Whose city? What politics? Contentious and non-contentious spaces on Colorado’s Front Range

Don Mitchell, Kafui Attoh and Lynn Staeheli
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Don Mitchell: Syracuse University, USA
Kafui Attoh: City University of New York, USA
Lynn Staeheli: Durham University, UK

Urban Studies, 2015, vol. 52, issue 14, 2633-2648

Abstract: Drawing on research from Colorado’s Front Range (the Denver/Boulder metropolitan area), this paper examines the validity of the ‘post-political’ hypothesis for explaining contentiousness and non-contentiousness in urban space. Examining major urban redevelopment efforts in Denver and a controversy over homeless people sleeping in public space in Boulder, we suggest that the literature on post-politics too narrowly circumscribes the realm of political action and in so doing loses analytical force and risks misunderstanding the nature of political engagement in the city. By contrast, a less circumscribed, more supple definition of politics allows for a better understanding of how the question of ‘Whose City?’– who the city is for – is always up for grabs. The appearance of post-political consensus, when it occurs, is itself a political achievement, the making of a hegemony, not an explanation.

Keywords: consensus; dissensus; homeless organising; post-politics; urban redevelopment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:14:p:2633-2648

DOI: 10.1177/0042098014550460

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