Die station urbaner kulturen hat sich seit 2014 aus dem Projekt „Kunst im Untergrund“ zum zweiten Standort der nGbK in (Berlin-)Hellersdorf entwickelt. Dem einst jüngsten Stadtteil der DDR, dessen Geschichte nach 1989 und seinem aktuellen Wandel sind durchgehend Fragen zu sozialer Stadtentwicklung, Gemeinwohl und gesamtstädtischen Zusammenhängen eingeschrieben. Die dort stattfindenden Ausstellungs- und Veranstaltungsprojekte verhandeln diese Themen aus verschiedenen Perspektiven und sind geprägt durch die künstlerische Praxis der Beteiligungsformate: Sie wirken in das Quartier hinein und erzeugen neue öffentliche Räume. So wie die Grünfläche, die seit 2016 auch „Place Internationale“ genannt wird, sind es Orte der künstlerischen Interaktion mit der Anwohner:innenschaft und der gemeinschaftlichen Gestaltung für ein Miteinander im Bezirk.

Anhand ihres für Chemnitz Kulturhauptstadt 2025 entwickelten Projekts WE PARAPOM! erläutert die Künstlerin Barbara Holub im Gespräch ihre Arbeitsweise mit Anwohner*innen und Künstler*innen in der Auseinandersetzung um den städtischen Raum. Die beiden Begriffe ‚direkter Urbanismus‘ und ‚stiller Aktivismus‘ spielen dabei eine wichtige Rolle. Sie sind als aktivierende Strategien zentrale Aspekte der Praxis von transparadiso – einer Zusammenarbeit von Barbara Holub und Paul Rajakovics.

Der Beitrag beleuchtet die Aktivitäten der Performance-Gruppe Zero Jigen (Zero Dimension), einer der radikalsten Formationen der japanischen Happening- und Performance-Szene der 1960er Jahre, über den Zeitraum von 1960 bis 1970. In einer Phase, in der die Traumata des Zweiten Weltkrieges im Bewusstsein der Bevölkerung noch stark präsent sind und zugleich eine Welle der Modernisierung die gesamte Gesellschaft überschwemmt, beruft sich Zero Jigen wie einige andere „ritualistische Künstlergruppen“ dieser Zeit auf Elemente einer vormodernen japanischen Kultur in der Idee, das menschliche Sein an seine Ursprünge, seinen ‚Nullpunkt‘ zurückzuführen. Während die urbanen Interventionen von Zero Jigen in der ersten Hälfte der 1960er Jahre auf die Konfrontation der (in vielen Fällen nackten) Körper der Performer*innen mit dem in einem rasanten Transformationsprozess befindlichen Stadtraum abzielen, nehmen die Aktivitäten im Vorfeld der 1970 stattfindenden Osaka Expo einen zunehmend politischen Charakter an. Zero Jigens Aktivitäten spiegeln exemplarisch die enge Verzahnung von Avantgarde-Kunst mit der politischen Entwicklung in Japan der 1960er Jahre wider und dokumentieren einen Prozess der Verdrängung des performativen Körpers aus dem öffentlichen Raum.

