Papers by Christian Schmid
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2020
This article introduces the concept of popular urbanization to describe a specific urbanization p... more This article introduces the concept of popular urbanization to describe a specific urbanization process based on collective initiatives, self-organization and the activities of inhabitants. We understand popular urbanization as an urban strategy through which an urban territory is produced, transformed and appropriated by the people. This concept results from a theoretically guided and empirically grounded comparison of Mexico City, Istanbul and Lagos. Based on postcolonial critiques of urban theory and on the epistemologies of planetary urbanization, we bring urbanization processes in these urban regions into conversation with each other through a multidimensional theoretical framework inspired by Henri Lefebvre focusing on material interaction, territorial regulation, and everyday experience. In this way, popular urbanization emerged as a distinct urbanization process, which we identified in all three contexts. While this process is often subsumed under the broader concept of ‘urban informality’, we suggest that it may be helpful to distinguish popular urbanization as primarily led by the people, while commodification and state agencies play minor roles. As popular urbanization unfolds in diverse ways dependent upon the wider urban context, specific political constellations and actions, it results in a variety of spatial outcomes and temporal trajectories. This is therefore a revisable and open concept. In proposing the concept of popular urbanization for further examination, we seek to contribute to the collective development of a decentered vocabulary of urbanization.
This paper looks at the process of incorporation of distinct socio-spatial qualities in three nei... more This paper looks at the process of incorporation of distinct socio-spatial qualities in three neighborhoods of Tokyo to retheorize the concept of 'differences'. Lefebvre's idea of recuperation and Raymond Williams' interpretation of incorporation serve as a basis to develop a conceptual framework to analyze this process beyond existing concepts of gentrification and urban renewal.
Central as well as peripheral urban areas are undergoing drastic transformation: residential patterns are changing, commercial areas are expanding and the force of gravity of the central urban areas is reaching over the territory. In cities like Tokyo, Mexico City, and Los Angeles this has led to an urban restructuring and reinterpretation of neighborhoods which has produced an alienation and incorporation of existing livelihoods and practices into an imposed and commodified perception of urban space. Constrained by concepts of neighborhood transformation or singular case studies present studies have not been able to capture these processes in Tokyo.
In this paper I developed a new conceptual approach in order to adequately describe and situate these contemporary transformation processes within the larger urban context and existing socio-economic and political dynamics. In so doing I propose the concept of 'incorporation of urban differences' that allows to capture the analyzed process of transformation across different contexts, different historical trajectories, and their relation to centralities. Incorporation of urban differences emerges from a coherent understanding of urbanization processes within a certain region and around the world, resulting from a comparative research framework within which this study is placed.
Chapters in Edited Volumes by Christian Schmid
Yearbook of D-ARCH ETH Zürich, 2014
Planetary urbanization by Christian Schmid
resumen | Las observaciones premonitorias sobre las tendencias urbanas del mundo contemporáneo tr... more resumen | Las observaciones premonitorias sobre las tendencias urbanas del mundo contemporáneo traspasan el discurso académico, político y periodístico de principios del siglo xxi. Entre las más citadas se encuentra la afirmación según la cual vivimos hoy una " era urbana " , ya que, por primera vez en la historia de la humanidad, supuesta-mente más de la mitad de población mundial actual vive en ciudades. En otros contex-tos discursivos, ideológicos y geográficos, la tesis de la era urbana se ha convertido en una forma de sentido común, doxa alrededor de la cual se articulan preguntas relativas a la condición urbana global contemporánea. En este artículo se sostiene que, a pesar de su larga historia e influencia cada vez más extendida, la tesis de la era urbana es una base errónea para conceptualizar patrones de urbanización mundial: es empíricamente insostenible (un artefacto estadístico) y teóricamente incoherente (una concepción caótica). Esta crítica se enmarca en el contexto de los intentos de posguerra de medir la población urbana del mundo, cuyas principales interrogantes metodológicas y teóricas han permanecido sin resolver en el discurso de la era urbana de principios del siglo xxi. En sus conclusiones, este artículo apunta una serie de perspectivas metodológicas para una comprensión alternativa de la condición urbana global contemporánea. palabras clave | era urbana, Kingsley Davis, población urbana, transición urbana, urbanización planetaria.
