Infrastructuring Assemblies - by Markus Miessen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An investigation into social and political assembly and how urban infrastructure can support pluralism, social resilience, and democracy.

Infrastructuring Assemblies investigates the phenomenon of social and political assembly while speculating on the potential of proximity and urban (micro-)infrastructure as a form of cultural resistance. Around the globe, pluralist democratic culture is under populist attack, and we are increasingly confronted with the question of what kind of democracy one is referring to--as if there were many. On campuses, which have been historically considered sites of free speech and protest, forms of assembly are now being carefully curated; manicured like framed self-referential objects in a white cube.

As an initial point of departure, Infrastructuring Assemblies delivers a series of conceptual framings and door openers around the notion of urban agonism. Contrary to the conception of spatial production as an autonomous object with singular authorship, it argues that the methodologies inherent in critical spatial practices are crucial to activate processes of public negotiation and everyday urbanism in conversation and exchange with its environment. The action that is being described here will be referred to as infrastructuring--something you do rather than taking it for granted.

When we consider forms of urban resistance, we may think of temporary instances such as the global Occupy! movement, the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, or most recently, the student protests across campuses in the United States. All of those modes of resistance have one aspect in common--their temporary nature, born out of the necessity of the moment. Yet we might also consider infrastructures and protocols that can assist more long-term forms of urban infrastructure and retrofitting towards democratic futures and agonistic assemblies.

Contributors
Anita Osorio, Clemens v. Wedemeyer, Diane E. Davis, Georgeen Theodore, Gustav Eden, Hannes Grassegger, iLiana Fokianaki, Keller Easterling, Kenny Cupers, Mariette Schiltz & Edna Gee, Marija Maric, Markus Miessen & César Reyes, Martha Rosler, Miguel Robles-Duran, Mirjam Zadoff, Najha Zigbi-Johnson, Neeraj Bhatia, Neftalie Williams, Pablo Prado, and Torange Khonsari.

About the Author

Markus Miessen is an architect, writer, and Professor of Urban Regeneration at the University of Luxembourg, where he holds the Chair of the City of Esch. Miessen has previously taught at the AA, The Berlage, Städelschule, USC LA, and has been a Harvard Fellow. His work revolves around questions of critical spatial practice, institution building, and spatial politics. As a spatial consultant, he currently works with The Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism. Among many other books and writings, Miessen is the author of The Nightmare of Participation (Sternberg Press, 2011) and Crossbenching (Sternberg Press, 2016).