Beyond the Sit-In: Public Space Production and Appropriation in Sudan’s December Revolution, 2018

Ibrahim Z Bahreldin

doi:10.3390/su12125194

Abstract

This article reflects on Khartoum’s sit-in space in front of the Army headquarter in Khartoum during Sudan’s Nile Spring. The article explores the public discourses, activities, and space transformation during the sit-in, which lasted fifty-eight days. Through studying the sit-in, we aim to discuss how the Nile Spring has, or has not, transformed the conception of what a public space is by examining the functions and activities of the sit-in space as a territory of political exercise. The methodology underlying this research includes direct and participant observation, a follow-up of the sit-in space activities on various media sources, a literature review, and interviews. The conclusions drawn by this article show how the sit-in space has challenged the current relationship between public space and the political ideology by providing a new example of what a public space is. The sit-in space succeeded in revolutionizing the understanding of how public spaces should be imagined, designed, appropriated, and managed. This inquiry has disclosed the necessity to rethink current planning and urban design processes that restrict democratic activities in public spaces.

Highlights

The utilization of public space as a terrain for political discourses and collective contestation has developed into a significant urban trend, engaging popular academic attention [1,2,3,4,5]
These approaches provide a great example for recognizing the typologies, structure, and activities of political space, including Khartoum’s sit-in
This research has shown the role of activities and public discourses in a revolutionary context

Summary

Introduction

The utilization of public space as a terrain for political discourses and collective contestation has developed into a significant urban trend, engaging popular academic attention [1,2,3,4,5]. The “lived space” as deliberated by Lefebvre [15], paired with the place attachment framework in Scannell & Gifford’s [32] work, exhibits a people-centered approach to understand the meaning of urban space These approaches provide a great example for recognizing the typologies, structure, and activities of political space, including Khartoum’s sit-in. First and foremost, the Army headquarters; second, the University of Khartoum’s mosque, to the west, which is a hallmark of the regime’s Islamist students’ activities within the University of Khartoum and other universities in the city; third, the Police Officers’ Club to the east of the sit-in space These three spatial components might have qualified the sit-in space as a genuine contestation against the power of the regime. They demonstrated, took over the streets, built and protected the barricades, initiated the demonstration, participated in the sit-in and the sit-in events, and prepared food and drinks for the protestors in the sit-in space

The Sit-In Makeshift Barricades

Conclusions

36. Beyond Trousers