Changing Landscapes of Power: Opulence and the Urge for Authenticity

Sharon Zukin

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2009, vol. 33, issue 2, pages 543-553

Abstract: Moving beyond two often used constructs that describe recent socio-spatial changes in cities - gentrification and neoliberalism - this discussion suggests working with the aesthetic idea of authenticity to support the right to a diverse city. As an analytic construct, authenticity has several virtues: it directs attention to culture as well as political economy in the development of global urbanism; it connects to the pervasive modern search for sources of 'real' identity; and it reflects concern with changes in urban experience, as well as with physical displacement in the built environment. Reviewing the post-second world war history of US cities, as they replaced the 'urban village' with the 'corporate city', and more recent examples from New York City, I consider capital, the state, the growing power of the media and new middle-class tastes. Copyright (c) 2009 The Author. Journal Compilation (c) 2009 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Date: 2009

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