ABSTRACT
Whether urban redevelopment is considered a “success” or “failure” is dependent on the temporal framings that we privilege. Until relatively recently, geographers have neglected the temporal politics that underpin urban redevelopment despite space-time being a crucial aspect framing the urban experience under capitalism. In this paper we argue for a focus on temporal politics or the politics associated with how time is experienced. Drawing on a case study of a market streetscape from Dublin (Ireland), we argue that cities need to be understood as shaped by multiple, fluid and contingent temporal framings and temporalities. Secondly, despite attempts by various stakeholders to control time and timeframes for particular ends, our case study highlights the impotence of planning and the challenges both time and urban temporalities raise for urban governance. Both space and its temporal framings are fraught with contestation, complicating any potential analysis of urban policy success and failure.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by an Irish Research Council New Horizons research grant. The authors are grateful to Zhao Zhang and Niall Traynor who assisted with data collection, and to members of the Critical Political Economy cluster at University College Dublin, to Clare Mouat, John Lauermann, Cristina Temenos, and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.