Decentering the Subject, Psychoanalytically: Researching Imaginary Spacings through Image-Based Interviews

Since the more-than-human turn, geographers have increasingly called for a decentering of the human subject by breaking away from a classically modern understanding of subjectivity and by treating humans as one of many players. In this article, we offer an alternative way of decentering the subject by following the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. Far from being subject-centered, psychoanalysis aims to understand the subject as a radically decentered and fragile production, which is only secured through what Lacan calls the imaginary. The imaginary combines two realms—image and imagination—and focuses on how the subject generates a sense of the self through spatial identification with images. Based on image-based interviews conducted in Singapore, Vancouver, and Berlin following the method of photo-elicitation, we demonstrate how this imaginary subject can be empirically investigated. We identify five stages in the interviews that help us retrace how the subject establishes an imaginary relationship with an image as well as how it is confronted with the fragile constitution of this relationship. We conclude by emphasizing the potential of image-based interviews to investigate the decentering of subjects and explore ways in which geographers can further decenter the subject psychoanalytically.Peer Reviewe

Understanding diversity in later life through images of old age

This article aims to enhance the conceptual debate on diversity in old age by exploring the interplay of diversity in later life and images of old age. We argue that the analysis of images of old age on the micro-level is a fruitful methodology in order to unravel the meaning of diversity in later life. Drawing on findings from qualitative research in Berlin, we explore how new and diverse imaginations, experiences and lifestyles of old age emerge. The conceptual focus on images of old age enables us to investigate further what diversity in later life comprises and how it simultaneously fosters the genesis of new images of old age. The manifold new images we found in our research suggest that prevalent societal discourses about old age on the macro-level are rather deceptive and represent mostly stereotypes such as ‘active agers’ or ‘frail and dependent elders’. We offer three explanations why alternative images of old age are currently barely present in public discourse: (a) the actors transmitting images of age; (b) the institutionalisation of the images; and (c) the challenge to communicate complexity. We conclude by suggesting that images of old age are a promising starting point to explore and make visible both the diversity of social groups within the older generation as well as the heterogeneity of older individuals.Peer Reviewe

The love of nature: Imaginary environments and the production of ontological security in postnatural times

The existence of nature is vehemently called into question in the Anthropocene. The standard image of nature as a pristine, harmonious, and stable background no longer holds, especially as ecological changes increasingly penetrate the collective consciousness. Consequently, there has been growing interest in the psychological effects of this end of nature. A recent wave of scholarship shows how climate change and the Anthropocene more generally affect people's daily lives and present significant threats to psychic well-being. This paper follows on from these debates. In contrast, however, we ask if and how nature is still considered as providing a subjective sense of (ontological) security today. We argue that, even under postnatural conditions, nature still maintains an imaginary existence in the social reality of the subject. We address this argument empirically by focusing on everyday life perceptions of nature in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, and theoretically by following the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. Drawing on image-based interviews (photo-elicitation), we demonstrate that a psychoanalytic approach to imaginary environments allows us to understand why people state that they love nature even though it does not exist. We show how this love works by pointing out how nature is considered as (m)other and, through this, engaged as a place to retreat and escape from the burdens of everyday life while being perceived from a certain distance. In conclusion, we emphasise the broader political consequences of the imaginary existence of nature and call for further engagement with the persistence of nature's fantasy in times when nature seems to no longer fit the purpose.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659Peer Reviewe

Chapter 9 The housing careers of younger adults and intergenerational support in Germany’s ‘society of renters’

Through narrative interviews with younger adults and their parents , this paper explores how the housing transitions of younger adults, both within the rental sector and into homeownership, are shaped through intergenerational intra-family support in Germany’s society of renters. Our fi ndings highlight the profound qualitative diff erences between regular transfers for establishing and retaining residential independence in the rental sector and inter vivos gifts for house purchase. Where the former support type is given and taken unconditionally, transfers for house purchase follow a diff erent logic and carry diff erent meanings. Being a necessary condition for property acquisition at young age, they have the power to completely rebalance family relations and undermine younger adults’ autonomy accordingly. In an aggregate perspective, our study further suggests increasing socio-spatial inequalities within the younger generation which run along both class and spatial origin, sharply dividing the housing market opportunities of ‘original Berliners’ and those who have moved to the city from more affl uent regions in Germany

Das Ende der Gestaltbarkeit? : zu Funktionswandel und Zukunftsperspektiven räumlicher Planung

Das "Ende der Gestaltbarkeit" beschreibt eine bedrohliche Situation. Während die Verantwortlichkeiten für die Städte und Regionen und den in ihnen lebenden Menschen rapide zunehmen, schrumpfen die Handlungsspielräume von Stadt- und Regionalplanung drastisch. Ohne Konsens über planerische Aufgaben, Ziele und Eingriffspotentiale ist der Rückzug der Planung aus der Gestaltung und damit der Verzicht auf einen planungspolitischen Beitrag zu einer humaneren Gesellschaftsentwicklung greifbar nahe. Unter Einbezug von Planungsgeschichte, -praxis und -theorie sowie empirischer Fallbeispiele wird die Frage nach den Begründungsmöglichkeiten einer zeitgemäßen Planungspolitik aufgeworfen. Damit sind zugleich Diskussionsanstöße und Orientierungsversuche für zukünftige Entwicklungschancen räumlicher Planung verbunden. - Germany, city planning, regional planning, planned communities, case studie

Innovation Stadtmarketing : Ausverkauf des Politischen oder Demokratisierung der Planung?

Wissenschaftliches Kolloquium vom 18. bis 21. Juni 1992 in Weimar an der Hochschule für Architektur und Bauwesen zum Thema: ‚Architektur und Macht

“That is when you realize your age”—A spatial approach to age(ing)

Age is a conceptual challenge for geographical research due to its twofold character as a marker of difference (age) and a dynamic process (ageing). The fluidity of the ageing process makes it difficult to employ age as an analytic variable for empirical research, perhaps even more so than for other social categories such as gender, ethnicity, social status, or sexual orientation. Drawing on qualitative research with 18 expert interviews and 4 focus group discussions with older people (n = 26) from diverse backgrounds in Berlin (Germany), this paper argues for a spatial perspective to grasp the individual, continuous process of ageing. Based on the spatial settings of (1) places of recreation, (2) places of work, and (3) home as examples, our empirical findings reveal how older people become aware of their own ageing through specific places and how the process of ageing is perceived in relation to both people of other age groups and one's personal lived lifetime. The intersectional approach of our research thus demonstrates how social diversity shapes the experience of later life. The paper concludes by proposing three ways how a spatial perspective on the ageing process can advance debates within geographies of ageing.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/50110000165