Conceptualising aesthetic power in the digitally mediated city

Aesthetics, generally understood as an intensified emphasis on the sensorial look and feel of urban environments, has become an important perspective through which urban scholarship is examining the economic, social, political and cultural processes of urban regeneration projects across the globe. Much of this aestheticising work is now mediated by many kinds of digital technologies. The entanglement of digital technologies with the sensorial feel of urban redevelopments manifests in many different ways in different urban locations; it is deeply reshaping the embodied experiencing of urban life; and it enacts specific power relations. It is the focus of this paper. Drawing on the work of Lefebvre and Jansson, this article develops the notion of 'textured' space in order to offer an analytic vocabulary that can describe distinctive configurations of urban experience at the intersection of specific urban environments, bodily sensations, and digital devices. Analysing embodied sensory politics is important because various aspects of bodily sensoria are central to human experiences of, and relations between, both self and other. Hence bodies are enrolled differentially into different expressions of these new urban aesthetics: while some are seduced, others are made invisible or repelled, or are ambivalently entangled in digitally-mediated aesthetic atmospheres. The article offers some examples of the power relations inherent in the textured aesthetics of three of the most significant, and interrelated, processes of contemporary, digitally-mediated urban change: efforts to be seen as a 'world-class city' and to facilitate gentrification and tourism

Where tourists and locals meet: The empowerment of local culture through the integration of the tourist (cultural organizations in Anjos, Lisbon)

The growing challenge of Lisbon’s society to resist the desertification of the historical city center, powered by the mass tourism industry, raises the question of what kind of responsibility we can allocate to the tourism industry. In spite of a long-time acceptance of an “authentic” cultural tourism, the question is what role tourism can play in the preservation of the “soul” of cities with such a high demand as Lisbon. The following thesis analyzes the relationship between culture and tourism in times of global gentrification and new touristic trends. Looking at internal and external audiences, the aim is to understand the possible connections between local cultural life and the new tourist trend, which seeks to experience that very culture. The connections between the two will be analyzed through the role that cultural organizations play in this. An empirical research was conducted, based on the application of a questionnaire to representatives of cultural organizations located and acting in the district of Anjos in Lisbon. The goal is to find answers to the question of how the culture of locals and tourists can have a mutual positive impact on each other and whether touristic sustainability can be achieved by decentralizing the places of interest.O crescente desafio da sociedade de Lisboa para resistir à desertificação turística do centro histórico, provocada pela indústria massificada do turismo, levanta questões relativamente às responsabilidades que se devem alocar a essa indústria. . Embora a procura de um turismo cultural "autêntico" já exista há muito tempo, a questão é saber qual o papel que o turismo pode desempenhar na preservação da alma de cidades turisticamente pressionadas como Lisboa. Esta dissertação analisa a relação entre cultura e turismo em tempos de gentrificação global e de novas tendências turísticas. Através de um olhar sobre o papel das audiências externas e internas, o objectivo é perceber as possíveis ligações entre as manifestações culturais de génese local e a apropriação pelos turistas das mesmas, tendo como agentes principais no processo de ligação, as organizações culturais. Foi conduzida uma pesquisa empírica, baseada num questionário realizado a representantes destas organizações culturais localizadas e atuantes no bairro dos Anjos, em Lisboa. Procura-se encontrar respostas às questões de como a cultura local e a cultura turística podem ter um impacto positivo mútuo e se a sustentabilidade turística pode ser alcançada através da descentralização dos locais de interesse

Data for design: Adopting data-driven approaches for long term citizen participation and social sustainability in design for the public realm

