Urban Narratives

Narratives in Urban Studies and Planning

Posted on 26.3.2015 by Lieven Ameel

Today teaching a guest lecture at Aalto University on narratives in Urban Studies and Planning. Quotes of the day:

“… not only do narratives matter in planning, but their centrality is not sufficiently examined or taught, and their premises and implicit causal links are not adequately subjected to scrutiny.” (Isserman & Markusen, 2013)

“Finally, we should extract from other fields of study what is useful about the concept of narrative and the use of storytelling as a presentation and teaching device. We were shocked to find so little concerted planning literature acknowledging the power of narratives and their ubiquitous (but implicit) presence in planning discourse and practice. … Will planning finally pay attention to its own rhetoric? Will regional science move beyond tools to imagine and conscientiously construct narratives?” (Isserman & Markusen, 2013)

Isserman, Noah, & Markusen, Ann. (2013). “Shaping the Future through Narrative The Third Sector, Arts and Culture.” International Regional Science Review, 36(1), 115-136.

Narrative Planning in Helsinki’s Waterfront Regeneration

Posted on 19.3.2015 by Lieven Ameel

Today, I presented a paper at the BIC Urban Fragmentation(s) conference in Berlin. I spoke on the subject of “Narrative Planning in Helsinki’s Waterfront Regeneration: New Directions in Planning Practices and Theory”, which is part of my broader research project (see more here.)

Thanks for everyone commenting and contributing to the lively discussion, and to the organizers of the BIC 2015 conference for bringing together an inspiring, multidisciplinary crowd! The full programme of the conference can be found here (pdf).

On Revisiting Splintering Urbanism

Posted on 18.3.2015 by Lieven Ameel

Today at Berlin’s BIC 2015 conference: Timothy Moss on revisiting “Splintering Urbanism” (concept coined by geographers Steven Graham and Simon Marvin) – is there a continuous “modern infrastructure ideal” and/or its breakdown? And what are the consequences? Important talk on infrastructures within cities and their fragmentation, and illlustrating the extent to which infrastructures are society-shaping and socially shaped.

Full programme here > http://bic2015.de/workspace/downloads/conference-program-bic_-150312-5501ca5417a4c.pdf

Literature and the Peripheral City

Posted on 14.3.2015 by Lieven Ameel

“Literature and the Peripheral City”, editors Lieven Ameel, Jason Finch, and Markku Salmela, and soon to be published by Palgrave, can now be pre-ordered here:

An inspiring, two-year project is drawing to a close. Heart-felt thanks to all contributors, to everyone at Palgrave, and to my terrific co-editors!

Content:

Preface

Introduction: Peripherality and Literary Urban Studies; Lieven Ameel, Jason Finch and Markku Salmela

PART I: CITY PERIPHERIES
1. Detroit and Paris, Paris as Detroit; Jeremy Tambling
2. ‘It’s Six A.M. Do You Know Where You Are?’ Urban Peripherality and the Narrative Framing of Literary Beginnings; Lieven Ameel
3. The Peripheries of London Slumland in George Gissing and Alexander Baron; Jason Finch
4. A Topography of Refuse: Waste, the Suburb, and Pynchon’s ‘Low-lands’; Markku Salmela
5. London’s East End in Peter Ackroyd’s Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem; Aleksejs Taube
6. The Configuration of Boundaries and Peripheries in Johannesburg as Represented in Selected Works by Ivan Vladislavic and Zakes Mda; Marita Wenzel

PART II: PERIPHERAL CITIES, GENRES AND WRITERS
7. Hungry and Alone: The Topography of Everyday Life in Knut Hamsun and August Strindberg; Tone Selboe
8. A Forest on the Edge of Helsinki: Spatiality in Henrika Ringbom’s Novel Martina Dagers langtan; Topi Lappalainen
9. Eduard Vilde and Tallinn’s Dynamic Peripheries, 1858-1903; Elle-Mari Talivee and Jason Finch
10. A Suburban Revision of Nostalgia: The Case of Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra; Bieke Willem
11. From Windowsill to Underpass: Young Women’s Spatial Orientation in Swedish Young Adult Literature; Lydia Wistisen
12. Centrifugal City: Centre and Periphery in Ricardo Piglia’s La ciudad ausente; Nettah Yoeli-Rimmer

Bibliography

Index

Urban Fragmentation(s), Berlin, March 16–19, 2015

Posted on 13.3.2015 by Lieven Ameel

I’ll be presenting a paper at the Urban Fragmentation(s) conference in Berlin, March 16–19, 2015. Promising conference, on the crossroads between linguistics, urban studies, sociology, and literary studies.

I will speak on the subject of “Narrative Planning in Helsinki’s Waterfront Regeneration: New Directions in Planning Practices and Theory.” Part of my broader research, which is presented (in brief) here.

Below, the abstract of the conference; the program can be found here (pdf).

