Urban Narratives Research Articles

Kharkiv As a University City: The Evolution of Symbolic Space

The emergence and evolution of the symbolic space of Kharkiv, one of the largest university centres in Ukraine, represent changes in the urban cultural landscape and the urban narrative of memory. Here, the transformations of sign-space (ritual practices and symbolism) in Kharkiv’s institutions of higher education are traced from the first half of the nineteenth century to the present time. The genesis of sign-space in the city’s institutes of higher education is an example of the transfer of western European university ideas to eastern European terrain, and their further adaptation there. The functioning of sign-space is studied in the fifteen largest institutions of higher learning in Kharkiv today.
 University symbols and rituals define a system of views of the modern university, its functions, and its ideals. Building a university sign-space is also interpreted as a competition for the symbolic environment of the city in which it exists. In this way, institutions of higher education seek not only to be represented in the urban milieu, but also to promote the consolidation of a certain part of the surrounding urban community. Kharkiv’s symbolic space as a university city is tightly knit but heterogeneous, representing a complex system and comprising a wide variety of visual and verbal elements. The current forms of visual (self)representation of Kharkiv’s universities are a synthesis of local and borrowed academic traditions. The “commercialization” and “service function” of the modern university clash with the “old” ideals of Enlightenment, a conflict reflected in the symbolic and ritual forms perceived by the university community.

Sustainable city storytelling: cultural heritage as a resource for a greener and fairer urban development

PurposeIn the past years, the importance of the cultural economy has led urbanism to a new perspective. Simultaneously, the main international institutions have pointed out the need to shift the urban economy into a sustainable one, green and energy efficient. The confluence of both flows explains why the imaginaries of the urban future are related to the concept of creative cities. Hence, the new economic engine of the cities should be founded on art, creativity and culture, all of them understood as clean energies. This study aims to show the crucial role of cultural heritage as a propeller of a new kind of urban development, more flexible and democratic, based on the construction of the city as a communicational, collective and open effort. Therefore, the city is conceived as a cultural heritage platform where tangible and intangible, social and creative interactions happen. Within this context, urban narratives appear as a dynamic material drawn on the possibilities offered by the heritage received from the past as a resource to be used for re-thinking and re-shaping the future.Design/methodology/approachThe approach of this paper is based on a profound analysis of historical cities, mainly in the European context, supported by the work carried out within the H2020 ROCK project. The cities within the project are: Athens, Bologna, Cluj-Napoca, Eindhoven, Lisbon, Liverpool, Lyon, Torino, Skopje and Vilnius. A wide variety of case studies coming mainly from these cities have been considered to understand better the theoretical point of view on the role of heritage, urban development and city branding. The information about cultural heritage projects used as case studies has been collected and selected coming from the direct work made on the field and the communication open with institutions and cultural stakeholders in every city. Even more, parallel seminars on cultural heritage and city branding organized within the project have allowed the authors to gather very valuable, updated and fresh information on these issues in every particular case.FindingsThe study proves that cultural heritage has been traditionally underrated as a mechanism for developing the future of the city and its communicative strategy. Cultural heritage appears as a practical tool for constructing more cohesive urban communities based on the use of public space and shared memories as storytelling platforms. The capacity of resiliency and sustainability revealed by cultural heritage through the time is, as well, a clear reference to construct a potential sustainable city, socially, culturally and environmentally.Social implicationsCultural heritage projects are shown as a perfect way to build stronger communities. Through the engagement and participation of citizens, urban storytelling reinforces a more open, real and sustainable city able to face the challenges of contemporary life (gentrification, pollution, mobility, etc.). Like that, heritage appears as a feasible tool for including citizens coming from all ages and backgrounds in the construction of a collective narrative of the city, based on the past and looking at the foreseen.Originality/valueThis study tries to relate fields that traditionally have remained not well connected: urban development, city branding and cultural heritage. The study demonstrates that cultural heritage is crucial as an urban narrative tool and consequently, as a planning/branding mechanism. Moreover, cultural institutions and cultural projects are very relevant platforms for social interaction, inviting citizens to have a more active role in the construction of the city as a collective communicational effort based on a network of social and cultural relations. Storytelling turns up as a new key element for communicating the city from grassroots, in a sustainable, democratic and inclusive manner, far away from the traditional top-down official perspective. Crowdsourcing methods are very powerful for establishing a shared and cohesive city brand, now rooted in its cultural and social foundations and not the marketing campaign clichés. Finally, storytelling emerges as a creative resource that enhances the social, cultural and economic layout of the city, forcing urbanists to include a greener, fairer and more democratic perspective in the future of cities.

