IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v55y2018i2p263-273.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agglomeration and assemblage: Deterritorialising urban theory

Author

Listed:
  • Kim Dovey

    (Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Australia)

  • Fujie Rao

    (University of Melbourne, Australia)

  • Elek Pafka

    (University of Melbourne, Australia)

Abstract

In two recent papers Storper and Scott have sought to counter the rise of assemblage thinking in urban studies, suggesting it is indeterminate, jargon-ridden and particularist – that it lacks a critique of power. Against such approaches they propose the ‘nature of cities’ as an ‘urban land nexus’ driven by the economics of agglomeration. In this paper we respond, largely agreeing on jargon yet arguing that assemblage is a form of critical urban thinking that holds potential for a general but open theory of urbanity. We also suggest that many parts of Scott and Storper’s own work are entirely compatible with assemblage thinking, including concepts such as urban ‘bundling’ and ‘buzz’. Agglomeration theory explains why cities emerge and grow where they do but is weak on issues of scale and morphology. Assemblage thinking embodies capacities to expand urban studies through a better engagement with multi-scale relations, gearing the economics of agglomeration to the study of urban morphology; understanding cities in terms of their possible futures as well as actual conditions. We call for more open and productive interfaces between research disciplines and approaches – a deterritorialisation of urban theory. The choice is not between agglomeration and assemblage, it is between the singular and the multiple.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim Dovey & Fujie Rao & Elek Pafka, 2018. "Agglomeration and assemblage: Deterritorialising urban theory," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(2), pages 263-273, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:55:y:2018:i:2:p:263-273
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098017711650
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098017711650
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098017711650?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pablo Sendra, 2015. "Rethinking urban public space," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(6), pages 820-836, December.
    2. Michael Storper & Michael Manville, 2006. "Behaviour, Preferences and Cities: Urban Theory and Urban Resurgence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(8), pages 1247-1274, July.
    3. Neil Brenner & David J. Madden & David Wachsmuth, 2011. "Assemblage urbanism and the challenges of critical urban theory," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 225-240, April.
    4. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    5. Allen J. Scott & Michael Storper, 2015. "The Nature of Cities: The Scope and Limits of Urban Theory," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Michael Storper & Allen J Scott, 2016. "Current debates in urban theory: A critical assessment," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(6), pages 1114-1136, May.
    7. AbdouMaliq Simone, 2011. "The surfacing of urban life," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3-4), pages 355-364, August.
    8. Katharine N. Rankin, 2011. "Assemblage and the politics of thick description," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 563-569, October.
    9. Ann Markusen, 1996. "Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 293-313, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mojgan Taheri Tafti, 2020. "Assembling street vending," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(9), pages 1887-1902, July.
    2. Kevin Ward & Timothy Bunnell, 2021. "Reflections on five years of the Summer Institute in Urban Studies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 863-878, March.
    3. Christof Parnreiter, 2022. "The Janus-faced genius of cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(7), pages 1315-1333, May.
    4. Mary Lawhon & Yaffa Truelove, 2020. "Disambiguating the southern urban critique: Propositions, pathways and possibilities for a more global urban studies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(1), pages 3-20, January.
    5. Cary Wu & Rima Wilkes & Daniel Silver & Terry Nichols Clark, 2019. "Current debates in urban theory from a scale perspective: Introducing a scenes approach," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(8), pages 1487-1497, June.
    6. Chihsin Chiu, 2020. "Theorizing Public Participation and Local Governance in Urban Resilience: Reflections on the “Provincializing Urban Political Ecology” Thesis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Maryann Feldman & Frederick Guy & Simona Iammarino, 2021. "Regional income disparities, monopoly and finance," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(1), pages 25-49.
    8. Filippo Randelli & Mauro Lombardi, 2014. "The Role of Leading Firms in the Evolution of SME Clusters: Evidence from the Leather Products Cluster in Florence," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 1199-1211, June.
    9. Aydogan, Neslihan & Lyon, Thomas P., 2004. "Spatial proximity and complementarities in the trading of tacit knowledge," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1115-1135, November.
    10. Huan Zhang & Adam Grydehøj, 2021. "Locating the interstitial island: Integration of Zhoushan Archipelago into the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(10), pages 2157-2173, August.
    11. Richard Harris, 2011. "Models Of Regional Growth: Past, Present And Future," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 913-951, December.
    12. Filippo Barbera & Sara Fassero, 2013. "The place-based nature of technological innovation: the case of Sophia Antipolis," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 216-234, June.
    13. Gary A.S. Cook & Hans Lööf & Naresh R. Pandit & Börje Johansson, 2012. "The influence of clustering on MNE location and innovation in Great Britain," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Börje Johansson & Roger R. Stough (ed.), Entrepreneurship, Social Capital and Governance, chapter 3, pages 53-82, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Lauren Rickards & Brendan Gleeson & Mark Boyle & Cian O’Callaghan, 2016. "Urban studies after the age of the city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(8), pages 1523-1541, June.
    15. Michael Storper & Allen J Scott, 2016. "Current debates in urban theory: A critical assessment," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(6), pages 1114-1136, May.
    16. Nancy Odendaal, 2021. "Everyday urbanisms and the importance of place: Exploring the elements of the emancipatory smart city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 639-654, February.
    17. Figueiredo, Octávio & Guimarães, Paulo & Woodward, Douglas, 2010. "Vertical disintegration in Marshallian industrial districts," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 73-78, January.
    18. Michael Hoyler & John Harrison, 2017. "Global cities research and urban theory making," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(12), pages 2853-2858, December.
    19. Keith Harris, 2014. "For creative appropriation: John Protevi's Life, War, Earth and urban studies," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4-5), pages 594-597, October.
    20. Tomàs Fernández-de-Sevilla & Armando J Dalla Costa, 2017. "The formation and take-off of the Sao Paulo automobile-industry cluster," Working Papers 17014, Economic History Society.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:55:y:2018:i:2:p:263-273. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.