Grids: Re-considering Infrastructural Politics of Urban Space
pdf

Keywords

Grid Patterns Cultural Techniques Urban Grids City Form Surveillance Society Urban Planning Immunopolitics Media of Control Frontier Studies Infrastructure Studies

How to Cite

1. Kolesnikova D. Grids: Re-considering Infrastructural Politics of Urban Space // Journal of Frontier Studies. 2024. № 1 (9). C. 187-210.

Abstract

For many centuries, the principle of linear planning based on a grid pattern has played a significant role in the spatial organization of urban boundaries. Additionally, the grid principle has formed the basis for policies and practices related to the emergence of “disciplinary societies”, leading to the modern networked society. Drawing on the concept of the grid as a cultural technique by media philosopher Bernhard Siegert, this article examines the functioning of the grid as epistemic frameworks and the media of representation, order, and filteration. The article also provides insights into the manifestation of the grid principle in the context of the emerging field of social research on infrastructures, including the digital infrastructure of smart cities. This encompasses a wide spectrum, from smart devices and everyday communication to pervasive sensors and big data, from the sharing of images and impressions to advanced prosthetics, from the development of smart cities to the deployment of surveillance technologies and predictive algorithms. Through a range of case studies, from the study of structured territorial control of the Roman limitatio to the efficient grid patterns of pre-fabricated housing districts worldwide, the research examines the potential and transhistorical nature of the grid principle. The article is intended for media philosophers, anthropologists, urbanists and digital culture theorists.

https://doi.org/10.46539/jfs.v9i1.547
pdf

References

Aristotle. (1992). Politics (J. A. Sinclair, Trans.). Penguin.

Bennett, J. (2001). Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press.

Carstensen, V. (1988). Patterns on the American Land. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 18(4), 31–39. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a037752

Corbusier, L. (1991). Precisions on the present state of architecture and city planning. MIT Press.

Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the Societies of Control. October, 59, 3–7.

Deleuze, G. (2006). The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque (T. Conley, Trans.). London.

Diamanti, J. (2019). Afterword. Soapbox: Journal for Cultural Analysis, 1(2), 222–223.

Esposito, R. (2021). Immunitas. Schutz und Negation des Lebens [Immunity. Protection and negation of life]. Diaphanes Verlag. (In German).

Folkers, A. (2018). Das Sicherheitsdispositiv der Resilienz. Katastrophische Risiken und die Biopolitik vitaler Systeme [The security apparatus of resilience. Catastrophic risks and the biopolitics of vital systems]. Campus. (In German).

Folkers, A., & Lemke, T. (Eds.). (2014). Biopower. A Reader. Suhrkamp.

Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality, Vol 1: An Introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). Pantheon.

Foucault, M. (2002). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (2nd ed.). Routledge Classics.

Frolov, V. (2019). The Smartization of the City. Interview with Hans Ibeling. Project Baltia, 34, 26–31. (In Russian).

Klose, A. (2005). From Grid to Box – the Containerization of Modern Architecture. Workshop „City – Media – Space“. http://www.containerwelt.info./pdf/Prague_Lecture.pdf

Lisovsky, V. (2019). Urban Space: Picturesque Freedom or Distinc Organization? Project Baltia, 34, 40–45.(In Russian).

Lobanov, E. (2019). Smart City: Between Utopia and Dystopia. Project Baltia, 34, 32–39.(In Russian).

Loick, D., & Thompson, V. E. (2022). Abolitionismus: Ein Reader [Abolitionism: A Reader]. Suhrkamp Verlag. (In German).

Neufert, E. (1961). Bauordnungslehre: Handbuch für rationelles Bauen nach geregeltem Mass. Frankfurt/M. and Berlin.

Pannekoek, L., & Dankert, Z. (2019). Editorial. Soapbox: Journal for Cultural Analysis, 1(2), 7–9.

Siegert, B. (2015). Cultural techniques: Grids, filters, doors, and other articulations of the real. Fordham University Press. https://doi.org/10.5422/fordham/9780823263752.001.0001

Smith, T. (2014). Binding Economies: Tectonics and Sieve. Versäumnisse. Texte Zur Kunst, 24(94), 167–170.

Stoppani, T. (2009). Grid Effects. ARQ Architecture Research Quarterly, 12(3–4), 255–262. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135508001188

Szeman, I., & Boyer, D. (2017). Energy Humanities: An Anthology. Johns Hopkins University Press. https://doi.org/10.56021/9781421421889

Vannini, Ph., & Taggart, J. (2014). Off the Grid: Re-Assembling Domestic Life. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/978020374406

Virilio, P. (1986). Speed and Politics: An Essay on Dromology. Semiotexte.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.