Philip Lawton
Biographic Data
| ID | 1448200 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Philip Lawton |
| GIVEN NAMES | Philip |
| FAMILY NAME | Lawton |
| SIGNATURE | LAWTON P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Trinity College Dublin |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4833-4520 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 181 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Genealogies of revanchism
Shifting Ideals of the Liveable City
A ‘gray area’? Neighborhood decline and reclamation in 1950s and 1960s U.S. urban discourse and legislation
With a focus on the period between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, this paper analyses the use of the term gray areas as a descriptor for older neighborhoods in U.S. cities. First, the paper examines how the term gray areas was used in urban debates of the time. It is argued that the term reinforced assumptions of "blight" as a mobile force linked to inevitable decline. Furthermore, in following from stage theories of change, the term gray areas was…
Regions in a time of pandemic
This paper contributes to the current debate in the field of critical urban and regional studies on the meanings of the "regional" and the "urban".From a political science perspective, we focus on the European case.Firstly, we argue that the conception of the regional scale is not the same in various languages and traditions.Regions in Europe carry meanings and connotations that are not always easy to translate without losing their specific histo…
Tracing the Provenance of Urbanist Ideals
In this essay, I undertake a critical analysis of the UN-Habitat publication, The Quito Papers. I begin by unpacking the representation within The Quito Papers of the Charter of Athens of 1941 as an outcome of CIAM IV in 1933. Here, the ways in which the authors centralize the Charter of Athens within their critique of contemporary urbanization is critically analysed. Ultimately, I argue that what emerges is a simplification of the complex intert…
Urban Entrepreneurial Governance
Almost three decades since the inception of the term “urban entrepreneurial governance,” this entry traces its shifting role since its inception, to the ways in which it has become increasingly embedded within cities on a global scale. This is demonstrated through an overview of the overlaps between different entrepreneurial strategies, including, for example, the creative class, real estate interests, and the promotion of place‐making strategies…
Social space and social processes
Image circulation, development hoardings and new strategies of urban change
With an increasingly financialized real estate industry now becoming manifest on a global scale, there has also emerged an ever-increasing tendency for the circulation of images used in its promotion, including lifestyle magazines, on-line adverts and on-street hoardings. In drawing upon Dublin as a case study, and with a particular focus upon stylized hoardings surrounding new urban developments, this paper analyses the relationship between the …
Unbounding gentrification theory
This paper argues for an unbounding of approaches within gentrification theory with a renewed and broadened focus on the intertwined dynamics of uneven development and socio-spatial formation. This is carried out through a critical engagement with recent debates within gentrification theory along with concurrent debates over suburbanization, vertical urbanization, networked urbanism and relational approaches in the analysis of urban social space.…
Rethinking regions in turbulent times
We live in turbulent times, but when has this not been the case? The history of regions and the ‘regional studies project’ has always had at its core concerns relating to new and increased social and spatial inequalities resulting from economic and political change. Whatever change has occurred to cause this turbulence, some people and places have taken advantage and raced ahead, while others were disadvantaged and left behind. The difference tod…
Natura Urbana
Lawton et al. 2019, Natura Urbana, AAG Review of Books, 3(7), p. 214-227
Situating revanchism in the contemporary city
Uneven development, suburban futures and the urban region
This paper seeks to situate narratives of sustainable urban development within the wider context of political economic urban transformations shaping urban city regions. In drawing upon the development of a master-planned sustainable development called Adamstown, situated on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, the paper will unpack the relationship between ideals of urban and suburban sustainability within the context of Ireland’s recent economic bo…
Culture, capital and the big screen
This paper undertakes an analysis of the shifting dynamics of gentrification through the lens of the films of Woody Allen. With his focus upon the spaces of residence and high-end consumption for the upper and middle classes, the paper argues that Allen’s films can be used as a lens to examine the changing dynamics of gentrification in contemporary (Western) cities from something deemed almost novel in the 1970s, to a dominant approach to urban t…
Temporary solutions? Vacant space policy and strategies for re-use in Dublin
In the context of the ongoing economic crisis and the associated slow-down in the commercial property sector, urban policies that seek to encourage ‘temporary uses’ have grown in popularity internationally. Such strategies have been streamlined with pre-existing ‘creative city’ agendas. The post-crisis scenario in Dublin has seen an increased engagement at the official level with these strategies, which have also been positively represented withi…
