{"title":"A tale of Jalan Kaliurang: Postcolonial gentrification in the Peri-urban of Yogyakarta","authors":"Faiz Rahmatullah , Achmad Firas Khudi , Pinurba Parama Pratiyudha","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100648","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100648","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Jalan Kaliurang, a once agricultural edge of Yogyakarta has been transformed by waves of student migration and commercial development. Through ethnographic research, we explore how this peri-urban corridor has evolved into a dense hub of boarding houses (kos) and cafés, shaped by a complex mix of cultural traditions, historical power structures, and market forces. What emerges is a hybrid form of urban change, where local residents are not simply displaced, but experience a more subtle process of unhoming, a loss of cultural connection and emotional belonging even as they remain in place. We also question how the traditional value of <em>gotong royong</em> (javanese mutual cooperation) holds up under growing economic pressures and social fragmentation. By focusing on studentification and speculative real estate practices, this study sheds light on the symbolic forms of displacement that often go unnoticed. It argues for a deeper understanding of gentrification in postcolonial cities, one that takes seriously the emotional and cultural costs of urban change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100648"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144307012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ‘tiers-lieux culturels’ as cultural and social infrastructures, and their support in French public policies","authors":"Matina Magkou , Pélissier Maud , Pamart Emilie","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100640","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100640","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the conceptualisation of the term ‘tiers lieu’- translatable as ‘third place’- in French policy, emphasising its potential to offer an alternative to the ‘infrastructural turn’ in territorial policy. By focusing on ‘tiers lieux culturels’ (TLC), it examines the emergence of this concept, its adoption by public actors across various levels in France, and its implications for those managing these spaces, while addressing associated controversies.</div><div>Drawing on research projects funded by Region Sud, ANR, and MSH-Paris Nord, the paper investigates several TLC in Southern France. It employs an analysis of institutional documents, interviews with TLC founders, managers, and teams, as well as ethnographic observations. The findings reveal that TLC policies often grapple with tensions between funding frameworks and the multifaceted identities of these spaces. These tensions are shaped by conflicting dynamics, including neoliberal/creative city paradigms versus cultural rights/participatory city ideals, and the expectations of policymakers who envision TLCs as emerging democratic utopias.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100640"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144297986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M Tawfique , Ashraful Alam , Christina Ergler , Claire Freeman
{"title":"Activating the playful city: A review of ludic urbanism and introducing the ludic continuum framework","authors":"M Tawfique , Ashraful Alam , Christina Ergler , Claire Freeman","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100641","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100641","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>By 2050, nearly two-thirds of the world's population will reside in cities, many of which currently lack the infrastructure to support diverse recreational needs. Yet cities possess untapped potential to foster inclusive and engaging public spaces through the integration of ludic elements. Rooted in the Latin word <em>‘Ludus’</em>, meaning playfulness, the concept ludic encompasses a wide range of playful recreational and interactive experiences. However, how the ludic potential can inform urban design has been significantly underexplored. By conducting a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature across Geography and related disciplines, this study addresses the identified gap. Through descriptive and thematic analyses, the review identifies key characteristics of ludic activities, examines their impacts on urban actors, and outlines strategies to integrate ludic activities in urban design. Building on these insights, the paper introduces a novel ‘ludic continuum’ framework that categorises ludic activities, offering a valuable tool for envisioning and designing more vibrant, inclusive and playful urban public spaces for all ages.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100641"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144222421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unpacking the university-creative economy assemblage: the discourses, dynamics and possibilities of creative R&D programmes","authors":"Liz Roberts , Jack Lowe , Simon Moreton","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The UK government's Creative Industries Sector Vision identifies the creative industries as a growth engine, supporting the state's ambition for the UK to be a global innovation hub and foregrounding the role of universities ‘to champion spin-outs’ and ‘enrich local SMEs with their applied research’ (June 2023). Attempts to mobilise universities as agents in regional creative economies via University-Industry R&D programmes have intensified in recent decades, with over £276 million invested since 2012 in programmes such as the AHRC's Creative Industries Clusters Programme, CoSTAR, XRtists and UKRI's Strength in Places Fund. This paper unpacks the imaginaries and mechanics of such projects to show how universities have become complicit in a political shift that positions innovation, knowledge exchange and technological capability as the most valuable