The Paris Sewers and the Rationalization of Urban Space

Sewers are perhaps the most enigmatic of urban infrastructures. Most citizens of modern cities are aware of their existence, yet few could accurately describe their layout or appearance. This paper takes as its starting point a key moment in the cultural representation of urban space: the photographs of the Paris sewers taken by Félix Nadar in the early 1860s. These images capture a dramatic transformation in subterranean Paris, initiated in the early 1850s by Baron Georges Haussmann and his chief engineer Eugène Belgrand as part of the comprehensive reconstruction of the city's infrastructure during the Second Empire of Napoléon III. This paper argues, however, that with respect to the underground city, we cannot consider the Haussmann era to be the unproblematic epitome of modernity. The reconstruction of subterranean Paris revealed a series of tensions that were only to be resolved in the post-Haussmann era in response to the combined influence of growing water usage, the persistent threat of disease and changing conceptions of public health policy. It is concluded that the flow of water in Second Empire Paris is best conceived as a transitional phase in the radical reworking of relations between the body and urban form engendered by the process of capitalist urbanization.     

Urban politics: Theory and practice

Blair Badcock, Unfairly Structured Cities, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1984, pp. 395, $17.95 (paper).

John Halligan and Chris Paris (eds), Australian Urban Politics: critical perspectives, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1984, pp. 247, $12.95 (paper).     

The Civil Intifada:1 The Power and Politics of the Palestinian Census

The Palestinian census of December 1997 holds both symbolic power, grounding a national identity within an intended modern, sovereign structure, and instrumental value, serving as a basis for social and economic development. Some scholars privilege the role of domination in this enumeration process, imposing official categorizations on people for the purpose of state control. However, in this article I argue that the census also has the potential to promote resistance, contingent upon the nature of the agency implementing the process and the historical circumstances of the community engaged in this exercise. In this case, Palestinian and Israeli governments compete over the parameters of this research implementation, particularly within the confines of Jerusalem, recognized by each as its (intended and existing) capital. Based on personal interviews, official documents and secondary sources, I describe this process in relation to other attempts to articulate a Palestinian community, and characterize the census within the context of a Palestinian political struggle for sovereignty against a dominant Israeli state.     

明清北京城市社会空间结构概说

对明清时期北京城市的社会空间结构进行探讨,是从城市地理学与城市社会学的视角所作的历史研究.从其内部分区的人口密度可以看出,明清时期北京城市在空间上具有一些新的特点,且在不断变化,而这些特点和变化又分别体现在该时期北京的商业空间、居住空间和社会生活与人际交往空间等方面,由此可以使我们更加深刻和全面地了解明清北京城市的发展程度.     

Turkey and the Palestinian Question: The Shift of Roles in Foreign Policy

For Turkey, which was seeking a leading role in the Middle East, the Palestinian Question became a priority in its foreign policy during the late 1990s. In this article, it is argued that the role Turkey primarily espoused in the resolution of the Palestinian Question in the period 2000–2009 has mainly been that of a communicator. Nonetheless, in times of crises between Palestine and Israel, Ankara lost its neutrality and credibility to some extent, as it shifted to the role of guardian of Palestinians and proponent of Palestine, thereby undermining its communicator role. Finally, this dilemma in Turkish foreign policy in the Palestinian Question was the fundamental impediment to Turkey's sustainable and constructive contribution to the settlement of the problem in the examined period.     

中亚的地缘政治--历史和现实

一个多世纪以来 ,中亚的地缘政治格局和作用不断发生变化 ,并在不同时期以不同的方式影响着中国。“9·11”事件之后 ,中亚的地缘政治形势变得更加复杂 ,大国的、区域的、国际的利益交织在一起 ,成为全球关注的热点。阿富汗反恐战争的结束为中亚国家提供了国际合作的新通道 ,尽管中亚在国际地缘政治格局中的作用将越来越重要 ,但它不会成为新的地缘政治“核心地区”。     

西方城市史的理论研究

这是本作2002年10月22日在中国社会科学院世界历史研究所讲座的要,他介绍了西方城市史研究中的主要理论。第一部分从功能上对城市进行了区分;第二部分介绍了西方城市史学中最有影响的理论和学派。尽管这些理论都有时间和地域的局限,但是,在我们对城市进行研究时,这种功能的划分和理论仍具有指导意义。     

The Veil and Urban Space in Istanbul: Women's dress,mobility and Islamic knowledge

The issue of veiling marks an ideological fault line in urban Turkey. Based on focus groups conducted with migrant women to Istanbul in the spring of 1999, this article aims to show how veiling, as a form of dress, is a spatial practice that gains its significance through women's urban mobility and their construction of Islamic understandings in the city. At the same time, both urban mobility and Islamic knowledge are structured by wider relations of power, such as the struggle between the secular state and resurgent Islamic politics. In order to situate the practice of veiling within these structures, the author argues that Istanbul is marked by a pattern of shifting 'regimes of veiling,' and that these spatialized norms of dress affect the meaning and enactment of women's veiling choices. This concept is particularly useful to draw out the ways in which veiling, despite providing some protection from urban harassment, may actually constrain women's urban mobility in the context of Istanbul. The focus group analysis illustrates these points and demonstrates how women's views on Islam provide a basis for their attitudes towards veiling, mobility and space. The author suggests that among the participants, two main trends in Islamic understandings related to veiling can be observed: one towards the 'privatization' of religion along secularist lines, accompanied by a flexible attitude towards veiling, and another towards the public contestation of formal anti-veiling regimes justified in terms of knowledge gleaned through direct, textual engagement with Islam. In this way, this study aims to link veiling, as a socio-spatial practice, to the local, gendered production of Islamic knowledge in Istanbul.     

Archaeology Programs at the Palestinian Universities: Reality and Challenges

Over the past three centuries, Palestine, a country rich in historic and archaeological sites, has drawn many archaeologists, historians, scholars, clergymen, adventurers and treasure seekers, all wishing to study or, at times, to exploit the cultural heritage of the land. Historically, these Westerners have enjoyed the intellectual and financial fruits of their explorations, while the native population was traditionally relegated to the role of simple laborers in the field-work. Until 1977, when the President of Birzeit University, with the support of the Director of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, founded the archaeology program at Birzeit University, there was no indigenous institution dedicated to the preservation, protection and study of Palestine’s cultural heritage. Since then, four additional Palestinian universities—al-Quds University, an-Najah National University, Hebron University and the Islamic University of Gaza—have developed archaeological programs designed to train qualified professionals committed to the management, preservation, restoration and conservation of cultural resources throughout Palestine. Yet, despite the tireless efforts of countless dedicated men and women at these institutions, there exist numerous political, economic, social and bureaucratic obstacles that greatly diminish the operational effectiveness of these programs and, as a consequence, further jeopardize the future of Palestinian cultural heritage resources. The purpose of this analysis is to diagnose the actual efficacy of these programs so that Palestinian stakeholders and policymakers may develop legislative and bureaucratic remedies which will ensure the continued protection and preservation of the Palestinian cultural heritage.