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Fits-and-Starts: The Changing Nature of the Material City

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  • Aseem Inam

    (Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK)

Abstract

How and why does the material city in the late 20th and early 21st century change? This article examines one type of prominent urban change, which is “fits-and-starts” and represents change that is concentrated in space and time and that nonetheless has longer term repercussions with high economic and environmental costs. Through a review of the literature and an illuminating case study in Las Vegas, this article reveals how human perception and decision-making via two interrelated phenomena, future speculation and manufactured obsolescence, drive such change. The case study in Las Vegas is particularly fascinating because as a city of apparent extremes, it not only reveals in clear relief phenomena that are present in the capitalist city but it also offers insights into basic patterns of decision-making that actually shape—or design—the contemporary city. The article concludes with more general insights into the nature of this type of urban change and implications for alternative types of urban practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Aseem Inam, 2022. "Fits-and-Starts: The Changing Nature of the Material City," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 56-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v7:y:2022:i:1:p:56-71
    DOI: 10.17645/up.v7i1.4501
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Federico Savini, 2021. "Towards an urban degrowth: Habitability, finity and polycentric autonomism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(5), pages 1076-1095, August.
    2. Stephen Malpezzi & Susan Wachter, 2005. "The Role of Speculation in Real Estate Cycles," Journal of Real Estate Literature, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 141-164, January.
    3. Weber, Rachel, 2015. "From Boom to Bubble," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226294483, October.
    4. Laura Lieto, 2017. "How material objects become ?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 568-579, September.
    5. Aseem Inam, 2016. "Unveiling Vegas: urbanism at the nexus of private profit and public policy," Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 216-236, September.
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