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Open Cities 20 Redressing Asymmetry
The reason why ‘Open Cities’ is an object of debate is that many urban dwellers are questioning its reality. One way of reaching a judgement is to objectivise ‘openness’ of cities. Another is resistance to asymmetry of uninhibited access to the city. The former is pursued by the British Council which is supporting the development […]
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Open Cities 19 Gating Openness
Gated communities are the antinomy of openness. The collection of articles in ‘Gated Communities, Social Sustainability in Contemporary and Historical Gated Developments’, edited by Samer Bagaeen and Ola Uduku (Earthscan 2010) has the merit to cover all continents and to be written by authors who, on the whole come from the places they write about. […]
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Open Cities12 Power and Enclosure
Enclosures Fences, barriers, railings, walls, hedges, barricades, enclosures with their gates are all expressions of exclusion. They manifest the power of those who are in a position to exclude. Why should they put up barriers? What do these obstacles do for them, and against whom? Protection is invoked. Those behind enclosures are protecting themselves but […]