Sanitized Modernity: Rural Public Health in Mid-Twentieth Century Khuzestan

Existing histories of public health in Iran often center on elite or urban narratives. This paper shifts the focus to Iran’s villages by examining the twentieth century public health history of rural northern Khuzestan. It argues that Khuzestani villagers desired, rather than resisted, modern medical services. However, vertical decision-making and the prioritization given by public health planners to economic concerns over social well-being led to the uneven distribution of services and failure to fulfill the expectations of Khuzestan’s villagers. This paper uses memoirs, official reports, correspondence, and other records from the Development & Resources Corporation, along with reports from Iran’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health, to bring a richer picture of Iranian villagers’ twentieth century history into focus.

Photography as urban narrative

Questioning whether we think as much about how we write as to what we write, I undertook recently a more rigorous reflection on what I saw as an exercise in ‘writing the city into the urban’. As I encountered the risk of writing the city out of the urban, I sought to write the city (creatively) back into the (critical) urban. It involved a gesture where photographic images of the city offered new meanings to the textual abstraction of the urban. It is no small act, nor an innocent one. It is also a longstanding one in the representational practices of writing the city. The simple task of juxtaposing photographs with a text while offering new ingenious forms of ‘writing’, opens up questions of not only how these images could very well question the validity of the text but also how photography’s ability to generate an archive of the (city’s) present draws attention to its own ethnographic (im)possibilities and epistemological crisis.

Urban Narratives on the Changing Nature of Social Capital in Post-Communist Romania

Drawing on 69 interviews and information from the World Values Surveys, we examine discursive understandings of social capital in Romania. We evidence two dominant explanatory metanarratives on the weakness of social capital (‘communism’ and ‘ethnocentric individualism’) and dilemmas regarding generational and urban/rural differences, which our mixed-methods approach helps decode. Contemporary processes of institutionalisation and commodification have further weakened practices of social capital but such processes are socially approved for their potential of breaking with lingering practices of corruption, bribery and favouritism, and of achieving institutional fairness. Convergence with mature democracies is unlikely not because of passive legacies or ill-adapted actors but because people have different aspirations, well suited to the context of post-communist transformation.

Интертекстема как инструмент в диалогиче­ском пространстве «прошлое — настоящее — будущее» в урбанистиче­ских практиках (интерсемиотический анализ городских надписей Гдань­ска и Калининграда)

This paper discusses intertextual and intervisual tools for creating the past — present — future dialogic axis in urban practices, using the example of graffiti and inscriptions in Gdansk and Kaliningrad. The authors describe the urban space as an object of research, give a definition of the urban inscription, characterize the semiotic nature of the latter, consider ter­minology problems relating to the category of intertextuality, and broadly interpret the inter­texteme as a tool in the ‘past — present — future’ dialogical space in the urban narrative. The study relies on rich empirical material. In summing up the features of semantic formation in the narrative urban practices, the authors conclude that the urban inscription is a symbolical­ly organized space in which the interpreter deals with signs of various semiotic systems and employs cultural meanings and conventions expressed in both verbal and graphic forms. The recognizability of intertextemes in both authentic and modified forms contributes to the at­tractivity of the urban text and its dialogical nature.

In the Factory, in Łódź, in the City. Reconstructing the Industrial Past of a Place

The paper discusses an interdisciplinary research project (2014–2016) concerning the industrial heritage of Łódź, as exemplified by the former Monopol Wódczany, which is today converted for the purposes of new, cultural and service functions. The aim of ethnographic and archaeological activities was to collect oral histories and artefacts, which not only documented the history of the factory, but also presented the professional biographies of its workers, meaning people whose lives had been intertwined with the activity of the company. Thanks to such a research assumption, the researchers were able to reconstruct the industrial past of the place based on memories, artefacts collected, and archive surveys. The Author describes the idea behind the project, its methodology and results, using the notions of industrial heritage and urban narratives as the analytical context.

Framework for soft and hard city infrastructures

The term city infrastructures is often restricted to the physical elements of a city, while in practice it comprises both hard infrastructures for built environment and utilities, as well as soft infrastructures involving services, social groupings and personal skills. Part of the confusion is the lack of clarity about the role and delivery of city infrastructures and its relationship to livelihood and livability. To address this issue, a framework for soft and hard city infrastructures has been developed using results from two case studies to model the relationships, conflicts and connections between soft and hard infrastructures. The first case study concerns the abandonment of a planned urban regeneration project for the Italian City of Lucca in Tuscany where institutional inertia prevented regeneration of a derelict tobacco factory. The second case study concerned results from data analysis of contributions for a public consultation exercise for City of Christchurch in New Zealand. The syntactic data analytics using Flax software coupled with data visualisation demonstrated how an urban narrative can be constructed about citizen priorities based on a framework for soft and hard city infrastructures. The methodology enables citizen engagement through cultivating open processes of urban exploration that advocate ‘connected infrastructures’ thinking.

