Beyond a standardised urban lexicon: which vocabulary matters?

Abstract

Urban vocabulary has been influenced by global patterns of modernity, capitalism and anglophone academia. These lexicons are increasingly standardised and shape dominant conceptual approaches in city debates. However, contemporary urban theories indicate a shift toward understanding the ‘urban’ and ‘cities’ from multiple perspectives. An emerging urban vocabulary is being built to capture the significance of place, complex power dynamics and changing geographical landscapes. This special issue presents diverse perspectives on how urban lexicons can be decentred from anglophone thought, operate as organising urban logics, serve larger political projects, and shape and are reshaped by grounded urban practice. Articles from the Middle East and South Asia discuss the margins of vocabulary and how vocabularies located in the global South enable us to think through dilemmas of knowledge production. We contribute to debates on decolonising power and authority in urban thought by expanding on how to theorise from the South.

“Villas miseria” en Buenos Aires hacia mediados del siglo XX: tensiones políticas y primeras conceptualizaciones estatales

“…En efecto, pese a décadas de debate sobre temas tan ricos como lo han sido las villas y las políticas habitacionales en Argentina, la historización de las primeras es incipiente (Camelli, 2019;Massidda, 2021;Snitcofsky, 2022). Más allá de Argentina, y de la dimensión histórica, es importante destacar que el análisis de los términos y conceptos utilizados para referir a espacios de precariedad o informalidad 1 urbana está recibiendo creciente atención en el ámbito académico internacional, en particular angloparlante (Acuto et al, 2019;Dasgupta & Wahby, 2021y Harris & Vorms, 2017 son algunos de los ejemplos más recientes).…”