Krzysztof Wodiczko, Homeless Vehicle, 1988 (Source: Medienkunstnetz.de)
‘Some things have to be done that are going to be ultimately very good for the city.” Donald Trump, 28th February, 1997
Neoliberal urbanization, and its ‘common sense logic’, has many spatial articulations. These range from high-rise condominiums offering an exquisite privatized life, to seductive advertising hoardings, and shiny new public spaces, often portrayed as free from political and economic significance, bar their ‘openness’. Underneath this image-making strategy is a highly complex and well-oiled machine of real estate financialization with all its trappings, including the intensified regulation of urban space. The close alignment of image-making and pursuit of private profit with the regulation of space has, at least since Rudolf Giuliani’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to policing of the 1990’s, served to produce what Neil Smith labelled the ‘revanchist city’:
“Revanchism blends revenge with reaction. It represents a reaction against the basic assumptions…
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