forms of ‘creativity’, rather than other artistic, social, or cultural practices. We examine the often-inflexible structures of partnership, resourcing and knowledge hierarchies within higher education institutions (HEIs) that delimit the potential of universities as agents in regional creative economies. We explore how creative sector-facing practices performed by universities, such as knowledge exchange, performance measurement and administrative procedures, can reproduce an exclusionary and extractive vision of creative economies. Lastly, we consider what alternative practices of intermediation may exist to support a more progressive role for HEIs in the creative economy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100637"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144124744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ana Mafalda Madureira , Ana Maria Bustamante Duarte , Karin Pfeffer , Adiwan Aritenang
{"title":"Spaces of work, encounter, and representation of, and for, creative industries","authors":"Ana Mafalda Madureira , Ana Maria Bustamante Duarte , Karin Pfeffer , Adiwan Aritenang","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100639","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100639","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous research has focused on the relationship between creative industries and the urban areas where these industries tend to be located within the city. Less understood is the character, use, and impact of spaces intended to support creative industries. This paper questions the role these spaces have for creative industries’ development, and their socio-spatial dynamics across a city. We focus on the city of Bandung, Indonesia, and inquire (1) what types of spaces are promoted by policies to support creative industries development, and where are these spaces located; (2) how are the socio-spatial patterns of these spaces linked with the development of these industries in the city, and (3) who are the actors behind the development of these spaces. The research is informed by document analysis, interviews and informal communication with policy makers, entrepreneurs, and owners/managers of spaces occupied by local creative industries, and structured observation. Our findings characterize three types of roles (spaces of work, encounter, and representation) and their socio-physical characteristics (actors behind these spaces, and how they occupy the city). Understanding the roles and spatial dynamics of these spaces can inform policies that aim to influence creative industries development through the provision of spaces that these industries can occupy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100639"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144131255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The end of publicness in Yorubaland? Exploring the privatisation of public space in Ile-Ife, Nigeria","authors":"Temitope Muyiwa Adebara , Adewumi Israel Badiora , Adedotun Ayodele Dipeolu , Lateef Adeleke Adeniyi","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100638","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100638","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Western urban theorists have critiqued the involvement of the private sector in the production and management of public space, contending that privatisation has led to the erosion of publicness and the decline of social life within the public sphere. However, there is a noticeable scarcity of empirical studies exploring the engagement of private actors in the politics of urban public space in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly within Yoruba society. This paper seeks to address this gap by investigating the privatisation of public space and its implications in Ile-Ife, a traditional Yoruba city in Nigeria. Employing a qualitative approach involving a systematic literature review, interviews and field observations, this paper reveals that the Yoruba city is experiencing the issues of over-management and under-management of public space, as highlighted in the Western homogenisation theory. Nevertheless, in contrast to the Western theory, privatisation does not result in the decline of publicness and sociability of public spaces in the Yoruba society. Key aspects of privatisation, such as commercialisation and controlled access, are integral to the traditional concepts of open space in Yorubaland. Findings show that privately owned spaces within gated communities and establishments, such as schools, hotels, hospitals, shopping complexes, churches, mosques, bars, and restaurants, support social and leisure activities. The emergence of contemporary public spaces does not alter the local concepts and meanings associated with social spaces. This paper argues that the Western framework for public space management is not entirely applicable in the traditional Yoruba context, emphasising the necessity for a contextual approach to public space planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100638"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Embeddedness of the audiovisual industries: from local clusters to global broadcasting","authors":"Bilyana Tomova , Diana Andreeva-Popyordanova , Tsveta Andreeva","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100636","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100636","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The audiovisual industries are among the fastest-growing cultural and creative sectors in Europe. This research employs a Global Production Network approach (Coe & Yeung, 2015; Kloosterman, D'Ovidio, et al., 2019) to examine how audiovisual industries are embedded within Europe. The findings are based on analysing three case studies focused on the film, television, and radio industries, which illustrate the interactions between Bulgarian, European, and global players in the contemporary media ecosystem. The specific characteristics of the global production networks in these case studies