Kunstapotheke: Site-responsive choreographies within the premises of an abandoned pharmacy

Abstract Kunstapotheke is a choreographic project that was based in the premises of an abandoned pharmacy and shopping district in the northern part of Hamburg, Germany. Meandering between disused pharmacy facilities and its urban surroundings, a group of performers and myself explored how urban scores render possible to journey through time. Being interested in how past narratives might craft and shape possible urban futures, we experienced that time often shatters into fragments, evoking the question: How can urban scores respond to and subvert urban narratives and their choreographies? To be able to answer this question we explored the urban surroundings with the following choreographic tools: (1) pre-selection and re-selection, (2) combination, (3) intermedial variation and (4) contextualization and re-contextualization. Working with these choreographic tools revealed that past narratives are inevitably tied to spatiotemporal frameworks, frames and framings, which are unavoidably linked to overall complexes interrelated with autobiographical, cultural, political and economic constellations. Thus, we incessantly found ourselves within spatiotemporal encounters that allowed for different types of temporalities to not only bubble beyond the surface, but effectively irrupt and disrupt one another. In the course of this, different spatial realities unfolded, preoccupying themselves exclusively with individual processes of occurrence. The project Kunstapotheke repeatedly contextualized and re-contextualized these occurrences, defining the choreographic process as a practice of simultaneous reference and transcription.

Reclaiming urban narratives: spatial politics and storytelling amongst Hong Kong youths

ABSTRACTResearch on contemporary urban movements analyse how young people assert their right to the city by using street protests and occupations to physically reclaim urban space. Through an ethnographic study of Hong Kong, where the government regulates and monopolises control over urban space, this paper observes youth activists’ efforts to reclaim the intangible aspects – the perceptions and meanings– of urban space through storytelling. It finds that youths celebrate quotidian stories emphasising the nostalgic and emotional aspects of urban space, to dispel government narratives of urban space as being a profit-generating commodity-object, and to prompt vernacular imaginings of alternative urban conditions.

The evolution of national urban systems in China, Nigeria and India

As a country transitions from a lower order of development to a higher order of development, it undergoes a structural transformation. Accordingly, the spatial economy transforms from a system organized around smaller economic units distributed throughout the countryside, to one comprising larger economic units concentrated in dense urban areas. While historically this process unfolded at a rather gradual pace, it is now being redefined by the unprecedented pace and scale of the contemporary urban narrative. This has presented new patterns of urbanization. Utilizing comparable datasets for China, Nigeria and India this paper examines the evolution of national urban systems under conditions of rapid urbanization. In doing so, it scrutinizes three key dynamics: the spatial distribution of cities, the rate of growth by city size class and the size hierarchy of cities. The results are compared to see if uniform patterns emerge. The findings of this paper suggest a certain degree of heterogeneity among national urban systems; and in some instances contrasting patterns can be observed. We thus caution against a ‘one size fits all’ approach to interpreting the urban transition in developing countries. The findings of this paper have implications for both theory and policy.

Os escombros do Castello: as representações sobre um desmonte em três atos

Processos de modernização urbana, amiúde, caminham lado a lado a eventos de destruição. Seja como uma tabula rasa ou com ações pontuais, estes processos colocam em xeque parte da memória urbana, ao eliminar componentes da narrativa urbana. Intenta-se, ao revisitar processos de modernização urbana, apresentar uma nova leitura para os eventos de destruição ocorridos nas cidades. Ao identificar nestes episódios as representações sobre as demolições empreendidas no tecido urbano e fazer delas o substrato para reconhecer as sensibilidades que afloram nestes eventos, colabora-se para a História Cultural Urbana das cidades brasileiras, bem como apreende-se um dos processos de formação de sensibilidades hoje consolidadas (ou em processo de consolidação) como o de preservação do acervo construído.