The world is flooded with more information than ever before. Ubiquitous digital technologies have enabled direct access to large amounts of empirical data to inform a wide range of topics and investigations. This thesis set out to explore how these novel data technologies offer new opportunities to designers to greatly increase their knowledge of the built environment and how people inhabit it, to inform design in the public realm. The research has been developed under the umbrella of TRADERS (‘Training Art and Design Researchers in Participation for Public Space’), an EU-funded international and interdisciplinary research project. My research on the TRADERS project explored the intersection between digital data analysis (including the topics of Big Data, data mining, smart cities, algorithms, and more) and citizen participation in design for the public realm. Moving beyond temporary effects of many current ‘disruptive’ participatory design projects that have adopted digital technologies, the thesis concentrates on public realm projects that aim to facilitate their active afterlife beyond the designers’ involvement. The research identifies a recurring issue in current participatory design practices: designers tend to create a community around themselves, and therefore place the wrong actor at the centre of a project’s social network. Rather than building social constructs from scratch, the research demonstrates that analysing socio-spatial digital data could help architects identify existing active communities, design the physical conditions to facilitate longterm citizen engagement, thereby helping to shape socially sustained, resilient public space projects that are able to adapt to changing demands and a dynamic demographic. There is a vast amount of digital data on users available today; however, their potential as empirical input for the social dimension within spatial design has so far remained underexplored by designers. While digital tools are not new to the spatial design professions, technologies they have adopted, such as computer-aided design (CAD) and parametric modelling, all concentrate primarily on the built object. By introducing a human-centred focus, the thesis moves beyond the current object-oriented fixation of digital technologies for architecture and urban design. Through several case studies from practice, the thesis demonstrates how digital data analysis could help design firms conduct more thorough and in-depth explorations of the social layer of a local context. Furthermore, the thesis argues that an extensive and advanced analysis of a local context in an initial phase of the design process can help develop a more relevant initial premise, and therefore help develop a more context-appropriate and socially sustainable design. While it can be tempting to use technology for technology’s sake, the thesis argues that data-driven approaches should become another tool in an architect’s kit. New digital tools do not have to be foregrounded within the architectural discipline; instead, they can function as an aid to develop and consolidate more empirically-based human-centred designs. The thesis concludes that digital data technologies are useful instruments that enable alternative approaches and interventions aimed at serving the public. Incorporating these technologies into existing design practices, however, requires training and education

Planning for sustainable city tourism in the Netherlands

The purpose of this paper is to examine policies and planning for sustainable city tourism in Amsterdam and Rotterdam and relate them to the notions of ‘tourism reset’ that emerged during the COVID pandemic period. Amsterdam is a prime European tourist city and has been suffering from problems associated with overtourism. Rotterdam receives much less tourists and can be seen as an emerging tourist city. Both cities have recently adopted new tourism policies, essentially future tourism visions. The case of Amsterdam and to a lesser extent that of Rotterdam show that formulating and agreeing on a tourism policy vision is easier than the decision-making process and implementing a vision. The instruments and powers of local government to manage the quantity and qualities of tourism are limited. Overtourism problems have stimulated carrying capacity thinking, which is considered inadequate for a multi-faceted problem like urban tourism

Placing favelas on the tourist city map: between commodification and legitimisation

