Brigitta Schmidt-LauberGeorg Wolfmayr

Doing city

Other urbanities and the negotiation of city in everyday practices

Shortlink: https://www.waxmann.com/artikelART102330

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Abstract

Urban studies (in European Ethnology) are dominated by a persistent metrocentrism. Metrocentrism is characterized by a one-sided concentration on large cities and metropolises and is based on a normative conception of urbanity, which is closely linked with classic notions of modernity and does only consider certain (i. e. ‘Western’) milieus, situations and spaces. Cities and city life beyond this restriction are neglected and have become fields off the map, such as cities in the southern hemisphere and above all smaller towns. This contribution reflects the underlying hierarchization and presents a praxeological approach to studying the constructed nature, processuality and performativity of relations and categories of cities. Using the example of the cities of Wels in Upper Austria and Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, it demonstrates how practices of doing place, size and scale can be studied ethnographically.

Keywords
metrocentrism, urbanity, urban way of life, urban studies, praxeology of scale and size

APA citation
Schmidt-Lauber, B. & Wolfmayr G. (2016). Doing city: Other urbanities and the negotiation of city in everyday practices. Journal for European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis, 1(2), 81-103. https://www.waxmann.com/artikelART102330