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

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

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

Die Abschöpfung des Planungsmehrwerts als Repolitisierung der Planung? Eine neue Perspektive auf die aktuelle Wohnungsfrage

Wohnungspolitik ist in Deutschland erneut brisant und sozial aktuell. In Zeiten des neuen Städtewachstums sind innovative planerische wie auch politische Antworten auf den Mangel an bezahlbarem Wohnraum in Agglomerationsräumen gefragt. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, das raumplanerische Instrument einer Abschöpfung des Planungsmehrwerts in seinen planerischen Voraussetzungen und politischen Implikationen zu untersuchen. Wir zeigen, dass die Abschöpfung des Planungsmehrwerts für eine sozial orientierte, demokratische Stadtpolitik Potenziale wie auch Gefahren birgt und verfolgen dabei eine ebenso politische wie theoretisch-konzeptionelle Zielsetzung

Arbeit und Protest im Postfordismus: ein Vergleich alter und neuer Protestrituale sowie ihrer Ambivalenzen am 1. Mai in Berlin

Der Wandel von der fordistischen zur postfordistischen Gesellschaft hat die Bedingungen für politischen Protest gravierend verändert. Gewerkschaften leiden ebenso wie politische Parteien unter einem starken Mitgliederschwund. Die Politisierung und das Demonstrationsgeschehen in den Städten sind ein Spiegel dieser Entwicklung. Am Beispiel des 1. Mai in Berlin 2011 zeigt der Beitrag auf, dass eine Fragmentierung und geringe Politisierung kennzeichnende Charakteristika postfordistischer urbaner Protestformen sind. Unsere Analyse beschränkt sich auf zwei wichtige Standorte des Protestes am 1. Mai, die DGB-Demonstration am Brandenburger Tor sowie das MyFest in Kreuzberg. Die Untersuchung basiert auf der Auswertung einer standardisierten Befragung illustriert durch Fotografien, die auf den Veranstaltungen aufgenommen wurden.The social changes from fordism to post-fordism have significantly affected the conditions for political protest. Both political parties and labour unions have had to cope with a massive decline in membership. This has a drastic impact on the form of protest in urban areas. The main characteristics of post-fordist forms of urban protest are its fragmentation and a low level of politicization, as our example of Labour Day protests (1st of May) in Berlin will show. Our analysis focuses on two main protest sites; firstly, the protest organised by the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB) at the Brandenburg Gate and secondly, the so-called ‘MyFest’ in Kreuzberg. The study is based on a quantitative survey and the interpretation of photographs taken during Labour Day 2011

The urban dimension of Chinese infrastructure finance in Africa

For many years, Chinese infrastructure finance has been secured by African governments to provide infrastructure of national significance, while cities continue to lack fiscal tools for the provision of large-scale urban infrastructure. This article not only demonstrates that Chinese infrastructure finance is being extended to municipal authorities in Africa to undertake critical urban infrastructure but also scrutinizes the urban dynamics and local impact of using Chinese infrastructure finance for urban regeneration. Through empirical scrutiny of the regeneration of Kotokuraba Market in Cape Coast, Ghana, findings reveal that municipal authorities, like national governments, are subjected to political and embedded conditionalities. However, the conventional resource-backed repayment conditionality characteristic of Chinese-funded national projects differs from the project finance model—relying on the project’s cash flow for repayment—adopted in Cape Coast. We found in Cape Coast a locally-driven emphasis on affordable rents that stands in stark contrast to the practice of project finance, resulting in potential default of the Chinese loan. The wider consequences of this disjuncture for urban development, financing and governance in Cape Coast, Ghana, and Africa are discussed.Peer Reviewe