World-class City Research Articles

Rule by difference: Empire, liberalism, and the legacies of urban “improvement”

From Victorian England and its colonies, to cities in South Asia today, “improvement” has long infused the language of urban planning. Through the case of Bangalore, India, this article argues that urban improvement should be understood as a project of liberal government forged in the crucible of empire and harnessed in the service of the state’s capital and spatial accumulation strategies. Once practiced by colonial planners, urban improvement fundamentally entails enhancing the value of urban space and its circulatory infrastructures through the mobilization of corrective behaviors related to property and propriety. In the process, improvement grafts race, class, caste, and other forms of social difference onto urban space, which in turn provides the justification for further improvement. Ultimately, improvement begets cycles of inequality and exclusion, even while it promises betterment and inclusion. Three improvement regimes are identified here: racialized improvement in the colonial city (1890s–1920s), classed improvement in the industrial city (1930s–1970s), and marketized improvement in the world-class city (1980s–2010s). The article further shows that with each wave of urban improvement came vernacular and nationalist responses that sought to extend housing and services to unserved constituents. These indigenous calibrations are as important to the genealogy of improvement as its original European form.

Urban space renaissance of a developing country city

ABSTRACTAfrican Governments are envisioning their cities in the images of world-class cities elsewhere. This has led to relentless inner-city regeneration but with some challenges. This article examines these challenges and their implications for urban development in the Ghanaian context. Through multiple research techniques, Ghana’s inner-city regeneration revealed contradictions and distortions typified by contestations and dispossessions. The challenges we argue were the offshoot of poor governance with limited community participation in the process, a situation which reflects how urban development is framed in a developing country city. To decipher the challenges will require innovative solutions premised on an all-inclusive urban governance approach.

“Capital” consciousness: Reading Rana Dasgupta

This article situates Rana Dasgupta’s Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi (2014) within contemporary trends in urban writing from India. It analyses Dasgupta’s representation of the cultural milieu of Delhi and its explosive growth in 2000s India using Saskia Sassen’s concept of “global city” and Asher Ghertner’s concept of “world-class city”. It examines Dasgupta’s usage of the non-fiction form – comprising extensive commentary and reportage – to chart the social attitudes underpinning the city’s neo-liberal evolution. In studying the way Capital critiques Delhi’s gentrification (which repackages it as a commercial city for the global stage), the article frames Dasgupta’s work as part of an extended discourse on the city which foregrounds its development as embedded in the genealogies of India’s postcolonial nationhood and economic liberalization.

Review: Asher Ghertner, Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class City Making in Delhi

Review: Asher Ghertner, <i>Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class City Making in Delhi</i>

Dispossession by appropriation in a global south city: geography, cartography and statutory regime as mediating factors

ABSTRACTSlum and land have a dialectical relationship. A land that is a slum embodies a filthy and dirty territory that hinders the aesthetic competitiveness of a global city. On the other hand, a slum as a land opens opportunities for multiple uses that promise resurrection of world-class ambition. However, in a situation of tight regulation, informal habitations are often could not be forcefully evicted for this dream to come true. In such an event more conciliatory, yet shrewd, practices are adopted to appropriate land from the informally residing community. A number of tools ply to get the work done, among which geography, cartography, and manipulation of statutory laws are more prominent. Taking Kolkata as a case, I wish to situate ongoing appropriation of central urban land as mediated by these three factors. In Kolkata, while forceful evictions take place on informally occupied land both at the fringe and the central part of the city with vague statutory laws, in the tightly regulated central part of the city, appropriation replaces expropriation, accompanied by a more regular invocation of slum in policy and governmental discourses. The study adds to the dispossession literature by underscoring the role of mediating factors in appropriating the central urban land that could not be coercively expropriated, yet needed for claiming a slot in the world-class city register.

