The City as Assemblage: Dwelling and Urban Space
Abstract：
In this paper, the author considers what “assemblage” might offer a conception of the city. Although assemblage is gaining currency in geography and beyond, there has been little effort to consider how it might be conceptualized and what its specificity might be. In offering a conceptualization of assemblage, the author brings assemblage into conversation with particular debates around dwelling and argue, first, that assemblage provides a useful basis for thinking of the city as a dwelling process and, second, that it is particularly useful for conceiving the spatiality of the city as processual, relational, mobile, and unequal. Despite their distinct intellectual histories, the author suggests there is a productive debate to be had by bringing assemblage and dwelling into dialogue. The author examines some of the ways in which assemblage and dwelling might interact and reflect on particular moments of fieldwork conducted in S?o Paulo and Mumbai and on diverse examples ranging from “slum” housing to urban policy and mobility.