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Working the urban assemblage: A transnational study of transforming practices

Author

Listed:
  • Catherine Durose

    (University of Birmingham, UK)

  • Mark van Ostaijen

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Merlijn van Hulst

    (Tilburg University, The Netherlands)

  • Oliver Escobar

    (University of Edinburgh, UK)

  • Annika Agger

    (Roskilde University, Denmark)

Abstract

This article places those working for change in urban neighbourhoods at the centre of debates on urban transformation, directing attention to the importance of human agency in the work of assembling urban transformation. Drawing on cross-national qualitative fieldwork undertaken over 30 months shadowing 40 urban practitioners in neighbourhoods across four European cities – Amsterdam, Birmingham, Copenhagen and Glasgow – our research revealed the catalytic, embodied roles of situated agents in this assembling. Through exemplar vignettes, we present practices in a diverse range of socio-material assemblages aimed to address complex problems and unmet needs in the urban environment. The practices we studied were not those of daily routines, but were instead a purposeful assembling that included nurturing and developing of heterogeneous resources such as relationships, knowledges and materials, framed through an emerging vision to inform, mobilise and channel action. This article brings together assemblage-theoretical and practice-theoretical ideas, with rich empirical insight to advance our understanding of how the city may be re-made.

Suggested Citation

  • Catherine Durose & Mark van Ostaijen & Merlijn van Hulst & Oliver Escobar & Annika Agger, 2022. "Working the urban assemblage: A transnational study of transforming practices," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(10), pages 2129-2146, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:59:y:2022:i:10:p:2129-2146
    DOI: 10.1177/00420980211031431
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