Illuminating urban street (u)topias

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5717073
AutoresLesley Murray (0000-0001-7563-3695, University of Brighton, autor de correspondencia), Susan Robertson (0000-0001-5129-2216, University of Brighton)
Año2020
Volumen15
Número1
Páginas39-53
Fecha de publicación2020-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMobilities (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1745-0101 • E-ISSN: 1745-011X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17450101.2019.1678906
OpenAlexW2967302720
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas23

A utopian vision of the city is often bright, well-lit, and conversely darkness and night are more often associated with dystopia. This paper uses an ethnographic study of night-time in a busy street space in the middle of a south coast UK city in order to demonstrate the application of ‘utopia as method’, or rather utopia as a mobile method in understanding justice and injustice in urban space. In doing so, we suggest the possibilities of urban mobile space, arguing that ‘utopia as method’ originates in Lefebvre’s (1991) work on the possibilities that arise from the seemingly impossible imaginings of urban transformation. We use what are considered to be distinct approaches to photography: ‘ethnographic’ and ‘expressive’ in demonstrating this. Photography tells a story of the lighting of the space in illuminating the street in particular ways and making visible aspects that otherwise may go unnoticed. We draw from the boundaries, of photography (and therefore light), of method, and of urban space, looking to the ‘territorial edges’ for Lefebvre’s possibilities

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Dystopia · Ethnography · Geography · Literature · Media studies · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Night-time city culture · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability