Doing comparative urbanism differently: Conjunctural cities and the stress-testing of urban theory

Özgür Sayın, Michael Hoyler and John Harrison
Additional contact information
Özgür Sayın: Bilecik Şeyh Edebali Üniversitesi, Turkey
Michael Hoyler: Loughborough University, UK
John Harrison: Loughborough University, UK

Urban Studies, 2022, vol. 59, issue 2, 263-280

Abstract: Ongoing splintering and siloification in urban studies require alternative approaches to bring the major theoretical and epistemological perspectives into constructive dialogue. Reflecting growing calls for engaged pluralism, we analyse the extent to which different perspectives can come together as complementary alternatives in understanding cities and present a framework for overcoming the key theoretical and methodological challenges caused by fragmentation. Using Istanbul as our illustrative case, we do this in three steps. Theoretically, we stress-test the potentials and limits of four dominant perspectives in urban theory making – global cities, state rescaling, developmental and postcolonial – revealing how each can only ever generate a partial, one-dimensional, explanation. Methodologically, we proceed to make the case for doing comparative urbanism differently by developing a conjunctural approach. Finally, and conceptually, we identify ‘conjunctural cities’ as a distinctive type of city and as a new approach to analysing cities. Our contention is that approaching all cities conjuncturally provides a significant step towards putting engaged pluralism into action, as well as indicating new terrain on which the future of urban theory/urban studies can be constructively debated.

Keywords: comparative urbanism; conjunctural cities; interstitial cities; Istanbul; urban theory; æ¯”è¾ƒåŸŽå¸‚ç ”ç©¶; è ”å ˆåŸŽå¸‚; 间隙城市; ä¼Šæ–¯å ¦å¸ƒå°”; åŸŽå¸‚ç †è®º (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098020957499 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:59:y:2022:i:2:p:263-280

DOI: 10.1177/0042098020957499

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().