Urban space and (the limits of) middle class hegemony in Pakistan

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to explore the emergence of reconstituted political subjectivities in urban Pakistan. Specifically, the paper will focus on an emerging hegemonic project which centers the socio-political articulations and aspirations of middle class fractions that have emerged in the country in the wake of post-1980s economic liberalisation. Detailed light will be shed upon the (proto-)hegemonic aspirations of a distinct fraction of the middle class and its spatial articulations most eminently expressed through measures towards and longings for the “world class city”. As such, claims over space, urbanity and nation/citizenship which serve to mediate this proto-hegemonic project will be investigated. The paper will conclude with a brief consideration of the limits of such an hegemonic project, especially with regards to subordinate classes in Pakistan.

Island Megalopolises: Tunnel Systems as a Critical Alternative in Solving Transport Problems

Abstract A principal difficulty with island megalopolises is the transport problem, which results from limited surface land on an already developed island, on which roads and car parking can be placed. This limitation leads to traffic jams on the small number of roads and to intrusive car parking in any available surface location, resulting in safety issues. The city of Vladivostok is located on the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula in the Russia Far East region (the Primorsky Krai). This city is essentially the third capital of Russia because of its important geopolitical location. To address the car traffic problems in Vladivostok, and because of the absence of places to build new roads, the city administration has proposed the usage of the beaches and waterfronts along the sea coast in this regard. This decision is in sharp conflict with Vladivostok’s ecological and social aspirations to be recognized as a world-class city. It also neglects the lessons that have been learned in many other waterfront cities around the world, as such cities have first built aboveground waterfront highways and later decided to remove them at great expense, in order to allow their citizens to properly enjoy the environmental and historical assets of their waterfronts. A key alternative would be to create an independent tunneled transport system along with added underground parking so that the transport problems can be addressed in a manner that enhances the ecology and livability of the city. A comparison of the two alternatives for solving the transport problem, that is, underground versus aboveground, shows the significant advantages of the independent tunnel system. Complex efficiency criteria have been developed in order to quantify the estimation of the alternative variants of the Vladivostok transport system. It was determined that the underground project is almost 1.8 times more advantageous than the aboveground alternative.

Biodiversity Conservation and Diversification by Creation of Urban Micro- Environment: A Case Study of Delhi

The natural landscape has been wiped out in most part of the earth except for those areas which is either very inaccessible to mankind or is of not much use to him as of now. Material goods have always enticed man over the ages and still do, but a new morn has unsettled mankind on the realization of resources being better for mankind in their natural state than when it is used indiscriminately for various purposes. But this realization has dawned when we have already polluted all spheres and its repercussions have taken a heavy toll too. An attempt has been made to recreate a natural landscape for living in an urban area (New Delhi) which is highly polluted being the capital city and vying with world class cities in providing immaculate infrastructure and amenities. Delhi has changed over the years in terms of weather and climate and its green belts and is now burdened with providing fresh air and water to its teeming inhabitants. This study encompasses the problems of living in small/high rises with terrace above and the heat and cold beating down with change of seasons. This study tries to understand environment and how man can create an urban microenvironment and contribute in biodiversity conservation and diversification and thereby improve the quality of life and provision of natural resources.

Growing ‘Smart’? Urbanization Processes in the Pune Urban Agglomeration

The Indian city of Pune witnessed rapid growth and deep transformation processes in the last three decades. This paper assesses past developments and recent structures and processes against the concept of urban sustainability. Following an overview of the historical development, the dimensions of sustainability are discussed separately, based on empirical findings. Urban growth puts enormous pressure on Pune’s land and water resources, changing the ecology of the area. The increasing water demand of Pune’s growing population competes with growing energy and water demands. An assessment of future climate change impacts indicates that the storage capacity of the reservoirs is more frequently not met during the rainy season. In addition, extreme dry years can aggravate the effects of land use change on water resources in the future. The city’s growth and especially the large in-migration has also changed Pune’s social fabric significantly. Wealth is distributed unevenly in the city and social disparities can be observed along two fault lines, namely along classes and caste groups. The population development and the increasing socioeconomic polarization are linked to the economic development of the city. Pune’s formal economy has a robust base. However, as in many cities of the Global South, the informal economy is the most relevant source of income for large parts of the population. Pune’s development is challenged by informality, poor infrastructure and inadequate planning and governance. Recently new approaches towards urban renewal and smart city development were launched. These new approaches aim at overcoming blockades in the traditional planning. A special challenge for urban planning is the transformation of urban fringe areas of the city, as this process is currently taking place in an unsustainable manner. The paper concludes that urban development has to become holistic, integrative and participative and should abandon the stereotype vision of the world class city in favor of a sustainable, locally adjusted pathway of development.

