Brief considerations on urban politics from a conceptual approach

AuthorSonia Andreea Stoica
Pages207-210
Brief considerations on urban politics from a conceptual approach 207
SECTION 5. URBANISM: PERSPECTIVES
AND IMPEDIMENTS
BRIEF CONSIDERATIONS ON URBAN POLITICS FROM
A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH
Sonia Andreea STOICA
ABSTRACT
Today, most of the present political statements claim the necessity of reforming the
administration, or even of simplifying of the administrative procedure. Thus, the purpose of this
paper is to make some brief considerations on urban politics trying to find solutions in order to
transform administration in the defender of the general interest and the needs of the citizens. We will
approach this issue by presenting urbanism matter in comparison with the globalization effects.
Key-words: urban, administration, politics, critic, globalization.
Introduction
The human action and behaviour has a certain relation to the space in which it
is situated. But from this basic observation to the conclusion that human action can
be determined in specific ways through the design of specific spatial
configurations there is a long way, and architects with a social purpose have often
walked along this path (Dragos Dascalu, S., Ionescu, S. and Balan, T. , 2013, p. 7).
The public space as a public good and is understood as a ‘void’ in the urban
continuum that has unlimited access for the city dwellers. We approach the public
space as a physical, material space, as imaginative material space and as a
formative part of the public domain in order to answer the following question:
what are the aspects of public space that articulate the city? The public space is
necessary for social and economic reasons. The city needs spaces to socialise,
meeting places, and above all, spaces for the enjoyment of solitude (Komac, U.,
2016, p. 3). As some researcher wrote the influences of the socio-cultural and politic
paradigms are easily traced even in the field of architecture and urban planning.
Studying the effects of the scientific paradigm though, is more obscure and
requires solid interdisciplinary background.
PhD Student; e-mail: stoica.sonia@yahoo.com.
Law Review vol. VI, special issue, December 2016, p. 207-210
208 SONIA ANDREEA STOICA
The 1990s years brought the general opinion that urban politics have changed.
Globalization and related changes in economic geographies have brought about
new urban political landscapes, in which an important element has been the
different role of both business and workers in urban politics (Davidson & Martin,
2014, p. 190). In this context, cities have to compete with one another and this
reduce influence of local political groups on urban government decision making.
Some traditional conceptual approaches on urbanism
The term "urban" according to the Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian
language, means belonging to the city, town and figuratively, "which demonstrates
urbanity, polite, civilized".
The concept of urbanization was outlined in the twentieth century, especially
after the International Congress of Modern Architecture (initiated by Le Corbusier)
and the adoption of the Athens Charter (1939), at the time when we can talk about
the beginning of modern urbanism.
We find the origins of urbanization in sedentary cultures that have been
defined and are recognized as such by various manners of "settlement",
organization of settlements, accompanied everywhere by the tendency of isolation
from the environment.
Traditional societies could not conceive the foundation of a settlement without
a firm boundary. Enclosure wall, moat, palisade or limit property existed at the
beginning, for religious reasons, then, for security reasons. That there has been this
close relationship, a period of extremely long time between settlement (city) and
religion - as interim cosmic forces - explains the durability of this concept in the
history of pre-modern urbanization.
Drawing limit settlement - accompanying obsessive traditional whole
civilization - have meant multiple, but the most subtle that it was the "closing" a
group of people who then turn into society.
Until the twentieth century, it is not known a European settlement lacks of
center, of a guidance system and a coherent internal structure. So, until this
moment (after millennia 6-7) any settlement that was known, described,
understood as being unique.
Minea wrote that, since the twentieth century no longer speaks of "settlements"
(Since the twentieth century no longer speaks of "settlements" (urban or rural), but
about "agglomeration". "Not being neither urban nor rural nor suburban, but
containing elements belonging to all three categories, new-type city - congestion -
defies conventional terminology experts” (Minea, 2014, p. 27).
As it is almost universally accepted the term urbanism as a neologism has
more than a century, and yet defines the notion that a priori seems to be as old as
urban civilization (Harouel, 2001, p. 5).
