Producing spaces : neoliberalization in the North of England

• Main Author: Martin, Daryl
• Published: University of York 2012
• Subjects: 307.76
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.583373

The present work is focused on the role of architecture and the built urban environment in helping us to understand how processes of neoliberal govern mentality are experienced in everyday life. The thesis sketches a sociologically informed analysis of newly emerging examples of domestic, commercial and public space in exurban sites in the North of England. It then compares how social practices in these sites resonate with those enacted in previous examples of buildings and spaces serving broadly similar purposes but built in traditional city centres in the Victorian and post-war periods. Through the study of nine case studies across historical periods and primary functions, the thesis attempts a longue duree of the neoliberalization of space as it has occurred in some of the most prominent centres of industrial capitalism. The case studies analysed in the thesis are: • Domestic space: The Allerton Bywater Millennium Community (which is compared with the historical developments of Saltaire in the Victorian era and Sheffield's Park Hill estate in the Post-War period); • Commercial space: The business, logistics and retail parks of Centre 27 on the M62 motorway (which are compared with Liverpool's Albert Docks in the Victorian era and central Manchester's Post-War Co-operative buildings); • Public space: The recent, televised regeneration project in Castleford (which is compared with the historical sites of Victorian Manchester's Free Trade Hall and the development of the University of Hull campus). The primary theoretical reference points are the writings of Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre, but the variety of sources and approaches used in the research also spans the literatures of architectural theory, social history, cultural geography, social policy and urban sociology. It argues for a post-disciplinary form of sociology that recognises the complexity of the social world, and reflects that in the methods it uses and the truth claims it makes.