Rethinking the Right to the City: DIY Urbanism and Postcapitalist Possibilities

Abstract

Lefebvre’s “right to the city” concept is often used to describe how individuals are challenging late capitalism and neoliberal development by appropriating urban space for collective use. While some argue that DIY urbanism can be framed as a right to the city, others dismiss its political potential. However, dominant interpretations of right to the city do not engage with Lefebvre’s interest in the body and affect, themes that resonate with both Gibson-Graham’s politics of becoming as well as DIY urbanism. By identifying these linkages, this essay constructs an alternative, vital reading of Lefebvre’s right to the city in order to explore the radical potential of DIY urbanism. It grounds this theoretical framework in an ethnographic case study of DIY projects enacted between 2012 and 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. The essay then discusses the importance of highlighting the micropolitics of everyday urban life in order to identify and nurture their postcapitalist possibilities.

Key Words:

• DIY Urbanism
• Henri Lefebvre
• Micropolitics
• Postcapitalism
• Right to the City

Notes

1 See Park(ing) Day Manual, Rebar, accessed 25 April 2020, https://www.asla.org/uploadedFiles/CMS/Events/Parking_Day_Manual_Consecutive.pdf.

2 See Fort Worth’s Urban Village Development Program, City of Fort Worth Planning and Development Department, accessed 25 April 2020, https://fortworthtexas.gov/uploadedFiles/PlanningandDevelopment/My_Urband_Village/Urban%20Village%20Development%20Program%20Brochure-4-03-06_streets%20labeled(1).pdf.

3 Interview with city planner, 15 September 2015. All interviews were conducted confidentially, and identifying information has been removed by mutual agreement.

4 See “How to Build a Better Block,” Better Block, accessed 19 October 2015, https://9a270e0f-c7cd-4b82-b5e3-0e94a2987dcd.filesusr.com/ugd/256d25_3814a18fafbd4ac783f4a1b81ff2ab28.pdf.

5 Interview with volunteer, 5 March 2015.

6 Interview with artist, 2 April 2013.

7 Interview with participant, 17 December 2014.

8 Interview with volunteer, 30 July 2013.

9 Interview with volunteer, 5 March 2015.

10 Interview with volunteer, 30 July 2013.

11 Interview with artist, 13 January 2013.

12 Interview with volunteer, 17 December 2014.

13 Interview with participant, 22 January 2015.

14 Interview with volunteer, 16 March 2016.

15 Personal communication with artist, 16 June 2016.