TY - CHAP

T1 - IHM-agining sustainability

T2 - Urban imaginaries in spaces of possibility

AU - Kagan, Sacha

PY - 2018/1/1

Y1 - 2018/1/1

N2 - Urban “spaces of possibility” for sustainable urban development are constituted to a significant extent by the spaces opened up for imaginative processes, enriching urban imaginaries with potentially radical imagination and pointing towards possibilities for urban transformation. Spaces of possibility are both spaces of imagination and spaces of experimentation, and the integration of imaginative and experimental experiential processes enhances their relevance for potential urban transformations. This chapter focuses on the relationships between (physical, social, and mental) spaces fostering sustainability-related imagination and the unfolding imaginaries of sustainability in such spaces. It is based on the empirical investigation of the development of imagination and imaginaries across five grassroots initiatives/projects/networks in the city of Hanover, Germany (in the Linden district, alongside the Ihme River). The empirical research insights reveal how these imaginaries are both emplaced and place-making, how they facilitate cooperation in urban society through balancing dialogical and dialectic communication processes, and how experimentation and imagination are mutually constitutive in such spaces. These insights strongly suggest that urban imaginaries, when researched in relation to urban spaces of possibility and to (changes in) social institutions, should become a central concern in research into sustainable urban development.

AB - Urban “spaces of possibility” for sustainable urban development are constituted to a significant extent by the spaces opened up for imaginative processes, enriching urban imaginaries with potentially radical imagination and pointing towards possibilities for urban transformation. Spaces of possibility are both spaces of imagination and spaces of experimentation, and the integration of imaginative and experimental experiential processes enhances their relevance for potential urban transformations. This chapter focuses on the relationships between (physical, social, and mental) spaces fostering sustainability-related imagination and the unfolding imaginaries of sustainability in such spaces. It is based on the empirical investigation of the development of imagination and imaginaries across five grassroots initiatives/projects/networks in the city of Hanover, Germany (in the Linden district, alongside the Ihme River). The empirical research insights reveal how these imaginaries are both emplaced and place-making, how they facilitate cooperation in urban society through balancing dialogical and dialectic communication processes, and how experimentation and imagination are mutually constitutive in such spaces. These insights strongly suggest that urban imaginaries, when researched in relation to urban spaces of possibility and to (changes in) social institutions, should become a central concern in research into sustainable urban development.

KW - Cultural Distribution/Cultural Organization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059550093&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9781315163956

DO - 10.4324/9781315163956

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

AN - SCOPUS:85059550093

SN - 9781138058880

SP - 76

EP - 89

BT - The Routledge Companion to Urban Imaginaries

A2 - Lindner, Christoph

A2 - Meissner, Miriam

PB - Taylor and Francis Inc.

CY - London

ER -