The African Burial Ground in New York City: Memory, Spirituality, and Space

The African Burial Ground in New York City: Memory, Spirituality, and Space

Street vending in urban ‘informal’ markets: Reflections from case-studies of street vendors in Delhi (India) and Phnom Penh City (Cambodia)

The increasing dependence on street vending as a source of livelihood for people across urban spaces in countries like Cambodia and India continues to promote exciting areas of research in social sciences. Our study captures the narratives of street vendors (seen as the ‘invisible’ entrepreneurs), working in markets across Delhi (India) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and analyzes the inventory logistics of products sold by them, thereby, reflecting the complex nature of an inter-twined, existential relationship between what's classified as ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ in urban economies. The mutual interdependence seen in the governing dynamics of economic exchange (for example, in selling commodities and services across identified markets in Phnom Penh and Delhi), argues for a need to inclusively study urban ecosystems while addressing the needs of street vendors. This paper does so by incorporating ethnographic methods with a specific reference to street vending (as a commercial urban activity). Further, we emphasize on an epistemic need to cross-fertilize thought(s) and method(s) across social science disciplines to produce more of such urban narratives, exploring the inter-twined relationship between the ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ aspects of urban ecosystems.

Urbanization Through a Cultural Heritage Lens: The Case of Tehran (1785–2017)

ABSTRACT Scholars have argued that the annex of several villages has formed the current urban fabric of the metropolis of Tehran since becoming the capital in 1785. Three primary historic nuclei of Ray, the city center, and Tajrish have chronologically configured the growth and urbanization pattern of the city. The historic nuclei are the main identity generators and constitute the urban narrative of the metropolis of Tehran. In the process of the urbanization of Tehran, three political power shifts have affected the cultural heritage layers of the historic nuclei. The governing states have transformed Tehran village into a metropolis and in the process eradicated the rich layers of cultural heritage. The transformation of the village of Tehran to the metropolis has not been critically examined from a cultural heritage perspective. This paper investigates the urbanization process of the metropolis of Tehran through three historic nuclei as sites of cultural heritage and examines how cultural heritage was interpreted by the state and implemented into the different urban planning and policy-making practices.

Revolution through the Lens of Ordinary Life in Kyiv

This essay discusses the Ukrainian revolution of 1917–1921 from Kyiv's perspective. It emphasizes that mainstream historiography (that is, a concentration on reconstructing political and military events combined with an elite-centered approach) has exhausted itself. In order to explain the revolutionary events and how they were experienced, new approaches are needed. This essay demonstrates the potential of focusing on “little people,” of examining the revolutionary years from a polycentric perspective, and of broadening our perception of the revolutionary epoch as a way out of World War I. The essay demonstrates how an inclusive urban Kyiv narrative with a focus on ordinary life raises a number of new research questions and provides a variety of fresh topics. It also shows how productive it can be to study “big events” while closely following the life of a city and its dwellers.

Ushestie and Avdotki in the Context of the Smolensk Urban Narrative and Traditional Rite

Ushestie and Avdotki in the Context of the Smolensk Urban Narrative and Traditional Rite

Owls in urban narratives: implications for conservation and environmental education in NW Patagonia (Argentina)

ABSTRACTIn Argentinian Patagonia, the coexistence of owls and humans has a long and sometimes conflictive ethnobiological heritage. This paper presents a recent environmental situation which brought humans and owls together after massive fruiting of the native bamboo Chusquea culeou (Poaceae) in Los Alerces National Park, near Esquel city (Patagonia, Argentina). The event was followed by an increase in the population of native mice (e.g. Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, Abrothrix longipilis) which, in turn, caused an increase in the population of owls and other predators. This caused concern and fear in towns and homesteads close to the National Park. The objectives of our work were (a) to analyze the perceptions and attitudes of high school students and their families toward owls in Esquel city, after the rodent invasion and (b) to evaluate the effects on students of the integration of academic and traditional knowledge in teaching the ecological role of regional owls. We conducted workshops, interviews and laboratory classes. Our results show that a high percentage of the families interviewed know that owls feed primarily on rodents. Seventy four percent of people interviewed reported knowing at least one myth concerning owls; among these, 61% consider owls are diabolic birds, while 13% think they are good and wise. Both perceptions have behavioral implications ranging from some people wanting to protect owls or not interested in them, to some others who want to kill them. We believe that teaching through an intercultural approach increases the interest of students for owls’ conservation. In Patagonian urban areas, state-run wildlife conservation programs should reinforce cultural and ecological values of these birds in order to minimize any conflict with humans.

Place and Perception: Constructing the urban narrative with spatial schemas

Place and Perception: Constructing the urban narrative with spatial schemas

Place and Perception: Constructing the Urban Narrative with Spatial Schemas

Place and Perception: Constructing the Urban Narrative with Spatial Schemas