IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v60y2023i8p1497-1508.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Critical Commentary: Fickle spheres: The constant re/construction of the private and other new habits

Author

Listed:
  • Miko Hucko

Abstract

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed mechanisms of power and authority to enter new urban realms – especially the very relationships lived between friends and lovers in bedrooms and parks. All of a sudden, everyone has a right to know who we are close to, when and how, all for the sake of public health and safety, to ensure the further functioning of our established public health system. The new policies transform Western ideas of public and private spheres: our bedrooms have turned into the space of self-representation and workplaces at the same time. On the other hand, what had been known as public space before has turned into the space to be private in: a walk through the city alone or with an intimate person. Yet all of these tendencies come with increased surveillance, not only by our peers, but also through technologies such as tracing apps. The very possibility of privacy and ‘active’ publicity is being questioned, and, through this, the realm of the political. This paper traces the observed shifts in the nature of the private and public spheres through examples in German cities, tracing power via embodied experiences. Those traces are reorganised into three argumentative strands: re/constructing privacies, public space as non-place and the proliferation of the data body. Based on these observations the paper searches for emancipatory perspectives within the shifted spheres of urban social life.

Suggested Citation

  • Miko Hucko, 2023. "Critical Commentary: Fickle spheres: The constant re/construction of the private and other new habits," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(8), pages 1497-1508, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:60:y:2023:i:8:p:1497-1508
    DOI: 10.1177/00420980221095734
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420980221095734
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00420980221095734?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alison L Bain & Julie A Podmore, 2021. "Placing LGBTQ+ urban activisms," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(7), pages 1305-1326, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stathis G. Yeros & Leonardo Chiesi, 2022. "Trans Territorialization: Building Empowerment beyond Identity Politics," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Preetika Sharma & Kanchan Gandhi & Anu Sabhlok, 2023. "Queering utopia: Pride walks in modernist Chandigarh," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(14), pages 2799-2815, November.
    3. Karine Duplan, 2023. "What Would an Inclusive City for Gender and Sexual Minorities Be Like? You Need to Ask Queer Folx!," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 138-149.
    4. Karine Duplan, 2023. "Pinkwashing Policies or Insider Activism? Allyship in the LGBTIQ+ Governance–Activism Nexus," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 187-196.
    5. Marisa Turesky & Jonathan Jae-an Crisman, 2023. "50 Years of Pride: Queer Spatial Joy as Radical Planning Praxis," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 262-276.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:60:y:2023:i:8:p:1497-1508. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.