{"title":"Operationalizing Comparative Urbanism","authors":"Julie Ren","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.7","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 2 reviews the debates around comparative urbanism as critique of urban theory, and provides a structured analysis of its underlying premises. Despite the consensus around the parochialism of urban theory, these divergent premises imply different consequences for actually doing research. In operationalizing comparative urbanism, this chapter explains the mixed qualitative methods an experimental way forward is offered, focusing on comparative urbanism’s theory building agenda. The goal of threading together Beijing and Berlin is to thwart the idea of archetype, rejecting the distinctions of original and borrowed urbanisms, and decentering the primary reference points of urban scholarship. The mixed methods and position of the researcher is discussed along with some definitions about cases, sites and “art space.” The chapter shows how the lens of comparative urbanism is employed as a methodologically-oriented critique that addresses how sites are compared, rather than what is compared.","PeriodicalId":425261,"journal":{"name":"Engaging Comparative Urbanism","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126447140","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":"Elsewheres","authors":"Curtis E. A. Karnow, Hal Rammel","doi":"10.2307/1513167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/1513167","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":425261,"journal":{"name":"Engaging Comparative Urbanism","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126819365","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":"Envisioning Art Spaces","authors":"Julie Ren","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.8","url":null,"abstract":"Beginning with ideas about how these art spaces envision themselves as social sculptures, this chapter explores the spectrum of motivations ranging from utopian or apathetic isolationism to locational immersions lionizing ideas of history, community and social responsibility. These artistic concepts help define the kind of art space that is being made. Understanding the various motivations behind these spaces help elucidate their ideological nature, and the conceptual downgrading of the significance of materiality and physical space. The conflation of art-making and space-making, the depreciation of materiality in favor of process, the aspirations for utopic islands, nostalgic romanticizations, and the contradictory tendencies towards indifference all mark some of the key motivations. The aim of this chapter is to understand the stated intentions behind these art spaces.","PeriodicalId":425261,"journal":{"name":"Engaging Comparative Urbanism","volume":"176 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115221613","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":"List of Figures and Tables","authors":"","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":425261,"journal":{"name":"Engaging Comparative Urbanism","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132067114","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 Capacity to Aspire","authors":"Julie Ren","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv19dsxq5.11","url":null,"abstract":"The concluding chapter synthesizes the approach and findings, to theorize back. It takes inspiration from work from grounded theory and mid-range theory, to explain the approach for understanding these findings as theoretical. Further, it notes some of the biases and limitations of a relational comparative analysis, particularly with regards to the position of the researcher. Drawing on the comparative analysis, this chapter considers how in the context of inevitabilities, art spaces expose spaces of possibility. Finally, it suggests how a concept of aspiration can serve to better connect the function of imagined futures, hopes and fears in the exercise of present-day everyday life. Cities are constantly shaped by the presence of an elsewhere, evident in these art spaces’ ability to see possibility and imagine alternatives, and to recognize their positions and present conditions. As a heuristic, aspiration connects the function of imagined futures, hopes and fears in the exercise of present-day everyday life.","PeriodicalId":425261,"journal":{"name":"Engaging Comparative Urbanism","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114988016","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}