Urban Governance and the ‘ E uropean City’
Throughout recent decades, a significant amount of attention has been given to the notion of the ‘ E uropean city’ within policy formation and academic enquiry. From one perspective, the ideal of the ‘ E uropean city’ is presented as a densely developed urban area with a focus on quality public transport and a more balanced social structure. More recently, however, the particular elements of the ‘ E uropean city’ associated with pedestrianized pu…
The creation and circulation of public geographies
In response to the commentaries, we discuss further how social media disrupts and remakes the creation and circulation of geographical knowledges and potentially reconfigures the moral economy of the social sciences. In particular, we examine questions of what is meant by public geography, the publics which such geographies serve, alternative and complementary approaches to social media, the politics of authorship within collective blogs, the pol…
Public geographies through social media
In this paper, we argue that new social media produces new forms of public geography and digital praxis in which the relationship between reader and writer is radically altered and which enables geographers to engage in timely conversation and debate with the public on unfolding issues, and provides new avenues to connect with older forms of broadcast media. Social media can strengthen geographers engagement with the existing fourth estate and fo…
Residential preferences of the ‘creative class’
Mobile policies and shifting contexts
In the past decade international competitiveness has become the top priority of national, regional and urban governments in the advanced capitalist economy. Attracting and retaining creative and high‐educated talent as well as creative and knowledge‐intensive firms are considered essential ingredients of urban and city‐regional ‘recipes for success’. A msterdam and D ublin have, at both city‐ and city‐regional level, been very active in preparing…
The Role of Public Space in Urban Renewal Strategies in Rotterdam and Dublin
Urban entrepreneurialism has been well investigated, but few publications focus directly upon the role of urban public space in renewal strategies associated with such. Although generally acknowledged as important, public space is often seen as supportive rather than a driving force of urban redevelopment. We compare two cases, Rotterdam and Dublin, in which, in contrast, public space was regarded as essential to urban renewal. We show how munici…
Examining the role of 'creative class' ideas in urban and economic policy formation
Throughout the last decade the 'creative class' thesis has received significant attention within academic and policymaking circles. This paper analyses the role of the 'creative class' thesis within recent urban and economic policy formation in Dublin. In methodological terms, the study uses in-depth analysis of recent policy documents which is supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders involved in the formulation and implementation of poli…
Regions in a time of pandemic
This paper contributes to the current debate in the field of critical urban and regional studies on the meanings of the "regional" and the "urban".From a political science perspective, we focus on the European case.Firstly, we argue that the conception of the regional scale is not the same in various languages and traditions.Regions in Europe carry meanings and connotations that are not always easy to translate without losing their specific histo…
Public geographies through social media
In this paper, we argue that new social media produces new forms of public geography and digital praxis in which the relationship between reader and writer is radically altered and which enables geographers to engage in timely conversation and debate with the public on unfolding issues, and provides new avenues to connect with older forms of broadcast media. Social media can strengthen geographers engagement with the existing fourth estate and fo…
Residential preferences of the ‘creative class’
Unbounding gentrification theory
This paper argues for an unbounding of approaches within gentrification theory with a renewed and broadened focus on the intertwined dynamics of uneven development and socio-spatial formation. This is carried out through a critical engagement with recent debates within gentrification theory along with concurrent debates over suburbanization, vertical urbanization, networked urbanism and relational approaches in the analysis of urban social space.…
Situating revanchism in the contemporary city
Rethinking regions in turbulent times
We live in turbulent times, but when has this not been the case? The history of regions and the ‘regional studies project’ has always had at its core concerns relating to new and increased social and spatial inequalities resulting from economic and political change. Whatever change has occurred to cause this turbulence, some people and places have taken advantage and raced ahead, while others were disadvantaged and left behind. The difference tod…
Urban Governance and the ‘ E uropean City’
Throughout recent decades, a significant amount of attention has been given to the notion of the ‘ E uropean city’ within policy formation and academic enquiry. From one perspective, the ideal of the ‘ E uropean city’ is presented as a densely developed urban area with a focus on quality public transport and a more balanced social structure. More recently, however, the particular elements of the ‘ E uropean city’ associated with pedestrianized pu…
