‘Kinetic segregation’ in the Teleport City: reflections from Newark (New Jersey, United States)

Abstract

This paper, grounded in research conducted in Newark, New Jersey, between 2021-2023, explores the intricate interrelations between post-industrial economic system, patterns of urbanization, urban mobilities, and socio-spatial injustice. Two significant contributions emerge from this study, enriching the literature on these topics. Firstly, the paper unveils Newark’s historical transformation into a specific urban form termed as the ‘Teleport City’. This designation encapsulates the city’s evolution, shaped by geo-historically determined patterns of suburbanization, urban renewal, economic discrimination against the city’s Black population, residential segregation, and the neoliberal ‘economic uncoupling’ of Downtown. The analysis spans from the postwar ‘urban crisis’ through the current era, an historical period featured by industrial decline, neo-liberal revitalization, and novel forms of what could be termed as ‘post-industrial’ segregation. Secondly, the paper delves into instances of ‘kinetic segregation’ in Newark, emphasizing the impact of a number of historical instances of socio-spatial injustices that persist at the metropolitan level into the present day. Specifically, the paper argues that mobilities studies allow for a nuanced and profound understanding of contemporary segregation in the US, by discussing how metropolitan post-industrial mobilities contribute to socio-spatial disparities, exacerbated by neoliberal policies and unjust political practices in contemporary Newark.