How material objects become urban things

Bibliographic Data

ID8067122
AuthorsLaura Lieto (0000-0002-3809-0289, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume21
Issue5
Pages568-579
Publication date2017-09-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-4813 • E-ISSN: 1470-3629
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13604813.2017.1374782
OpenAlexW2769135722
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited39

The purpose of this paper is to outline the qualities that objects must have to be suitable for urban theory; that is, for enabling urban theorists to better understand urban practices as socio-material entanglements. In doing so, I stress the importance of normative visions of the city that call for the critical import of assemblage and new materialism into a field that is constitutively concerned with values and differences. Objects are characterised as material relational entities and a series of concrete examples offer cues regarding ‘urban’ objects, enabling us to better understand urban practices as socio-material entanglements. The main claim is that urban theorists need to distinguish among objects in order to maintain their normative grip over the real world. They must resist radical ontological flatness and distinguish between objects that are capable of raising broader political concerns and others that are not

Aesthetics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Materialism · Materiality (auditing · Normative · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Vision · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Public Spaces through Art · Urban Planning and Governance

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