Summary: Urban social geography: an introduction – P. Knox and S. Pinch (2006)
The most important change in cities is the increased attention to culture, which reflects a broader
trend called ‘cultural turn’. Cities have had a crucial impact on, and have in turn been influenced by,
cultures. Nowadays cities bring together many different cultures, which leads to innovation and new
cultural forms as cultures interact. However it can also lead to tensions and conflict.
Culture is often seen as theatres, art, drama et cetera. However it is actually much broader:
‘consisting ways of life’. These ways involve 3 important elements, which are all interrelated:
1. Values that people hold (i.e. their ideals and aspirations).
2. Norms that people follow (i.e. the rules and principles that govern their lives).
3. Material objects that people use.
The landscape of a city can be regarded as a text that can be read for layers of inner meaning (e.g.
does the society attempt to impose a set of social norms, or does it allow for cultural diversion?).
Objects have no meaning in themselves, but only acquire meaning through the uses that people put
to them.
Central to culture are shared sets of understanding (discourses or narratives). And semiotics is the
study of the signs that give clues about these meanings. The things that point to these wider
meanings are termed signifiers, while the cultural meaning is called the signified. Activities that are
full of culture symbolism are known as signifying practices. The study of meanings behind urban
landscapes is more generally known as iconography.
E.g. High, big headquarters can be seen as a signifiers of a discourse of corporate power and
influence, and therefore represent symbolic capital.
Monumental architecture = imposing buildings in which an attempt is made to symbolize particular
sets of values.
Societies often have dominant value systems, but they have almost always resistant. Therefore urban
history is sometimes written from the perspective of local people, in contradiction to the perspective
produced by development corporations, as they attempt to sell inner-cities. Therefore, values
embodied in landscape and other material objects are not natural and inevitable, but have been
created and fought over by many contesting groups in society. Nevertheless, the dominant set of
values will tend to reflect the most powerful forces in society.
A key theme of cultural studies is diversity and difference. There are, within the dominant values of a
society, many smaller groups with their own distinctive subcultures. Alterity is sometimes used to
denote a culture that is radically different from and totally outside to the dominant. Within those
subcultures are again many differences.
It is argued that our identities are shaped by many factors. such as class, race, age etc. Surrounding
these factors are various discourses about characteristics and abilities (positions, which affect the
way we behave. Therefore identity is being shaped by the intersection of many subject positions, and
by people’s individual personalities and life experiences. Which is all together subjectivity. Our
identities are not fixed, but vary over time and space.
The process whereby a group is analysed in a way that constructs them as being inferior is
sometimes termed objectification.
Colonialism is the direct rule of one country by another through the imposition of new settlements.
Imperialism is defined by the attitudes and actions of a domineering centre upon a distant territory.
Neo-colonialism refers to the economic and political domination of previously colonized nations by
Western powers after ending the formal colonialism.
The most important change in cities is the increased attention to culture, which reflects a broader
trend called ‘cultural turn’. Cities have had a crucial impact on, and have in turn been influenced by,
cultures. Nowadays cities bring together many different cultures, which leads to innovation and new
cultural forms as cultures interact. However it can also lead to tensions and conflict.
Culture is often seen as theatres, art, drama et cetera. However it is actually much broader:
‘consisting ways of life’. These ways involve 3 important elements, which are all interrelated:
1. Values that people hold (i.e. their ideals and aspirations).
2. Norms that people follow (i.e. the rules and principles that govern their lives).
3. Material objects that people use.
The landscape of a city can be regarded as a text that can be read for layers of inner meaning (e.g.
does the society attempt to impose a set of social norms, or does it allow for cultural diversion?).
Objects have no meaning in themselves, but only acquire meaning through the uses that people put
to them.
Central to culture are shared sets of understanding (discourses or narratives). And semiotics is the
study of the signs that give clues about these meanings. The things that point to these wider
meanings are termed signifiers, while the cultural meaning is called the signified. Activities that are
full of culture symbolism are known as signifying practices. The study of meanings behind urban
landscapes is more generally known as iconography.
E.g. High, big headquarters can be seen as a signifiers of a discourse of corporate power and
influence, and therefore represent symbolic capital.
Monumental architecture = imposing buildings in which an attempt is made to symbolize particular
sets of values.
Societies often have dominant value systems, but they have almost always resistant. Therefore urban
history is sometimes written from the perspective of local people, in contradiction to the perspective
produced by development corporations, as they attempt to sell inner-cities. Therefore, values
embodied in landscape and other material objects are not natural and inevitable, but have been
created and fought over by many contesting groups in society. Nevertheless, the dominant set of
values will tend to reflect the most powerful forces in society.
A key theme of cultural studies is diversity and difference. There are, within the dominant values of a
society, many smaller groups with their own distinctive subcultures. Alterity is sometimes used to
denote a culture that is radically different from and totally outside to the dominant. Within those
subcultures are again many differences.
It is argued that our identities are shaped by many factors. such as class, race, age etc. Surrounding
these factors are various discourses about characteristics and abilities (positions, which affect the
way we behave. Therefore identity is being shaped by the intersection of many subject positions, and
by people’s individual personalities and life experiences. Which is all together subjectivity. Our
identities are not fixed, but vary over time and space.
The process whereby a group is analysed in a way that constructs them as being inferior is
sometimes termed objectification.
Colonialism is the direct rule of one country by another through the imposition of new settlements.
Imperialism is defined by the attitudes and actions of a domineering centre upon a distant territory.
Neo-colonialism refers to the economic and political domination of previously colonized nations by
Western powers after ending the formal colonialism.
