Towards a new vocabulary of urbanisation processes: A comparative approach

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Scotland), 2018-01, Vol.55 (1), p.19-52
• Main Authors: Schmid, Christian, Karaman, Ozan, Hanakata, Naomi C, Kallenberger, Pascal, Kockelkorn, Anne, Sawyer, Lindsay, Streule, Monika, Wong, Kit Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Architecture, space management; Cartography; Colonies & territories; Comparative analysis; Comparative studies; Decolonization; Empirical analysis; Epistemology; Gentrification; Geography; Humanities and Social Sciences; Landscape; Mapping; Methodological approaches; Postcolonialism; Qualitative research; Research methodology; Sociology; Urban areas; Urban research; Urban studies; Urbanism; Urbanization; Vocabulary
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098017739750

Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as urban areas expand and interweave. In this process, urban forms are constantly changing and new urban configurations are frequently evolving. An adequate understanding of urbanisation must derive its empirical and theoretical inspirations from the multitude of urban experiences across the various divides that shape the contemporary world. New concepts and terms are urgently required that would help, both analytically and cartographically, to decipher the differentiated and rapidly mutating landscapes of urbanisation that are being produced today. One of the key procedures to address these challenges is the application of comparative strategies. Based on postcolonial critiques of urban theory and on the epistemologies of planetary urbanisation, this paper introduces and discusses the theoretical and methodological framework of a collaborative comparative study of urbanisation processes in eight large metropolitan territories across the world: Tokyo, Hong Kong/Shenzhen/Dongguan, Kolkata, Istanbul, Lagos, Paris, Mexico City and Los Angeles. In order to approach these large territories, a specific methodological design is applied mainly based on qualitative methods and a newly developed method of mapping. After the presentation of the main lines of our theoretical and methodological approach we discuss some of the new comparative concepts that we developed through this process: popular urbanisation, plotting urbanism, multilayered patchwork urbanisation and the incorporation of urban differences. 随着城市地区的扩大和相互交织，当代城市化进程给城市研宄和理论带来了重大挑战。在这个 过程中，城市形态不断变化，新的城市形态在不断演进。要充分理解城市化，我们必须从塑造 当代世界的大量纷纭歧出的城市经验中获得经验和理论层面的启发。如今正在产生的城市化格 局千差万别，并迅速变化，我们迫切需要新的概念和术语，在分析层面和图解层面帮助破译这 些格局。应对这些挑战的关键手段是应用比较策略。本文基于城市理论的后殖民批判和全域城 市化的认识论，介绍并讨论了对世界八大都市圈城市化进程进行协同比较研宄的理论和方法论 框架，这八大都市圈是：东京、香港/深圳/东莞、加尔各答、伊斯坦布尔、拉各斯、巴黎、墨 西哥城和洛杉矶。为着手探讨这些广大的都市圈，我们主要基于定性方法和新开发的测绘方法， 应用了一套特定的方法论设计。在介绍了我们主要的理论和方法论进路之后，我们讨论了在这 个过程中发展起来的一些新的比较概念：大众城市化、小块圈地式城市化、多层拼凑城市化以 及城市差异的纳入。