Natura Urbana
Lawton et al. 2019, Natura Urbana, AAG Review of Books, 3(7), p. 214-227
Tracing the Provenance of Urbanist Ideals
In this essay, I undertake a critical analysis of the UN-Habitat publication, The Quito Papers. I begin by unpacking the representation within The Quito Papers of the Charter of Athens of 1941 as an outcome of CIAM IV in 1933. Here, the ways in which the authors centralize the Charter of Athens within their critique of contemporary urbanization is critically analysed. Ultimately, I argue that what emerges is a simplification of the complex intert…
Uneven development, suburban futures and the urban region
This paper seeks to situate narratives of sustainable urban development within the wider context of political economic urban transformations shaping urban city regions. In drawing upon the development of a master-planned sustainable development called Adamstown, situated on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, the paper will unpack the relationship between ideals of urban and suburban sustainability within the context of Ireland’s recent economic bo…
The creation and circulation of public geographies
In response to the commentaries, we discuss further how social media disrupts and remakes the creation and circulation of geographical knowledges and potentially reconfigures the moral economy of the social sciences. In particular, we examine questions of what is meant by public geography, the publics which such geographies serve, alternative and complementary approaches to social media, the politics of authorship within collective blogs, the pol…
Mobile policies and shifting contexts
In the past decade international competitiveness has become the top priority of national, regional and urban governments in the advanced capitalist economy. Attracting and retaining creative and high‐educated talent as well as creative and knowledge‐intensive firms are considered essential ingredients of urban and city‐regional ‘recipes for success’. A msterdam and D ublin have, at both city‐ and city‐regional level, been very active in preparing…
Culture, capital and the big screen
This paper undertakes an analysis of the shifting dynamics of gentrification through the lens of the films of Woody Allen. With his focus upon the spaces of residence and high-end consumption for the upper and middle classes, the paper argues that Allen’s films can be used as a lens to examine the changing dynamics of gentrification in contemporary (Western) cities from something deemed almost novel in the 1970s, to a dominant approach to urban t…
Examining the role of 'creative class' ideas in urban and economic policy formation
Throughout the last decade the 'creative class' thesis has received significant attention within academic and policymaking circles. This paper analyses the role of the 'creative class' thesis within recent urban and economic policy formation in Dublin. In methodological terms, the study uses in-depth analysis of recent policy documents which is supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders involved in the formulation and implementation of poli…
The Role of Public Space in Urban Renewal Strategies in Rotterdam and Dublin
Urban entrepreneurialism has been well investigated, but few publications focus directly upon the role of urban public space in renewal strategies associated with such. Although generally acknowledged as important, public space is often seen as supportive rather than a driving force of urban redevelopment. We compare two cases, Rotterdam and Dublin, in which, in contrast, public space was regarded as essential to urban renewal. We show how munici…
The creation and circulation of public geographies
In response to the commentaries, we discuss further how social media disrupts and remakes the creation and circulation of geographical knowledges and potentially reconfigures the moral economy of the social sciences. In particular, we examine questions of what is meant by public geography, the publics which such geographies serve, alternative and complementary approaches to social media, the politics of authorship within collective blogs, the pol…
Public geographies through social media
In this paper, we argue that new social media produces new forms of public geography and digital praxis in which the relationship between reader and writer is radically altered and which enables geographers to engage in timely conversation and debate with the public on unfolding issues, and provides new avenues to connect with older forms of broadcast media. Social media can strengthen geographers engagement with the existing fourth estate and fo…
Residential preferences of the ‘creative class’
Mobile policies and shifting contexts
In the past decade international competitiveness has become the top priority of national, regional and urban governments in the advanced capitalist economy. Attracting and retaining creative and high‐educated talent as well as creative and knowledge‐intensive firms are considered essential ingredients of urban and city‐regional ‘recipes for success’. A msterdam and D ublin have, at both city‐ and city‐regional level, been very active in preparing…
Urban Governance and the ‘ E uropean City’
Throughout recent decades, a significant amount of attention has been given to the notion of the ‘ E uropean city’ within policy formation and academic enquiry. From one perspective, the ideal of the ‘ E uropean city’ is presented as a densely developed urban area with a focus on quality public transport and a more balanced social structure. More recently, however, the particular elements of the ‘ E uropean city’ associated with pedestrianized pu…