Le passage du XXe au XXIe siècle a été accompagné d’intenses transformationssociospatiales, qui mettent en échec l’avenir de la ville. D’un côté, des processusd’individualisation et de segmentation sociale s’accroissent et articulément produisent ou réitèrent les inégalités. D’autre côté et de façon dialectique, la production de tissus urbains de plus en plus dispersés se confirme, caractérisée par des discontinuités territoriales et des densités variables du centre vers la périphérie. Dans ce contexte, l’urbanisation se diffuse mondialement, affecte tous les espaces et articule des différentes échelles, de façon à produire l’urbain au-delà des villes. Au Brésil, spécialement à partir des années 1970, les transformations sociospatiales mentionnées ci-dessus se sont liées à des processus de modernisation nationaux. Les métropoles de Curitiba et de Brasilia se sont développées dans cette période, chacune à sa manière, mais de façon plus accentuée à Brasilia. Toutes deux ont néanmoins été marquées par des inégalités et par la dispersion urbaine. Deux objectifs ont orienté la discussion proposée dans cette thèse : examiner la corrélation entre dispersion urbaine et fragmentation sociospatiale ; et expliquer comment ces deux processus se réalisent à Brasilia et à Curitiba. La recherche comparative a été menée à partir d’études et recherches sur les deux villes ainsi que directement dans leurs agglomérations. Des observations, des visites de terrain dans les zones résidentielles fermées et dans les villes de la périphérie métropolitaine ont été faites, mais aussi des entretiens avec des résidents. De ce fait, le cadre analytique de la thèse permet de comprendre qu’il y a, à Curitiba et surtout à Brasilia, des logiques fragmentaires qui favorisent la dissolution de l’unité morphologique tant par la dispersion des tissus urbains que par la segmentation sociale et la reproduction des inégalités. Ceci contribue à la création de limites à la mise en place du droit à la ville comme droit à la différence et amène à une nécessaire réflexion sur la notion de justice spatiale comme moyen approprier de surmonter les inégalités. / The passage from the 20th to the 21st centuries has accompanied intense socio-spatial transformations, which have questioned the future of city. On one side,processes of individualisation and social segmentation grow and combine or reiterate inequalities. On the other side and in dialectical way, the production of increasingly dispersed urban tissues is confirmed, i.e., they are characterised by territorial discontinuity and alternating densities from centre to periphery. In this context, urbanisation becomes globally diffused, affects all spaces and articulates different scales in order to produce the urban beyond the cities. In Brazil, especially from the 1970s, the mentioned socio-spatial transformations have occurred and connected to national processes of modernisation. The metropolises of Curitiba and Brasilia developed in this period by different ways. Both of them havebeen marked by inequalities and urban dispersion, but Brasilia experienced itoverwhelmingly. Two aims guided then the discussion proposed in this Ph.D. dissertation: to examine connection between urban dispersion and socio-spatialfragmentation; and to explain how these processes take place in Brasilia and Curitiba. The comparative research has concerned studies and researches about bothcities, but also has counted on a direct way, i.e., through observations, visits togated communities and to cities in the metropolitan agglomerations’ peripheries;some inhabitants were also interviewed. Therefore, the analytical framework of thedissertation helps to understand that there is, in Curitiba and especially in Brasilia, a fragmentary logics that promotes the dissolution of morphologic unit. That happens through the dispersion of urban tissues, social segmentation and reproduction of inequalities, and this is a limit to the right to city as being a right to difference. A necessary reflection about the notion of spatial justice appears then as an appropriate means to seek for overcoming inequalities. / A passagem do século XX para o XXI faz-se acompanhar de transformações socioespaciais intensas, as quais têm colocado em xeque o futuro da cidade. De umlado, registra-se a ampliação dos processos de individualização e segmentaçãosocial, que combinados produzem ou reiteram desigualdades. De outro, dialeticamentearticulado, verifica-se a produção de tecidos urbanos cada vez mais dispersos,caracterizados por descontinuidade territorial e densidades alternantesdo centro à periferia. No bojo desses processos, a urbanização torna-se mundialmente difusa, afetando todos os espaços e articulando diferentes escalas, deforma a produzir o urbano para além das cidades. No Brasil, especialmente a partir dos anos 1970, as transformações socioespaciais supramencionadas também ocorreram, atreladas a processos nacionais de modernização. As metrópoles de Curitiba e de Brasília desenvolveram-se nesse período, cada uma a seu modo, marcadas por desigualdade e dispersão urbana, mais acentuadas na segunda que na primeira. Dois objetivos orientam, portanto, a discussão proposta nesta tese: examinar as correlações entre dispersão urbana e fragmentação socioespacial; e explicar como esses processos se realizam em Brasília e Curitiba. A investigação, de cunho comparativo, foi feita a partir de estudos e pesquisas sobre as duas capitais e também diretamente nas duas aglomerações por meio de observações, visitas a áreas residenciais fechadas e cidades do entorno metropolitano, onde foram entrevistados moradores. Assim, o quadro analítico da tese possibilita entender que há, em Curitiba e especialmente em Brasília, lógicas fragmentárias que favorecem a dissolução da unidade morfológica, seja pela dispersão dos tecidos urbanos, seja pela segmentação social e reprodução das desigualdades, o que se configura em limite à realização do direito à cidade como direito à diferença. Isso leva a uma necessária reflexão sobre a noção de justiça espacial como meio mais adequado para basear a busca pela superação das desigualdades.

