Long before the Occupy movement, modern cities had already become the central sites of revolutionary politics, where the deeper currents of social and political change rise to the surface. Consequently, cities have been the subject of much utopian thinking. But at the same time they are also the centers of capital accumulation and the frontline for struggles over who controls access to urban resources and who dictates the quality and organization of daily life. Is it the financiers and developers, or the people?
Rebel Cities places the city at the heart of both capital and class struggles, looking at locations ranging from Johannesburg to Mumbai, and from New York City to São Paulo. Drawing on the Paris Commune as well as Occupy Wall Street and the London Riots, Harvey asks how cities might be reorganized in more socially just and ecologically sane ways—and how they can become the focus for anti-capitalist resistance.
“Inspired by nature’s splendor and mystery a new mall location is now opening in the heart of Umeå.
It is clear that the name of the new mall is Utopia, a name that stirs the imagination to the breath of life and excitement and magic. Utopia is the new meeting place , a haven for both families with children, teenagers and adults, where Umeå residents can hang out and stay in, at all times of the year.
‘The new mall will create a feeling that you leave your everyday life behind and step into another world’, says Per Norberg from Agren , one of the architects of mall design. ‘We play with a mix of soft and hard materials, such as matte and shiny surfaces , to reflect reality and fantasy , and the place’s uniqueness’.
‘We will be serving food from different corners of exotic settings and in the middle of the mall is the city’s natural venue – Square – surrounded by cafés and shops. All of this creates a great feeling of a moment get to be right in the action . We call City Shopping in Norrland!'”
“In the The Heart of the Cities (1964), Victor Gruen described how early marketing research determined that to be viable a regional shopping center needed to be within a 20-30 minute drive for about half a million people. Such a center requires 40 acres or more of parking space hugging a perimeter of the building at grade level, as people are unwilling to walk more than 100 feet (or climb) to an entry from their car. Once inside the mall armature, they need to encounter a diversion, such as a fountain or carousel, food court or waterfall every 600 feet along a linear armature of the mall. Such divisions prevent the consumer from becoming bored by the shopping experience, which keeps them shopping longer. This was crucial, as researchers showed, after about 20 minutes in a store or center otherwise rational shoppers tend to begin making ‘impule buys’. Formerly directed shoppers suddenly start making irrational decisions prompted by a euphoric sense of displacement, fatigure, and the drive to release pent-up frustrations, displaying what it known in marketing jargon as the ‘Gruen effect’ or ‘Gruen transfer.” David Graham Shane, Recombinant Urbanism: Conceptual modelling in architecture, urban design and city theory p97.
Re-Mixed City 