To Construct Buildings Onto Seabed Directly Without Land Reclamation

After shifting of the existing city seaport terminals from southern side of Singapore to Tuas South at western side of Singapore after 2027, the existing seaport areas including the sea spaces can be released for Southern Waterfront Development, as announced by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on 28 July 2016. URA has indicated in their Master Plan – Greater Southern Waterfront which could be built up for new housing, commercial, cultural and entertainment uses, cementing Singapore’s growing reputation as a world-class city for its people to live, work and play.In this Paper, the Author has given several ideas to construct buildings onto seabed directly without land reclamation. These structural systems will eliminate the energies for excavation, transportation, reclamation and compaction for the fill materials.

Hydraulic politics in/beyond the world-class city

Hydraulic politics in/beyond the world-class city

Capturing World-Class Urbanism through Modal Governance in Saigon

As the references of the world-class city pivot from traditional centers of finance in the West to include an ascendant Asia, cities dependent on foreign investment must modulate their governance to capture these flows of capital and urban development expertise. This article examines how institutions and individuals in Ho Chi Minh City, more commonly known as Saigon, deploy different modes of law and regulation to accommodate a diverse array of foreign capital producing the city. I offer two modes of governance: opacity and transparency. The first mode, opacity, affords government agencies and local developers flexibility to pursue new circuits of East and Southeast Asian foreign investment. These regulatory flexibilities are often framed and read as corruption under what I argue is another mode of urban development, transparency. Transparency is championed by international development institutions like the Asian Development Bank and World Bank that likewise produce urban infrastructure and urban development projects in the city. I argue that these flexible modes of city making are a way for state agencies to speculate on multiple and contradicting visions of the world-class city utilizing techniques of governance, law, and regulation.

Street as Public Space - Measuring Street Life of Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur has envisioning in becoming World Class City by the year 2020. Essential elements of form and function of the urban environment are streets. Streets showcase the community and connect people. It’s one of the most comfortable social environment that provides aesthetical and interaction pleasure for everyone. Classified as main shopping streets in the local Kuala Lumpur urban design guidelines, Jalan Masjid India (JMI) has its uniqueness of shopping experience and social interaction. This conceptual paper will study the physical and cultural characteristics of the street that will generate the street character by mapping its original characters. The findings will focus on strengthening the methodology applied to promote improvements in evaluating it as a great public space. Results will also contribute to understanding the overall site context, the street connectivity, and urban dynamics. This paper is part of a larger study that addresses on transforming the sociability of public space.

Features of Modernity, Development and ‘Orientalism’: Reading Johannesburg through its ‘Chinese’ Urban Spaces

In recent years, Chinese spatial markers in Johannesburg have expanded in unpredictable and manifold ways, leaving a more or less visible ‘ethnic’ imprint on the city. Often perceived as different (implicit for ‘oriental’) and enclaved, while underpinned by economic ambitions, these spaces of Chinese capital have none the less become active (yet accidental) participants in the making and shaping of a multifaceted urbanity. In a context that is torn between real development challenges and world-class city ambitions, the recent spatial unfolding of Chinese capital in Johannesburg points towards broader questions about the nature and direction of urban economies, in particular the dynamic interplay between local and global, and between formal and informal. As such, the study of specific Chinese cases – from shopping malls and a Chinatown to a project for a newly built city – offers alternative, differentiated ways to reflect on centrality, modernity and socio-economic development in a stubbornly segregated urban environment.