Scholarship on late antique cities has largely conceptualized them as singular entities, either decaying or transitioning as Roman imperial power and economic structures shifted. Improved archaeological data from urban sites, accompanied by a number of broad synthetic studies, now allow for fresh exploration of the details of urbanism in this transformative era. This study examines the ways that a select group of public buildings were used and reused in the Mediterranean West between 300 and 600 CE. This examination is primarily carried out through the collection of a broad catalogue of archaeological evidence (supplemented with epigraphic and literary testimony) for the constructions, work projects, abandonments and reuses of key public monuments across the Western Mediterranean region—principally Italy, southern Gaul, Spain, and North Africa west of Cyrenaica. This broad survey is augmented with case studies on select cities. Such an analysis of the late antique histories of baths, aqueducts, and spectacle buildings (theaters, amphitheaters, and circuses) shows that each of the building types had a distinct history and that public monuments were not a unitary group. It also reveals unexpectedly few regional trends, suggesting that these histories were broadly common across the West. Further, this study shows that each building type was reused differently, both in terms of purposes and chronology. Finally, by considering economic, technological, cultural and legal factors affecting patterns of use, abandonment and reuse, this study establishes that the primary cause for the transformations to public building was largely a change in euergetistic practices in late antiquity. Cities with access to imperial or other governmental patronage used and maintained their public monuments longer than those without. Together these observations demonstrate the complexities of urban change in this period and prove that the idea of a single pattern of decline in late antique cities is no longer tenable.

Plusieurs villes moyennes de l’est de la France se sont lancées, dans le courant des années 2000, dans la conception de nouveaux quartiers principalement dédiés à l’habitation. Dix ans plus tard, les premiers logements sont livrés aux propriétaires et aux locataires qui investissent les lieux et commencent à se les approprier. Ce travail de thèse a pour objectif de rendre compte de l’expérience socio-spatiale de ces habitants à partir d’une méthode de recherche qualitative et d’une approche sociologique compréhensive. Cette recherche porte plus précisément sur trois quartiers en train de se faire dans deux villes moyennes de l’est de la France et s’appuie sur un matériau empirique constitué d’entretiens semi-directifs et non-directifs menés auprès des habitants des quartiers, indépendamment de leur statut d’occupation, et des concepteurs (élus, techniciens, urbanistes, etc.). À la manière d’Henri Lefebvre, l’espace des nouveaux quartiers est analysé au prisme de la triplicité de l’espace, laquelle distingue l’espace conçu, l’espace perçu et l’espace vécu. Ces différents moments de l’espace sont étudiés séparément – afin de mettre en exergue la dialectique propre à chaque moment – puis assemblés à nouveau dans le but de montrer la tension qui les anime. Porter attention à l’espace conçu invite à questionner le mode de production contemporain de la ville qui s’incarne depuis les années 1980 dans la notion de projet urbain. L’espace conçu est aussi un espace vendu, un espace virtuel, modélisé en 3D dans des publicités qui présentent les lieux en construction de manière utopique et les donnent comme « prêts-à-habiter ». Pourtant, ces espaces idéaux sont aseptisés, lissés et standardisés. Les nouveaux quartiers existent également dans la pratique concrète de l’espace, dans l’espace vécu. Même si les habitants sont pris dans divers réseaux d’appartenances, mêmes s’ils pratiquent la ville à la carte, en fonction de leurs histoires, de leurs habitudes ou de leurs compétences propres de mobilité, le nouveau quartier est un espace qui fait sens, à la fois comme lieu, comme territoire et comme milieu. Seulement, la présente étude montre que le nouveau quartier ne fait pas toujours sens de la même manière, qu’il est dépendant des moments, des contextes et des situations dans lesquels il est mobilisé, qu’il est un enjeu identitaire et représentationnel / In the course of the 2000 s, several medium-size cities in the East of France decided to design new neighborhoods dedicated mostly to housing. Ten years after, the first accommodations were made available to both homeowners and tenants, who began to occupy and appropriate those locations. The aim of this research, which relies on a ‘‘comprehensive’’ sociological approach in conjunction with qualitative research methods, is to give full account of the socio-spatial experience of the residents. More precisely, this PhD focuses on three neighborhoods in the making located in two medium-size cities in the East of France and is based on empirical material that includes semi-structured as well as unstructured interviews of the residents – independently of their occupancy status – and of the designers (elected officials, technicians, city planners, etc.). The space of the developing neighborhoods is analyzed following Henri Lefebvre’s model of the “spatial triad”, which divides space into “the conceived space” (or representations of space), “the perceived space” (or spatial practice) and “the lived space” (or representational space). Each of these moments is studied separately – to highlight the dialectic behind each moment – then together again to show the tensions at work. Focusing on the conceived space invites us to question the contemporary production method of cities which is embodied since the 1980 s by the concept of ‘‘urban project’’. The conceived space is also a marketed space, a virtual space, a 3D model space appearing in advertisements presenting the accommodations which are still under construction as a ready-to-live-in utopia. However, these ideal spaces are aseptic, bland and standardized. The developing neighborhoods also exist through their concrete practice, through the lived space. Although the local residents develop multiple identities and affiliations, even if they practice the urban world differently because of their backgrounds, their habits or their own mobility capabilities, the new neighborhood is a significant place both as a location, a territory and a milieu. Nevertheless, this research shows that new neighborhoods do not always carry the same significance but are highly dependent on the moments, contexts and situations when they are mobilized, that they truly represent an identity and representational issue

