Urban imaginaries and authoritarian urbanism

Urban imaginaries and authoritarian urbanism

Looking at three different areas of research that I have undertaken in recent years – the commodified skyline in London, Fritsch's racist and anti-Semitic garden city, and revolutionary antifascism in 1990s Berlin – I explore relations between urban imaginaries and authoritarian urbanism in this talk. To this end, I develop a conceptual framework that helps examine the intersection of conservatism (as an action by those who are in power and whose power is threatened, seeking to regain it) and liberalism (and its rational dimension that neglects desires, passions and emotions, as well as its individualist nature that neglects collective action and solidarity across different struggles).

Date

8 February 2023

Language

English

Location

University of Glasgow

Event

Research seminar

Author

Günter Gassner

Keywords

Skyline

Commodification

Antifascism

Spatial imaginaries

Aesthetics