PP&D 4 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Barely Breaking Even, Urban Contemporary
27 Apr 2018
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Reading Response week 2
What is Critical Urban Theory? By Neil Brenner In City Vol. 13 no. 2 2009
● “Shorthand reference to the writing of leftist or radical urban scholars during post-1968
period”
● Differs from the mainstream urban theory
● Suggests that a more democratic, socially just and sustainable form of urbanization is
possible
● Critique of ideology AND the critique of power, inequality, injustice and exploitation
● Marx and the critique of the political economy
○ Not only a critique of ideas and discoursed about capitalism but also a critique on
capitalism itself
● Important functions for this critique
○ Exposes forms of power, exclusion, injustice and inequality that underpin
capitalist social formations
○ It is intended to expose the ongoing and emergent socio political struggles
○ As a means to explore, in theory and in practice, the possibility of alternatives to
capitalism
● Critical theory is abstract
○ Characterized by epistemological and philosophical reflections
■ Development of formal concepts, generalizations about historical trends
■ Deductive and inductive modes of argumentation
■ Diverse forms of historical analysis
● Marcuse (1964, p. xii) insists that ‘the need for qualitative change is as pressing as ever
before [...] by society as a whole, for every one of its members’.
● The conception of critical theory rely on four propositions...
○ The need for abstract , theoretical arguments that regard the nature of urban
processes under capitalism, while people reject the conception of theory as
“handmaiden” to immediate, practical or instrumental concerns
○ Knowledge of urban questions, including critical perspectives, as being
historically specific and mediated through power relations
○ The concern to excavate possibilities for alternative, radically emancipatory forms
of urbanism that are latent, yet systematically suppressed, within contemporary
cities
● “What’s critical about critical theory?” - Habermas, Fraser
○ It is on a world scale - the meanings and modalities of critique can never be held
constant
○ Why critical theory? What makes it a good critique compared to other theories?
Document Summary
What is critical urban theory? by neil brenner in city vol. Shorthand reference to the writing of leftist or radical urban scholars during post-1968 period . Suggests that a more democratic, socially just and sustainable form of urbanization is possible. Critique of ideology and the critique of power, inequality, injustice and exploitation. Marx and the critique of the political economy. Not only a critique of ideas and discoursed about capitalism but also a critique on capitalism itself. Exposes forms of power, exclusion, injustice and inequality that underpin capitalist social formations. It is intended to expose the ongoing and emergent socio political struggles. As a means to explore, in theory and in practice, the possibility of alternatives to capitalism. Development of formal concepts, generalizations about historical trends. Marcuse (1964, p. xii) insists that the need for qualitative change is as pressing as ever before [] by society as a whole, for every one of its members".