This submission develops a set of arguments around the path dependency of places – how previous policy eras shape the trajectory and outcomes of places - and the tensions between social inclusion policies and practices on the one hand and competitiveness on the other. Path dependency results from previous legacies of the built form and access and eligibility rights. The "narrative" of places, the categories and descriptions used in delineating neighbourhoods and shaping policy is also influential. A coherent line of research is demonstrated which has revolved around the definition, measurement and scale of deprivation and housing's role in social exclusion and competitiveness debates. Originally focused at household and individual level, the enquiry shifted to the role of neighbourhoods and places in terms of their "compositional" and "environmental" meaning. The thesis revolves around the concept of participation standards and the underpinning principles of citizenship arising from denial of access to relative "norms and standards". This highlights tensions in the competing goals of competitiveness and inclusion in housing and urban policy at different scales resulting in differential speeds and experiences of place. Logically this would suggest that the evolution of citizenship and participation can legitimately embrace the concept of citizenship of place.

L'un des éléments qui caractérisent le processus de mondialisation de l'économie est le développement de la logistique du fret comme secteur stratégique pour déterminer les avantages concurrentiels des régions urbaines. Cette étude analyse le lien entre l'évolution du marché, la réorganisation de l'Etat et le développement des infrastructures logistiques urbaines. Le point d'entrée de cette analyse est l'étude des politiques qui ont produit et gouverné au fil du temps deux marchés alimentaires de gros européens : le MIN Rungis et les Marchés Généraux de Milan. Leur comparaison explique comment les changements structurels ont influencé leur évolution et pourquoi aujourd'hui deux marchés de gros qui étaient initialement très similaires d'un point de vue analytique différent, ont deux policy outcome très différents. En utilisant une approche théorique et méthodologique basée sur les contributions du néo-institutionnalisme historique et de l'économie politique urbaine, le rôle des groupes d'intérêts, des acteurs politiques, des règles politiques et du marché est éclairé. Ces facteurs sont liés entre eux pour expliquer la policy conversion observée pour le MIN Rungis et la policy drift dans le cas de Milan. Enfin, les processus politiques qui ont mené à ces résultats sont expliqués en termes de mécanismes causaux. L'analyse met en évidence le rôle central des règles de politique locale et du contexte politique dans la détermination de la capacité des groupes d'intérêt locaux à influencer les processus décisionnels, et l'effet de leur mobilisation sur le développement de ces infrastructures urbaines. / One of the elements that characterize the process of economic globalization is the development of freight logistics as a strategic sector to determine the competitive advantages of urban regions. This study analyses the link between market changes, state reorganisation and the development of urban logistics infrastructures. The entry point for this analysis is the study of the policies that have produced and governed over time two European wholesale food markets: the MIN Rungis and the General Markets of Milan. Their comparison explains how structural changes have influenced their evolution and why today two wholesale markets, which were initially very similar from an analytical point of view, have nowadays two very different policy outcomes. Using a theoretical and methodological approach based on the contributions of historical neo-institutionalism and urban political economy, the role of interest groups, political actors, political rules and the market is clarified. These factors are interrelated to explain the policy conversion observed for MIN Rungis and the policy drift in the case of Milan. Finally, the policy processes that led to these results are explained in terms of causal mechanisms. The analysis highlights the central role of local policy rules and political context in determining the ability of local interest groups to influence decision-making processes, and the effect of their mobilization on the development of these urban infrastructures.

