Urban Resilience or Critical Theories of Change? Disputes on Urban Studies in the Context of Pandemic Crisis Cover Image

Urban resilience czy krytyczne teorie zmiany? Spór wokół studiów miejskich na marginesie kryzysu pandemii
Urban Resilience or Critical Theories of Change? Disputes on Urban Studies in the Context of Pandemic Crisis

Author(s): Agata Skórzyńska
Subject(s): Rural and urban sociology, Sociology of Culture
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: critical urban studies; planetary urbanization; assemblage urbanism; postcolonial urban studies; urban political ecology; crisic; pandemic

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is critical reconstruction of a current dispute in the field of urban studies. Recent dabates and polemics between researchers related to such approaches, as planetary urbanisation thesis, urban political ecology, assemblage urbanism, urban postcolonial studies and – last but not least – well known Los Angeles School – showed that the expieriencie of the urban cirisises is closely related to the search for the new knowledge and concepts, that can bring visons of change and sollutions. At stake is, however, the recognition that some theoretical proposals have the potential to develop critical knowledge, while others tend to become just new urban ideologies, attractive, but often reactive, ineffective or exclusive. The climate change, as well as recent pandemic crisis shows clearly that well-established theoretical criticism is just as nessecary as cultural activity or political action, if urban studies are to continue to provide us with knowledge that responds to the challenges of the future. Theoretical disputes are sometimes just a „family war”, but they often show the most sensitive problems to which scientific knowledge must answer. Urban crisises in turn, as COVID-19 pandemic clearly shows – are often unexpected pracitical tests of theories.

  • Issue Year: 46/2020
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 339-358
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Polish