Abstract
State-led urban development projects, especially in non-democratic settings, are conducive to a top-down analytic that focuses on state planners and architects. The goal of this article is to explore how we might decentre this narrative and jointly consider elite and non-elite narratives, through an analysis of discourses of modernity as enacted in and through these statist urban projects. Deploying a practice-based analytic, I explore how notions of 'modernity' are performed and enacted through the exclusionary practices of elites and non-elites alike. Taking the case of Kazakhstan's new capital city, Astana, I examine how the state-led urban modernisation agenda simultaneously draws upon and re-inscribes a set of interlocking popular geographic imaginaries (Soviet/modern, urban/rural, north/south), and demonstrate how ordinary citizens are not just passive spectators, but active participants in the political drama of state- and city-building.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 432-443 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2014 |
Keywords
- Bordering
- Capital city
- Kazakhstan
- Modernity
- Practice turn
- Urbanism
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Earth-Surface Processes