Some authors proposed two meanings. One of them stated that any sensible
action designed to develop, organize, decorate and transform the city and urban
space. So, the word designates urbanism and old reality which can be called
"urban art".
Brief considerations on urban politics from a conceptual approach 209
Others consider that law and urban planning were developed separately so
that if urbanization was developed in architecture and relying on architecture,
urbanism right to interrelated with a significant manner than later (Duu, 2010,
p. 29).
Today, urban seeks spatial, and "as a function defining adaptation to the
requirements of socio-cultural, economic and ecological they express the city." At
this point the author believes that urban planning meets the law, which serves to
formalize and institutionalize such requirements (Duu, 2010, p. 29). According to
some French authors, urban planning law can be defined as a set of rules regarding
impairment space and its development (Morand- Deviller, 2003, p. 1).
Morand considers that reflections on urban origins are ancient, even Aristotle
and Plato being invoked (to be more convincing referred Les lois, V lb) sau Vitruve
("The Ten Books of Architecture") (2003, p.3). Land-use and impaired projects are
inconceivable space than in a prospective manner and progressive.
Administrative right sources can be found in the principles of the planning
documents that have distinct administrative decentralization localities (Morand-
Deviller, 2003, p.18).
Urban planning law has long been limited to government regulations imposed
by those with private property.
Urban politics – a modern conceptual approach
In recent decades occurred refocus and rethink the geography strong city and,
by extension, to urban policies.
In the literature devoted to urban policies, jurisdictional boundaries of cities
and municipalities have often served as a foundation for those who supported
the urban as an enclosed and supported a particular combination of factors in an
urban environment such as city size, demographic development that would be
an argument for citizen participation.
According to Davidson & Martin, those interested in multi-level governance
also adopted this model to conceptualize depicting the city as a nest with several
levels: neighborhood, city, regions, national and global. In this approach, attention
was focused on identifying the particular nature of governance, for development
of the city and how they relate to other scales. (2014, p. 3). The same authors
consider that the class identity in the post-industrial cities is in a continuous
changing. The class relations are seen to stem from the antagonistic relationship
between capital and labour.
Davidson & Martin wrote that in considering the relationship between social
class and urban politics we face two intertwined issues. First, the continued
fetishization of the city setting – such as the fact that it is a bounded political space-
means that we need new conceptual approaches to think about how cities are
bound up in class relations. Second, although the post- industrial city is clearly
different from its historical antecedents, we need to carefully consider how this
transition has impacted social class composition (2014, p. 201).
210 SONIA ANDREEA STOICA
Conclusion
Definitely, in the last decades, the globalization brought a new understanding
of urban politics as being organized around social class. We have to think that the
post-industrial city is a next step in city’s historical development and this could
serve to depoliticize the city’s class relation. Davidson & Martin gave an example
regarding the case of municipal elections in a city and they consider that elections
and the working class politics have come to play a less prominent role in urban
politics (2014, p.202).
Bibliography
1. Bocchi, R. (2013) "The Belly of Architecture" Athens: ATINER'S Conference
Paper Series, No: ARC2013-0586;
2. Davidson, M. & Martin, Deborah (2014). Urban Politics. Critical Approaches.
London: Sage;
3. Dragos Dascalu, S., Ionescu, S. and Balan, T. (2013) "The Phalanstery
Paradigm. Paradoxes of Architectural Determinism" Athens: ATINER'S Conference
Paper Series, No: ARC2013-0732;
4. Duu, M. (2010). Dreptul urbanismului, Bucureşti: Universul Juridic;
5. Harouel, J. L. (2001).. Istoria urbanismului, Meridiane, Bucureşti: Meridiane;
6. Komac, U. (2016). "Public Space as a Public Good: Some Reflections on
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7. Minea, Elena Maria (2014). Urbanism şi amenajarea teritoriului. Cluj- Napoca:
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9. Toleva, N. (2013) "Parameters VS Algorithms: The New Urban Paradigm"
Athens: ATINER'S Conference Paper Series, No: ARC2013-0589.

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