La tesi secondo cui vivremmo oggi in un'epoca urbana è divenuta una verità di senso comune. Quest... more La tesi secondo cui vivremmo oggi in un'epoca urbana è divenuta una verità di senso comune. Questo articolo sostiene invece che tale idea sia una base fallace per concettualizzare gli attuali modelli di urbanizzazione del mondo: è empiricamente insostenibile e incoerente teoreticamente. Dopo aver svolto una critica al rompicapo della misurazione della popolazione urbana nel mondo, l'articolo delinea una serie di prospettive metodologiche per una comprensione alternativa della condizione urbana globale contemporanea.
New forms of urbanization are unfolding around the world that challenge inherited conceptions of ... more New forms of urbanization are unfolding around the world that challenge inherited conceptions of the urban as a fixed, bounded and universally generalizable settlement type. Meanwhile, debates on the urban question continue to proliferate and intensify within the social sciences, the planning and design disciplines, and in everyday political struggles. Against this background, this paper revisits the question of the epistemology of the urban: through what categories, methods and cartographies should urban life be understood? After surveying some of the major contemporary mainstream and critical responses to this question, we argue for a radical rethinking of inherited epistemological assumptions regarding the urban and urbanization. Building upon reflexive approaches to critical social theory and our own ongoing research on planetary urbanization, we present a new epistemology of the urban in a series of seven theses. This epistemological framework is intended to clarify the intellectual and political stakes of contemporary debates on the urban question and to offer an analytical basis for deciphering the rapidly changing geographies of urbanization and urban struggle under early 21st-century capitalism. Our arguments are intended to ignite and advance further debate on the epistemological foundations for critical urban theory and practice today.
Journal Papers by Christian Schmid
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2020
This article introduces the concept of popular urbanization to describe a specific urbanization p... more This article introduces the concept of popular urbanization to describe a specific urbanization process based on collective initiatives, self-organization and the activities of inhabitants. We understand popular urbanization as an urban strategy through which an urban territory is produced, transformed and appropriated by the people. This concept results from a theoretically guided and empirically grounded comparison of Mexico City, Istanbul and Lagos. Based on postcolonial critiques of urban theory and on the epistemologies of planetary urbanization, we bring urbanization processes in these urban regions into conversation with each other through a multidimensional theoretical framework inspired by Henri Lefebvre focusing on material interaction, territorial regulation, and everyday experience. In this way, popular urbanization emerged as a distinct urbanization process, which we identified in all three contexts. While this process is often subsumed under the broader concept of ?urban informality?, we suggest that it may be helpful to distinguish popular urbanization as primarily led by the people, while commodification and state agencies play minor roles. As popular urbanization unfolds in diverse ways dependent upon the wider urban context, specific political constellations and actions, it results in a variety of spatial outcomes and temporal trajectories. This is therefore a revisable and open concept. In proposing the concept of popular urbanization for further examination, we seek to contribute to the collective development of a decentered vocabulary of urbanization.
Antipode, 2020
Abstract With this paper, we analyse an ordinary urban process, which has received little attenti... more Abstract With this paper, we analyse an ordinary urban process, which has received little attention so far, and propose a new concept to take account of it: plotting urbanism. It is usually subsumed under terms like "urban informality" or "incremental urbanism" and not studied as a distinct process. In comparing Lagos, Istanbul and Shenzhen we captured four defining features of plotting urbanism: first, it unfolds in a piecemeal fashion with limited comprehensive planning. Second, it emerges from specific territorial compromises often resulting from conflicts between overlapping modes of territorial regulation, land tenure and property rights. Third, plotting is based on commodification of housing and land, which might accentuate socio-economic differentiations between property-owners, who often live in the same area, and their tenants. The term "plotting" highlights the key role of the plot in the process. It also alludes to strategic acts of collaboration for individual and collective benefit.