highlight both value creation and the power distribution among different phases and actors within the network. The research investigates how these networks and their participants interact with their local environments, considering societal, territorial, and network embeddedness. This approach helps to identify specific aspects of the audiovisual networks' embeddedness, as well as the spillover effects between different types of embeddedness. Additionally, the research emphasises the strategic significance of audiovisual industries in shaping national and European policies and legislation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100636"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143924126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Attachment and (in)securities. Threats to the notion of rootedness in neighbourhood space in Barcelona","authors":"Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona , Cristina López-Villanueva","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100635","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100635","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lockdown due to Covid-19 reinforced the notion of proximity in the provision of well-being and the everyday care. The limitations on mobility meant the (re)discovery of neighbourhood life and of fellow residents. The neighbourhood was once again shown as a space of roots where shared loyalties and social identities were formed and reinforced social cohesion and generated mutual support networks in response to an unprecedented situation such as the pandemic. These powerful links pose important challenges in a post-pandemic context, resulting from recent urban processes arising from the cost of housing and questioning the consolidation of proximity, the concept of neighbourhood as community and the right to housing. This paper studies the main challenges to consolidate these ties in Barcelona. Based on analysis of 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in two neighbourhoods (Montbau and Sant Antoni) and preceded by an analysis of secondary data related to residential (in)stability and mobility this article to explore the sense of belonging, community dynamics and the social cohesion. This research confirms two types of threats: a) recent urban processes that promote residential insecurity and, b) community dynamics that hinder integration and bonds. Obstructing neighbourhood ties breaks the social protection network.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100635"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143881732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Creative improvement, cultural infrastructure and urban zones: a tale of three cities and their cultural districts","authors":"Abigail Gilmore , Claire Burnill-Maier","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100634","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100634","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper critically examines place governance and cultural policy decision-making in the context of three cities - Melbourne, Manchester and Toronto. It takes an infrastructural lens to examine the narrative histories and policy rationales for creating spatial zones in which culture is demarcated as an engine for social, cultural and economic development in each of these cities. By contextualising each city in relation to their individual histories, social, economic and political dimensions, the paper offers insights into the global similarities and differences in cultural district development, exposing a reliance on interests and actors that extend far beyond the state. It finds that the zoning of cultural space intermediates these interests requiring balance and oversight to ensure democratic participation and urban justice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100634"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143823375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Urban creativity in Dakar: Postcolonial dialogues through art in the city","authors":"Estrella Sendra","doi":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100633","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100633","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dakar is a city continuously re-signified and transformed through arts, embodying postcolonial dialogues and serving as a public sphere for speculating African futures. Inspired by Oumar Ndao's multimodal portrait of Dakar as an “uncertain territory” (Ndao, 2020) and Felwine Sarr's philosophical concept of Afrotopia (Sarr, 2019), this article examines contemporary relationships between arts, creativity, urban spaces and the world within a postcolonial city. Through a focus on murals, festivals and film, I illustrate how Dakar operates as “an active utopia”, where artists imagine and rehearse a positive transformation of the continent. Urban creativity in Dakar can thus be defined as a <em>living canvas</em> for postcolonial dialogues and Afrotopian dreams. Murals serve as sites of memory, honouring Senegalese filmmakers and other figures, highlighting their contributions to cinema, the decolonisation of the gaze, and including them in histories that have excluded them. Festivals re-signify ruins of utopia, showcasing artistic work in direct connection with its urban context, reusing, recycling, and rehearsing more balanced futures. Films strengthen social and political critique, addressing tensions within fiction through the re-use of ruins of utopia. Together, these artistic forms offer canvases to envision Sarr's proposition of the Afrotopia, a place and mindset where humanity is central and there is a healthier balance between economic, cultural and spiritual orders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39061,"journal":{"name":"City, Culture and Society","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100633"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143767651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}