Between Assemblages and Temporary Appropriation: The Case of Mexico City

Abstract

The chapter describes temporary appropriation (TA) as an assemblage product of other assemblages within the urban landscape. It unravels and invites to re-think the nature of TA through assemblage theory. Derived from the work of Deleuze and Guattari (A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, USA, 1989) and developed further by Manuel DeLanda (Assemblage theory. Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK, 2016), assemblage theory focuses on the relations produced by the components of a whole rather than the components themselves. Thus, the present chapter combines a range of theories to conceptualise TA of the urban landscape as an emerging product of other assemblages such as culture, legal framework and urban design. These approaches are drawn together by illustrating Mexico City Centre as an example of a highly coded city in which these assemblages emerge. A representative sample street was selected as a case-study to analyse TA in relation to the streetscape design through participant observation and image analysis of the visual complexity of the streetscape. The chapter concludes that assemblage theory could be used as a theoretical framework investigating urban-social phenomena. In addition, the study identified the visual complexity of the assemblage of the urban landscape that supports the greater diversity of TA.