This thesis critically examines the role of indigeneity in urban policies and planning in a context of constitutional changes that have taken place in Bolivia and Ecuador in the recent decade. It departs from previous academic and policy research which mainly studied indigenous rights in rural areas and focused on urban indigenous peoples as outlawed, excluded, or insurgent subjects. Instead, it conceptualises the translation of indigenous rights into urban policies as a complex process in which a multiplicity of social actors – including government officials and urban indigenous groups – are involved. Drawing on the practice-centric literature on urban policy and planning, it recognises that the work of government officials is influenced by multiple factors such as constitutional texts as well as their personal views, interest group demands, and the wider structural and political environment surrounding them. Government attempts to translate indigenous rights are contrasted to urban indigenous peoples’ own understandings of indigeneity and associated interests and demands. In addition, this thesis uses an asset accumulation framework as well as the concept of tactics to identify how urban indigenous peoples address and negotiate their interests and demands and try to influence decision-making processes from the bottom-up. The thesis relies on La Paz (Bolivia) and Quito (Ecuador) as ‘illustrative cases’ to study the role of indigeneity in urban policies. As both La Paz and Quito represent capital cities, it was possible to approach government officials operating at multiple scales – international, national and local – as well as ordinary urban indigenous residents. Methodologically, the thesis employs a qualitative, case study comparison and draws on information derived from semi-structured interviews, document analysis, participant observation and participatory focus groups conducted during eleven months of fieldwork. In terms of comparison, this thesis makes use of a variation-finding approach. By explaining variations between the cases through focusing on the unique processes and factors that shaped the translation of indigenous rights within each city, it intends to offer a more nuanced and context-responsive approach for studying urban indigeneity and addressing indigenous rights in cities. A central finding of this thesis is that the incorporation of indigeneity into urban policies and indigenous people’s own practices to fulfil their specific demands were characterised by a set of conflicting realities: First, for government officials the translation of indigenous rights into urban policies sometimes clashed with other priorities – such as addressing universal rights and interests of non-indigenous pressure groups – or with their own views of the city as a ‘white’, ‘western’, and ‘modern’ places. Second, urban indigenous peoples articulated multiple and contradictory identities. They mainly did this by voicing specific demands for land – an important asset which they associated with the preservation of a communal and traditional lifestyle but also with aspirations to lead a modern and capitalist life in the city. Third, the findings reveal that indigenous peoples – particularly their community leaders – had to enter in negotiations with governments to access different assets such as land, housing, or education. In these processes leaders manoeuvred between different worlds. They had to conform to political agendas and – particularly in the case of Bolivia – to official spatialized understandings of identity and rights which often conflicted with their own sense of being indigenous in the city.

Global economic integration and urbanisation are two of the main processes which characterise contemporary globalisation. Urbanisation is so pervasive that urban landscapes now stretch far beyond the traditional city limits such that the city may no longer be the most appropriate unit to reflect how contemporary urban life is organised. Today, city-regions even mega city-regions are considered by some to be the primary spatial scale at which competing political and economic agendas are convened. Moreover, proponents of the new regionalism believe that decentralisation of state power is producing new forms of political economic regulation at supranational and subnational levels which are more appropriate for effective governance. However, it is argued that the geoeconomic logic for city-regionalism is focused too narrowly on the functional economic side of regional development, thereby overlooking how city-regions represent geopolitical constructions both of, and inside, the state. This thesis therefore aims to explore the constitutive role of politics in the construction of mega city-regions. The starting point is to complement North Atlantic accounts of city-regionalism by focusing on the geopolitics of city-regionalism in China. Using the Yangtze River Delta mega city-region as its case study, this thesis stresses that theories of new city-regionalism must increasingly be derived from, rather than applied to, the Chinese case. It is revealed how the unprecedented rate of city expansion, scale of urbanisation, and context of a highly centralised, one-party state, produces a distinctly Chinese city-regionalism that requires a combination of new conceptualisation, alongside refinement and modification of existing theories on mega city-regions.