at
best,
tenuous.
Instead,
the
dialectic
of social
interaction
nd
cultural confrontation
n shared
spaces
is a
potential
ource
of
innovation nd
creativity.
or
example,
contemporary
volutionary
nd institu-
tionalist iteraturen economic nnovationmakes
much
oftherole
of trust nd
reciprocity
s a source
of
dynamic
learning
and innovation
within the
business
community.
he bas