PRACTICES OF THE POLITICAL ZONING IN THEMODERN CITYSCAPE

Abstract

Following the great emphasis scholars make on cityscape, it is legit to examine also the political aspects of living in the urban space. According to Jacques Rancière’s notion of «politics» as the communicative confrontation of ideological constructs and social hierarchies, one can assume that the urban space is not homogenous. It is quite natural that the cityscape is usually fractioned: the can be zones of economic wealth, jurisdictions of city-planning regulation or even everyday beliefs of «good» and «bad» places. Besides, every social group existing in the city, being taken separately is the case for study. Nevertheless, in the political context the hierarchical system of the cityscape can be seen as more than mere combination of diverse economies. Hence, political zoning can be understood as the representation of the otherness constructed through negation of the communicative frames, which also creates its very own ideology. In the report are presented some examples of such phenomenon. Among them are: the reunification of ones divided Berlin, the notion of «safe space», spatial representations of political opposition in Russia et cetera.