Urban Futures series
Ugo Rossi, Cities in Global Capitalism
Copyright © Julie-Anne Boudreau 2017
The right of Julie-Anne Boudreau to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2017 by Polity Press
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ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8549-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8550-2(pb)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Boudreau, Julie-Anne, author.
Title: Global urban politics : informalization of the state / Julie-Anne Boudreau.
Description: Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017834 (print) | LCCN 2016018352 (ebook) | ISBN 9780745685496 (hardback) | ISBN 9780745685502 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780745685526 (Mobi) | ISBN 9780745685533 (Epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Cities and towns. | Municipal government. | Social movements. | Urban ecology (Sociology) | Environmental policy.
Classification: LCC HT151 .B6358 2016 (print) | LCC HT151 (ebook) | DDC 307.76–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017834
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For Lukas and Pablo
As I write this, I sit
in yet another airport lobby,
waiting. The smog hangs
over the tarmac and the pall
bearers lift the city up.
I imagine the name
of the airline changes and that
I am on my way home.
Or to Paris.
Or to any impossible city like that.
Ruben Martinez, 1992
0.1 Polish butchers, car exports and luxurious lofts, Brussels, 2006
0.2 European advertisement in the subway, Brussels, 2006
0.3 Advertisement for a housing development named ‘Urbania: The urban village’
0.4 State-centred logic of political action
0.5 Urban logic of political action
1.1 Non-linear and linear conceptions of time
1.2 Tribute to the victims of the November 2015 attacks in Paris
1.3 A visual representation of global urban politics
2.1 ‘We demand respect for Zapatista autonomy’, Mexico City, 2014
2.2 Representation of President Carlos Salinas with the Chupacabras on his suit, Mexico City, 2016
2.3 Anarchopanda, Montreal, 2012
2.4 Five levels of political engagement
2.5 ‘Ayotzinapa, rain of rage’, Mexico City, 2014
2.6 Demonstration, 22 October 2014, in the Zócalo, Mexico City
4.1 Piles of plastic on residential lots, Hanoi, June 2009
4.2 A tomb soon to be moved for the construction of the An Khanh industrial zone, Hanoi, December 2008
4.3 Detail of the plan submitted by the developer for villagers' commercial lots, Hanoi, June 2009
6.1 Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor – experiencing the urban world, Chicago, April 2015
This book project emerged when Emma Longstaff from Polity Press contacted me with the idea of writing something on global urban politics. I had been toying with the idea of writing a theoretical essay drawing from fieldwork I had conducted in the past decade, and Emma gave me the opportunity to develop this further. Jonathan Skerrett at Polity Press was most helpful in making sure this project came to fruition.
Writing with fieldwork material collected over a decade involves numerous people. I cannot name them all here. But when I came back to Montreal in 2005 to take a Canada Research Chair in urbanity, insecurity and political action, a space for intellectual exchanges and empirical fieldwork opened to me. I wish to thank Danielle Labbé, Pham Thi Thanh Hien, Annick Germain, Jean-Pierre Collin, Frédéric Lesemann, Johanne Charbonneau, Nicole Gallant, Andrea Rea, Valérie Amiraux, Steven High, David Austin, Marie-Hélène Bacqué, Coline Cardi, Guénola Capron, Sophie Didier, Claire Hancock, AbdouMaliq Simone, Diane Davis, Liette Gilbert, Alan Mabin, Anaik Purenne, Éric Charmes, Laurence Bherer, Matthew Gandy and Roger Keil for passionate conversations and research collaborations over these years, in Hanoi, Brussels, Toronto, Johannesburg, Montreal, Lyon, Paris, Mexico City or Boston.
The VESPA (Ville et ESPAces politiques) is a laboratory we created at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique when I returned to Montreal in 2005. It would be lifeless without students from whom I learn continuously: Nathalie Boucher, Marilena Liguori, Frédérick Nadeau, Leslie Touré Kapo, Claire Carroué, Joelle Rondeau, Bochra Manai, Maude Séguin-Manègre, Alice Miquet, Mathieu Labrie, Ajouna Bao-Lavoie, Denis Carlier, Julien Rebotier, Godefroy Desrosiers-Lauzon, Stephanie Geertman, Claudio Ribeiro, Martin Lamotte, Laurence Janni, Dounia Salamé, Alain Philoctète, Antoine Noubouwo, Muriel Sacco, Olivier Jacques, Désirée Rochat and many others. Alexia Bhéreur-Lagounaris has played a special role in coordinating the VESPA and connecting us to the geek worlds of the Montreal multimedia scene.
The decade of work on which this book builds is also marked by my involvement on the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research editorial board. Exchanging with colleagues on the board and reading countless stimulating papers submitted to the journal has been one of the most rewarding experiences of this past decade. I cannot mention everyone here, but allow me to name two very special IJURR accomplices who have profoundly influenced my understanding of academic research: Terry McBride and Maria Kaika. As Maria often repeats, this is a ‘labour of love’.
I wrote large portions of this book sitting in airport lobbies, during endless commuting hours between Montreal and Mexico City. Many ideas of this book come from conversations with Felipe de Alba, who continues to open new urban worlds to our children and me. I am grateful for their patience while I was writing and accumulating stamps in my passport.
Although the material has been expanded here, fragments of this book were published previously in different forms: J. A. Boudreau and F. de Alba, 2011, ‘The figure of the hero in cinematographic and urban spaces: fear and politics in Ciudad Juarez’, Emotion, Space and Society 4/2: 75–85. J. A. Boudreau, 2011, ‘Urbanity, fear, and political action: explorations of intersections’, in Emotion, Space and Society 4/2: 71–4. D. Labbé and J. A. Boudreau, 2011, ‘Understanding the causes of urban fragmentation in Hanoi: the case of New Urban Zones’, International Development and Planning Review 33/3: 273–91. J. A. Boudreau, M. Liguori and M. Séguin-Manegre, 2015, ‘Fear and youth citizenship practices: insights from Montreal’, Citizenship Studies. DOI: 10.1080/13621025.2015. 1006177. Stefan Kipfer, J. A. Boudreau, P. Hamel and A. Noubouwo. forthcoming, ‘Grand Paris: the bumpy road towards metropolitan governance’, in R. Keil, P. Hamel, J. A. Boudreau and S. Kipfer (eds), Governing Cities through Regions: Canadian and European Perspectives, Wilfrid Laurier University Press. J. A. Boudreau, with the collaboration of N. Boucher and M. Liguori, 2009, ‘Taking the bus daily and demonstrating on Sunday: reflections on the formation of political subjectivity in an urban world’, City 13/2–3: 336–46. J. A. Boudreau, 2015, ‘Urbanity as a way of life: risky behaviour, creativity, and post-heroism in Canada and Mexico’, in S. Vincent-Geslin, H. Adly, Y. Pedrazzini and Y. Zorro (eds), Translating the City: Interdisciplinarity in Urban Studies. Lausanne and Oxford: EPFL Press Routledge. J. A. Boudreau and D. Labbé, 2011, ‘Les “nouvelles zones urbaines” à Hanoi: ruptures et continuités avec la ville’, Cahiers de la géographie du Québec 55/154. A. Bhéreur-Lagounaris, J. A. Boudreau et al., 2015, Trajectoires printanières: Jeunes et mobilisation politique à Montréal, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, available at: <www.ucs.inrs.ca/sites/default/files/centre_ucs/pdf/TrajectoiresPrintanieres%20_FINAL.pdf>. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the financial support of Villes Regions Monde.