Temporary solutions? Vacant space policy and strategies for re-use in Dublin
In the context of the ongoing economic crisis and the associated slow-down in the commercial property sector, urban policies that seek to encourage ‘temporary uses’ have grown in popularity internationally. Such strategies have been streamlined with pre-existing ‘creative city’ agendas. The post-crisis scenario in Dublin has seen an increased engagement at the official level with these strategies, which have also been positively represented withi…
Uneven development, suburban futures and the urban region
This paper seeks to situate narratives of sustainable urban development within the wider context of political economic urban transformations shaping urban city regions. In drawing upon the development of a master-planned sustainable development called Adamstown, situated on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, the paper will unpack the relationship between ideals of urban and suburban sustainability within the context of Ireland’s recent economic bo…
Culture, capital and the big screen
This paper undertakes an analysis of the shifting dynamics of gentrification through the lens of the films of Woody Allen. With his focus upon the spaces of residence and high-end consumption for the upper and middle classes, the paper argues that Allen’s films can be used as a lens to examine the changing dynamics of gentrification in contemporary (Western) cities from something deemed almost novel in the 1970s, to a dominant approach to urban t…
Situating revanchism in the contemporary city
Urban Entrepreneurial Governance
Almost three decades since the inception of the term “urban entrepreneurial governance,” this entry traces its shifting role since its inception, to the ways in which it has become increasingly embedded within cities on a global scale. This is demonstrated through an overview of the overlaps between different entrepreneurial strategies, including, for example, the creative class, real estate interests, and the promotion of place‐making strategies…
Social space and social processes
Image circulation, development hoardings and new strategies of urban change
With an increasingly financialized real estate industry now becoming manifest on a global scale, there has also emerged an ever-increasing tendency for the circulation of images used in its promotion, including lifestyle magazines, on-line adverts and on-street hoardings. In drawing upon Dublin as a case study, and with a particular focus upon stylized hoardings surrounding new urban developments, this paper analyses the relationship between the …
Unbounding gentrification theory
This paper argues for an unbounding of approaches within gentrification theory with a renewed and broadened focus on the intertwined dynamics of uneven development and socio-spatial formation. This is carried out through a critical engagement with recent debates within gentrification theory along with concurrent debates over suburbanization, vertical urbanization, networked urbanism and relational approaches in the analysis of urban social space.…
Rethinking regions in turbulent times
We live in turbulent times, but when has this not been the case? The history of regions and the ‘regional studies project’ has always had at its core concerns relating to new and increased social and spatial inequalities resulting from economic and political change. Whatever change has occurred to cause this turbulence, some people and places have taken advantage and raced ahead, while others were disadvantaged and left behind. The difference tod…
Natura Urbana
Lawton et al. 2019, Natura Urbana, AAG Review of Books, 3(7), p. 214-227
Regions in a time of pandemic
This paper contributes to the current debate in the field of critical urban and regional studies on the meanings of the "regional" and the "urban".From a political science perspective, we focus on the European case.Firstly, we argue that the conception of the regional scale is not the same in various languages and traditions.Regions in Europe carry meanings and connotations that are not always easy to translate without losing their specific histo…
Tracing the Provenance of Urbanist Ideals
In this essay, I undertake a critical analysis of the UN-Habitat publication, The Quito Papers. I begin by unpacking the representation within The Quito Papers of the Charter of Athens of 1941 as an outcome of CIAM IV in 1933. Here, the ways in which the authors centralize the Charter of Athens within their critique of contemporary urbanization is critically analysed. Ultimately, I argue that what emerges is a simplification of the complex intert…
A ‘gray area’? Neighborhood decline and reclamation in 1950s and 1960s U.S. urban discourse and legislation
With a focus on the period between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, this paper analyses the use of the term gray areas as a descriptor for older neighborhoods in U.S. cities. First, the paper examines how the term gray areas was used in urban debates of the time. It is argued that the term reinforced assumptions of "blight" as a mobile force linked to inevitable decline. Furthermore, in following from stage theories of change, the term gray areas was…
Shifting Ideals of the Liveable City
Genealogies of revanchism
Sociology (15 works) · Political science (14 works) · Geography (13 works) · Urban Planning and Governance (13 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (12 works) · Economics (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Economic geography (8 works) · Civil engineering (7 works) · Computer Science (7 works)