Books by Christian Schmid
The speed, scale and scope of urbanisation have increased dramatically in recent decades. To deci... more The speed, scale and scope of urbanisation have increased dramatically in recent decades. To decipher the rapidly changing urban territories across the planet, we need a radical shift in the analytical perspective on urbanisation.
In this book, a transdisciplinary international research team presents an expanded vocabulary of urbanisation processes through a comparison of Tokyo, Hong Kong – Shenzhen – Dongguan, Kolkata, Istanbul, Lagos, Paris, Mexico City and Los Angeles.
Based on a novel cartography and on detailed ethnographic and historical explorations, this book systematically analyses the diversity of responses to urgent contemporary urban challenges. It proposes a series of new concepts that allow us to assess the practical consequences of different urban strategies in everyday life.
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Papers by Christian Schmid
"Zwischen Zentrum und Peripherie".
https://www.bauwelt.de/rubriken/betrifft/Die-Urbanisierung-des-Vesuv-3429486.html
Central as well as peripheral urban areas are undergoing drastic transformation: residential patterns are changing, commercial areas are expanding and the force of gravity of the central urban areas is reaching over the territory. In cities like Tokyo, Mexico City, and Los Angeles this has led to an urban restructuring and reinterpretation of neighborhoods which has produced an alienation and incorporation of existing livelihoods and practices into an imposed and commodified perception of urban space. Constrained by concepts of neighborhood transformation or singular case studies present studies have not been able to capture these processes in Tokyo.
In this paper I developed a new conceptual approach in order to adequately describe and situate these contemporary transformation processes within the larger urban context and existing socio-economic and political dynamics. In so doing I propose the concept of 'incorporation of urban differences' that allows to capture the analyzed process of transformation across different contexts, different historical trajectories, and their relation to centralities. Incorporation of urban differences emerges from a coherent understanding of urbanization processes within a certain region and around the world, resulting from a comparative research framework within which this study is placed.
Chapters in Edited Volumes by Christian Schmid
Planetary urbanization by Christian Schmid
Journal Papers by Christian Schmid
Books by Christian Schmid
In this book, a transdisciplinary international research team presents an expanded vocabulary of urbanisation processes through a comparison of Tokyo, Hong Kong – Shenzhen – Dongguan, Kolkata, Istanbul, Lagos, Paris, Mexico City and Los Angeles.
Based on a novel cartography and on detailed ethnographic and historical explorations, this book systematically analyses the diversity of responses to urgent contemporary urban challenges. It proposes a series of new concepts that allow us to assess the practical consequences of different urban strategies in everyday life.
"Zwischen Zentrum und Peripherie".
https://www.bauwelt.de/rubriken/betrifft/Die-Urbanisierung-des-Vesuv-3429486.html
Central as well as peripheral urban areas are undergoing drastic transformation: residential patterns are changing, commercial areas are expanding and the force of gravity of the central urban areas is reaching over the territory. In cities like Tokyo, Mexico City, and Los Angeles this has led to an urban restructuring and reinterpretation of neighborhoods which has produced an alienation and incorporation of existing livelihoods and practices into an imposed and commodified perception of urban space. Constrained by concepts of neighborhood transformation or singular case studies present studies have not been able to capture these processes in Tokyo.
In this paper I developed a new conceptual approach in order to adequately describe and situate these contemporary transformation processes within the larger urban context and existing socio-economic and political dynamics. In so doing I propose the concept of 'incorporation of urban differences' that allows to capture the analyzed process of transformation across different contexts, different historical trajectories, and their relation to centralities. Incorporation of urban differences emerges from a coherent understanding of urbanization processes within a certain region and around the world, resulting from a comparative research framework within which this study is placed.
In this book, a transdisciplinary international research team presents an expanded vocabulary of urbanisation processes through a comparison of Tokyo, Hong Kong – Shenzhen – Dongguan, Kolkata, Istanbul, Lagos, Paris, Mexico City and Los Angeles.
Based on a novel cartography and on detailed ethnographic and historical explorations, this book systematically analyses the diversity of responses to urgent contemporary urban challenges. It proposes a series of new concepts that allow us to assess the practical consequences of different urban strategies in everyday life.