L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és explicar fins a quin punt les pràctiques i les actuacions dels turistes intervenen amb la producció o la reproducció d'espais i comunitats marginals. Al llarg de la investigació, reflexionem sobre si el turisme podria ser una via per legitimar les persones i els llocs marginats, a diverses escales, al Sud urbà global. Examinem els efectes d'estructuració i configuració que el turisme té sobre llocs i comunitats marginades i trobem que les pràctiques turístiques no sempre funcionen a favor de la legitimació i l'apoderament cultural sinó per legitimar processos neoliberals de desenvolupament, control i fiscalització. Emmarquem aquesta investigació dins de les Teories No Representacionals (Thrift, 1996; 2008). Aquest grup postestructuralista de teories, conceptes, idees i mètodes emfatitza l'agència del cos en moviment i la manca de jerarquia entre humans i coses, i centra l'anàlisi en com interactuen, coexisteixen i s'afecten entre ells aquests actors híbrids per produir realitats i donar sentit al món. L'aplicació de NRT als estudis del turisme de barris marginals implica partir de les empremtes simbòliques de significat, marques o creacions de mites dels barris marginals i, en canvi, insta a seguir les pràctiques dels turistes a l'espai i les consegüents relacions entreteixides amb altres persones, espais, objectes i idees. Dins d'aquests processos, argumentem que els turistes tenen agència en la co-creació de significats que potencialment poden valorar els espais i la cultura dels barris marginals i proporcionar a les parts integrals nous valors i poder. La tesi explora el cas de la favela turística Santa Marta a Rio de Janeiro, que ha estat una de les faveles més visitades d'aquesta ciutat des de principis de la dècada de 1990. Utilitzem tres enfocaments metodològics per analitzar els processos de valorització i legitimació dels turistes, primer, un relat autoetnogràfic per analitzar l'experiència personal de l'investigador; segon, recreem dos actors-xarxes entrellaçats després de dos tours antagòniques a Santa Marta; finalment, fem una anàlisi de discurs de diferents textos i actors, i els analitzem proposant tres categories de legitimació.El objetivo de esta tesis es explicar hasta qué punto las prácticas y actuaciones de los turistas intervienen con la producción o reproducción de espacios y comunidades marginales. A lo largo de la investigación, reflexionamos sobre si el turismo podría ser una vía para legitimar a las personas y los lugares marginados, en varias escalas, en el Sur urbano global. Examinamos los efectos de estructuración y configuración que el turismo tiene sobre lugares y comunidades marginadas y encontramos que las prácticas turísticas no siempre funcionan a favor de la legitimación y el empoderamiento cultural, sino para legitimar procesos neoliberales de desarrollo, control y fiscalización. Enmarcamos esta investigación dentro de las Teorías No Representacionales (Thrift, 1996; 2008). Este grupo postestructuralista de teorías, conceptos, ideas y métodos enfatiza la agencia del cuerpo en movimiento y la falta de jerarquía entre humanos y cosas, y centra el análisis en cómo estos actores híbridos interactúan, coexisten y se afectan entre sí para producir realidades y dar sentido al mundo. La aplicación de NRT a los estudios del turismo de barrios marginales implica partir de las huellas simbólicas de significado, marcas o creaciones de mitos de los barrios marginales y, en cambio, insta a seguir las prácticas de los turistas en el espacio y las consiguientes relaciones entretejidas con otras personas, espacios, objetos e ideas. Dentro de estos procesos, argumentamos que los turistas tienen agencia en la co-creación de significados que potencialmente pueden valorar los espacios y la cultura de los barrios marginales y proporcionar a sus partes integrales nuevos valores y poder. La tesis explora el caso de la favela turística Santa Marta en Río de Janeiro, que ha sido una de las favelas más visitadas de esa ciudad desde principios de la década de 1990. Utilizamos tres enfoques metodológicos para analizar los procesos de valorización y legitimación de los turistas, primero, un relato auto-etnográfico para analizar la experiencia personal del investigador; segundo, recreamos dos actores-redes entrelazados luego de dos tours antagónicas en Santa Marta; por último, realizamos un análisis de discurso de diferentes textos y actores, y los analisamos proponiendo tres categorías de legitimación.This PhD thesis aims to explain the extent to which tourists’ practices and performances can become enmeshed with the production or reproduction of slummed spaces and communities. Throughout the research, we reflect on whether tourism could be an avenue to legitimise marginalised people and places at various scales in the broader society of the Global urban South. We examined tourism's structuring and shaping effects over marginalised places and communities to find that tourist practices do not always work in favour of slums’ cultural legitimization and empowerment but for legitimising neoliberal development, control and fiscalization processes. We frame this investigation within Non-representational Theories (Thrift, 1996; 2008), or rather, more-than-representational ones. This post-structuralist group of theories, concepts, ideas and methods emphasise the agency of the moving and sentient body and the lack of hierarchy between humans and non-human things and centres the analysis on how hybrid actors interact, coexist and affect each other to produce realities and make sense of the world. Applying NRT to slum tourism’s studies entails departing from symbolic traces of meaning, branding or myth creations of slums and instead urges to follow tourists' embodied practices enacted on space and the consequent relations interwoven with other people, spaces, objects, and ideas, to create different versions of the tourist slum. Within these processes, we argue that tourists have agency in co-creating meanings that can potentially value slums’ spaces and culture and provide slum dwellers with new values and power. The dissertation explores the case of tourist favela Santa Marta in Rio de Janeiro, which has been one of the most visited slums in that city since the early 1990s. We use three methodological approaches to analyse tourists’ valorisation and legitimisation processes, first, an autoethnographic account to analyse the researcher’s personal experience; second, we recreate two actor-networks interwoven after two antagonistic tours in Santa Marta; lastly, we undertake a discourse analysis of media articles, for which we propose three legitimation categories

