I tweeted this story as “eulogistic urbanism”, which is a term I have started to apply to representations of urban change that incorporate an abject before into a shiny new present; usually while subjects of abjection (‘druggies’, ‘derros’ in the case of this story) are still living there and doubtless have a more complex subjectivity … Continue reading
In 2000 the sociologist Rob Rosenthal published a study on public representations of homelessness (cited, for example in studies such as this one on homelessness, social work and the print media in Australia). Rosenthal’s study grouped mainstream media representations of homelessness into three loose categories: Lackers, Slackers and Unwilling Victims. I’ve been reflecting (surprise surprise) … Continue reading
It’s a surreal serendipity that as we gather in Martin Place, we are flanked by colourful flags strung from the light poles with some ‘what if’ questions gathered as part of a City of Sydney public art program. As I look down the left side of the square, there is a very apt triptych fluttering … Continue reading
Occupy is a troubling word. It makes a good hashtag and just now it’s an inspired counteroffensive to the colonisations of globalised American capital, multiplying from the virtual control centre on Wall Street. A new friend, visiting from Italy, says her son is ‘unoccupied’ at the moment, and then laughs at herself for the way … Continue reading
Recent outpourings around the Gay Girl in Damascus/Lez Get Real hoax have returned me to the relationship between activism and fetishism that I spent some time considering in my PhD thesis. The striking thing to me is the hurt, disappointment and betrayal registered by many western readers of GGID; this mingling with the outrage and … Continue reading
“Andy Lockhart: In the book you make an interesting connection between Manchester’s famous music scene and today’s property developers. Could you tell us what this is all about? Owen Hatherley: I think it’s partly the self-presentation of them – like Nick Johnson’s talk where he basically says the foundation of Urban Splash is the Sex … Continue reading
Friends of mine and I were talking about something we’d seen on the telly the other day. We were taken aback by a straight couple’s story of ‘failed maternity’, a woman’s desire at age forty to have a child after having panned the idea as a younger woman, and her devastation at the impotent outcome … Continue reading