D. Asher Ghertner: Rule by aesthetics: world-class city making in Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2015, 272 pp

D. Asher Ghertner: Rule by aesthetics: world-class city making in Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2015, 272 pp

The World Class City, the homeless and soup kitchens in Kuala Lumpur

Since the early 1990s, Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, has been entangled in the modality of World Class City building. Following key insights by critical scholars like Henri Lefebvre and Doreen Massey, in this article the author shows how spatio-temporal processes have historically produced variegated and contested relational spaces in the city centre. In particular, through the case-study of the recent spatial cleansing of the homeless and soup kitchens in downtown Kuala Lumpur, the author argues for not only critically appreciating the durability and mutability of hegemonic relational spaces but also their potential for irruption because of the ethical dynamic of ‘thrown-togetherness’ that these spaces churn up.

Constraints to public sphere activity in Joubert Park, Johannesburg

The link between public sphere and public space has long been established within the literature. Using three aspects of public sphere — plurality, public space and deliberate talk — I argue that the management choices that the City of Johannesburg made in Joubert Park led to a lack of public spheres developing inside the park. I explore this dearth of public sphere activities by looking at the municipality’s formal by-laws and their application in the park, the punitive manner in which “informal” rules were enforced within the park and the perception that Johannesburgers and City Parks had of the space and its users. The findings indicate that the City of Johannesburg chose to manage the park in a manner that enhanced its goal of becoming an African World Class City at the cost of strengthening democracy within the park.

The global, the local and the hybrid in the making of Johannesburg as a world class African city

In 2000 the city of Johannesburg adopted the vision of becoming a World Class African City (WCAC). Since then Johannesburg has been energetically promoted in accordance with this vision. The tagline ‘world-class African city’ is now used in the branding of the city. It has become a major signifier on its logo and a notable catchphrase in its radio adverts of its brand. However, the nested opposition of the ‘world-class’ and ‘African’ discourse has not been explicitly defined in the vision beyond their simplistic connection. Many people have found the vision puzzling and some have questioned its claims. This paper explores the conundrum that lies in the nested opposition of the ‘world-class’ and ‘African’ discursive currents. It identifies the ‘global’ and ‘local’ discursive forces (in the country) which were formative in the creation of the vision. It looks at how the intersection of global and African discursive fronts has become leverage for generating hybrid cultural/cosmopolitan identities. The thrust of the paper is that the urban practices and landscapes of post-apartheid Johannesburg are enacted and re-enacted together with the inspiration, signification and/or representation of the city vision.

Resisting the World-Class City: Community Opposition and the Politics of a Local Arena Development

While the public subsidy of major league sport franchises and associated urban development projects remains wildly popular in some constituencies, these expenditures have, increasingly, been met with organized resistance. This article examines the formation of Voices for Democracy (VFD)—a grassroots community group that opposed the use of public funds to build a CAD $606.5 million arena and entertainment district in Edmonton, Alberta. I begin by providing an analysis of VFD’s division of labor and the collective development of the group’s political claims and tactical repertoire to challenge a powerful growth coalition between 2011–2013. Next, I examine the unfavorable political opportunity structure that set decisive limits on what the group could challenge. The article concludes with a discussion of why VFD was unable to cultivate a more widespread coalition of support and, in turn, how the ‘boosterish’ coalition in Edmonton—a coalition that included the Edmonton Oilers, the downtown business community, the mayor and a majority of council, and senior civil servants—were able to contain opposition over the course of this divisive debate.

Arts Stability and Growth Amid Redevelopment in U.S. Shrinking Cities’ Downtowns

While the relationship between arts businesses and redevelopment has been studied extensively in world-class cities, it remains understudied in weaker market cities. With tight municipal budgets, shrinking cities cannot afford to not understand both the benefits of the arts for downtown redevelopment and the impact of redevelopment on the arts. Using block-level data for a U.S. shrinking city’s downtown (St. Louis), this study finds that the arts have neither anchored redevelopment nor been driven out of the downtown by redevelopment. The latter finding signals an opportunity for shrinking cities to harness the benefits of the arts in downtown redevelopment.