A field guide to Berlin. Designing teaching material for a field visit in urban studies

This field guide is part of a larger field course called ‘Urban Dynamics’ (Dynamiques Urbaines), running in the third year of the Bachelor degree in Geography at the University of Lausanne. In this course, students are expected to define and realise for the first time a self-organised research project in groups, taking place in Berlin. It starts from the observation that urban change is always subject to contestation and debate, and therefore to politics. We distinguish between big P Politics, that is, the institutionalised politics of political institutions, state actors, and officials; and small p politics, the politics of everyday contestations, solidarity, protesting and sometimes of simply acting in one way than another, that pervades Berlin. It contains two field days in Berlin that students can undertake as a self-guided tour. Each day has four sites for which the field guide contains both background information, key concepts of urban geography, and questions that familiarise them with important debates

Refractive Spatialisation: The Digital Picturesque, the Online-Reality Gap and Gentrification in Seoul

Building on the work of Henri Lefebvre, this research introduces the concept of refractive spatialisation in describing and articulating the deep interconnections between urbanisation, online space, social practices, and the relational (re)making of place-images as a result of technological innovations in information, communications and vehicles. The concept is coined in reference to the process through which symbolic space (online blog spaces) and physical space (the built environment) become co-dependent and co-generative in terms of rapid urban transformations driven by the touristification of previously mundane spaces. In relation to Seoul, South Korea these processes are shown to alter the built environment and drive processes of gentrification in tandem with state-led infrastructure projects: Airport Railroad Express (AREX) and Gyeongui Line Forest Park (GLFP). Focusing on Yeonnam- dong (total population of 15,769), a neighbourhood of Seoul, the research shows how urban regeneration, the consumption tastes of competitive young urbanites, and the representation and rearrangement of place-images online (led by online influencers) interact in the re- making of place. This involves a transformation in the place-image of Yeonnam-dong from an everyday “hidden”, working-class neighbourhood to an Instagrammable space produced and re-valued in relation to other places. The thesis analyses urban regeneration efforts in Yeonnam-dong from 2010-2018, online blog data (2,425 posts)) over the same period, and qualitative interviews with 42 interviewees from six categories: 1) 20-30s millennials; 2) Business owners and artists; 3) Property experts and local agencies; 4) Blog influencers; 5) Local residents; and 6) Seoul Metropolitan Government officials. The research articulates a new process of the uneven production of contemporary urban space influenced by the reconfiguration of spatial characteristics, property values, economic systems, social practices, and online imagery and preferences, based on the symbolic and information economy in post-industrial cities. In the new process of gentrifying Yeonnam-dong, refractive spatialisation functions as a key driver for interconnecting spatial change with new practices (aesthetic tourism and the digital picturesque), flows (selective online data of translocal representations), and logic (capitalist dynamics of aesthetic and hyper-realistic space triggered by the gap between online images and physical spaces – the online-reality gap)