“The Centers for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (GWZ) will jointly host the 3rd Borders & Identity conference (BIC) from March 16th to 19th, 2015, at the Humboldt University in Berlin (Germany). BIC2015 provides a meeting place for researchers interested in interdisciplinary approaches to exploring Urban Fragmentation(s) from linguistic, literary, sociological, and historical points of view, or a combination thereof. The conference will be organized in three parallel strands, each chaired by a corresponding GWZ-center (ZAS, Center for General Linguistics; ZfL, Center for Literary and Cultural Research; ZMO, Center for Modern Oriental Studies):

Literature & Translation (ZfL)
Language & Linguistic Creativity (ZAS)
Society & Governance (ZMO)” (source: http://bic2015.de/)

Narratives that Form the City

Posted on 10.3.2015 by Lieven Ameel

In today’s Finland-Swedish national daily Hufvudstadsbladet (10.3.2015), there’s a long article on my research on narratives in city planning, under the title “Berättelserna som formar staden” – “Narratives that form the city”.

My main point – which is explored, of course, at more depth in my research – is that planning is a form of communication, in which narrative structures form crucial construction blocks. An analysis that draws on concepts and frameworks from literary studies can thus provide new insights in the ways in which new urban developments are constructed. This goes beyond an interest in mere branding: my contention is that narratives guide and structure not only the conception of planning project, but also the construction on the ground, in particular in the form of narratives in legally binding planning documents. More on my research project here.

Being There: “Toponyms as Prompts for Presencing Place”

Posted on 20.2.2015 by Lieven Ameel

Looking forward to attending ” “Being There” in Fictional Worlds” in Turku in May of this year.

I’m presenting together with Terhi Ainiala a paper with as title “Toponyms as Prompts for Presencing Place – Making Oneself at Home in the Narrated City”.
Bound to be interesting.

http://www.utu.fi/fi/yksikot/hum/ajankohtaista/uutiset/Sivut/presence-cfp.aspx

Confirmed Key Note Speakers:
Prof. Ros Ballaster (University of Oxford)
Prof. Susan S. Lanser (Brandeis University)

Drawing on Local Narratives for Planning in San Francisco

Posted on 19.2.2015 by Lieven Ameel

Via @Citylab: engaging with the local community through coherent narrative mapping proved to be a successful way forward in the planning of a former power plant in Bayview-Hunters Point. Interesting: the planners and architects brought in experts in storytelling, Storycorps, to contribute with their expertise:

“Inspired by the vivid stories that were emerging, the design team reached out to StoryCorps, the nationwide oral history project that captures stories of under-represented communities, and asked them to start recording at Hunters View. Instead of a bare-bones recording space, the team wanted to have a place where residents would feel welcome and comfortable as they recounted their memories of living in the shadow of the power plant. They created a listening booth, using a shipping container as a quick and economical structure.” (Lydia Lee, Citylab.com)

Full text here.

More emerging documentation of the importance of local stories in planning processes, and the relevance of a coherent narrative mapping of place. A good case for narrative planning as an innovative and important paradigm.

Vantaa’s New Branding: Erasing Identity?

Posted on 12.2.2015 by Lieven Ameel

Don’t know whether one should laugh or cry about this: one of the most critical, and revealing, reviews of (sub)urban branding in Finland comes from “graphic designer of the year” Kasper Strömman’s blog, a satirical design blog.

Strömman examines the new branding effort of the city of Vantaa (due north from Helsinki). The blog (in Finnish) carries the title “how to erase a city’s identity by using graphic design” (my translation). I haven’t followed Vantaa’s branding campaign myself, and Strömman’s link to Vantaa’s “brand book” doesn’t work (anymore?), so I have no access to the relevant sources, but on the basis of the material, there may well be some truth in the blog post’s title. Strömman’s key critique is that Vantaa invested in branding because the city felt it lacked a strong identity, but that it turned to generic images instead of making use of genuinely local identity markers in the pictures it used. The campaign images apparently come from international image banks – and what, really, is left of the identity of a city when the very image that wants to display the specific feel of Vantaa can as easily be used to sell an Australian children’s contact centre or an American insurance company, as Strömman points out?

[source: nyt.fi / kasperstromman.fi / http://www.tccc.org.au/]

By way of contrast, I just today reread Panu Lehtovuori’s article on Helsinki’s shorelines, in which Lehtovuori argues for urban planning that embraces differences, place-based solutions, and the uniqueness of a particular place, and emphasizes the stratifications of local meaning as potential cultural resources for the future. Couldn’t agree more.

Lehtovuori, Panu 2012: ”Rannat Helsingin seudun dynamoina.” In Lahti, Juhana; Paatero, Kristiina & Rauske, Eija (eds.): Rantaviivoja. Asuinalueita veden äärellä. Helsinki: Suomen arkkitehtuurimuseo, 20-31.

Spatial Criticism and Theory at MLA 2016

Posted on 10.2.2015 by Lieven Ameel

Stumbled across this cfp via Robert Tally: a call for a panel for the Division on Literary Criticism at the 2016 MLA convention in Austin. I’m unlikely to get there, but looks like an inspiring theme. Anyone interested in these thematics, but looking for something closer by (from a European perspective) in place (and in time), there’s still time for the call for the 2nd HLCN conference “Literary Second Cities”

“Spatial Criticism and Theory

Forum: TM Literary Criticism

How have conceptions of space, place, and mapping affected recent work in literary and cultural studies? E.g., geocriticism, literary geography, the spatial humanities. 250 word abstract and vita by 15 March 2015; Robert Tally (robert.tally@txstate.edu).”