Social Fragmentation

FRENCH - - - (english below)
La recherche prend pour cas d'étude la ville de Beyrouth. Elle a pour but de traiter les multiples représentations subjectives de la ville et de son espace public, questionner comment ces imaginaires se traduisent en différentes formes de pratiques urbaines et sociales, et de révéler les rôles et les limites de la mobilité informelle dans la construction de l'identité urbaine et dans la relation de l'individu au territoire. La question qui anime cette enquête est celle de la capacité de la mobilité à régénérer l'espace public dans le contexte d'une urbanité fragmentée.

ENGLISH - - -
The research takes as a case study the city of Beirut, addressing the multiple subjective representations of the city and of its public space, questioning how these imaginaries translate into different forms of urban and social practice, and shedding light on the roles and limits of informal mobility in shaping the relationship to the territory. The underlying question behind these investigations is whether and how mobility can (re-) generate public space in the context of a fragmented urbanity.

(full book available upon request (french))

Through a synthesis of fledgling theories of post-truth (author, 2006, 2014, 2016, 2017) developing around Donald Trump and Brexit and theories of emotions in populism, I analyze the right-wing French movement La Manif Pour Tous, and their ongoing issue campaign against what they call “gender theory in the schools.” After I identify their populist qualities, I analyze five prominent post-truth qualities in the movement: 1) organization and public presentation; 2) “active distrust” qualities; 3) emotional/affective qualities; 4) “rumor bombs” about gender theory; and 5) conjunctural specificity within gender, sexuality and other backlashes. Considering the conjunctural convergence of social trust and truth deficits, I propose that the post-truth and “rumor-bombing” aspects simultaneous with their populist nature are better understood as a kind of emotional or “emo-truth” common to both performance of authenticity in Reality TV shows and right-wing populist movements today. Finally, I propose cases like this point to a mainstreaming of post-truth populism, across Western liberal democracies and beyond.

Il paradigma della Smart City che sempre più trova applicazione nella città contemporanea, viene spesso considerato la panacea in grado di far fronte alle sfide quotidiane alle quali sono chiamati a rispondere in modo sempre più efficace i governi locali. Il consistente ricorso alla tecnologia però, se da un lato promuove l’efficientamento dei processi di governance urbana, facilitando al contempo la nascita di una “intelligenza connettiva”, dall'altro non fa che acuire la frammentazione sociale. Attraverso l’analisi di un case study, il progetto di Smart City and Community Centoc’è implementato da ENEA nel triennio 2015/18 presso il distretto Roma sud-est, verrà posta attenzione sulla correlazione che intercorre tra tale paradigma e la nascita di nuove dinamiche di aggregazione di tipo funzionale, strettamente connesse alla valorizzazione del capitale sociale dei singoli nodi che costituiscono la rete di riferimento, fattore che non manca di generare disuguaglianze e polarizzazione sociale all’interno della città stessa.

Social mobilization in Central Asia comes in a rare form, alongside political, economic, social and ethnical overtones, aligned with post-Soviet difficulties and dependencies. Although standing as independent nations, economic instabilities, political insurgencies and social inequalities are triggering circumstances of uprisings in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. As countries still struggling to sustain and perpetrate democratic values, social mobilization resurface as a tool to establish political change. However, although understanding that the range of protests are regional and do not offer its nations a challenge concerning national security, the casualties and government accommodations were not as peaceful and organized as it was expected. The participation of the international community, especially playing a role in cooperating and co-opting with Central Asian insurgencies, is crucial for the understanding of these protests as a way of its population to come in aid of t...

This book presents an inquiry into the invention of innovative ways of addressing some contemporary Latin American cities and territories design problems. The aim is to highlight the contemporary relevance of the postcolonial urbanism and its subjects intended as specific socio–spatial conditions characterized by precise urbanities, economies, social relationships, by conflict–related rural/wilderness/urban realms. It is an attempt to conceptualize and constructing them as a project. The hypothesis is that projects and researches presented in this publication try to demonstrate some relevant elements in the construction of
a different discourse within traditional postcolonial urban theories providing test cases for the elaboration of innovative planning and design strategies.

Contributors: Holger Patricio Cuadrado Torres, Maria de los Angeles Cuenca Rosillo, Santiago del Hierro, Antonio di Campli, Kenny Espinoza Carvajal, Santiago Espinoza Carvajal, Manuela Guzmán Ramírez,
Sabina Lenoci, Fernanda Luzuriaga Torres, Leandro Minuchin, Giulia Testori, Juan C. Villacrés.