In the Midst of the Revolution

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to explore the political agency of the rond-point, an element of infrastructural design which, since the 1980s, has become a ubiquitous feature of urban planning across the French territoire. Doesn’t the fact that the gilets jaunesseem to choose the periphera...

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Main Author: Lutz Robbers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2021-02-01
Series:Footprint
Online Access:https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/4735
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author Lutz Robbers
author_facet Lutz Robbers
author_sort Lutz Robbers
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The purpose of this essay is to explore the political agency of the rond-point, an element of infrastructural design which, since the 1980s, has become a ubiquitous feature of urban planning across the French territoire. Doesn’t the fact that the gilets jaunesseem to choose the peripheral roundabouts as their preferred sites of political contestation – while ignoring the square in the town centre – attest to a proverbial political unconscious? What makes the centres of the roundabouts amidst the informal peri-urban space such attractive mediators for the political causes of the gilets jaunes? The fact that thousands of yellow vests perseveringly chose to assemble at or on roundabouts requires us to come up with alternative ways of thinking the spatial settings for the appearance, the representation and the practice of ‘the political’, the res publicaor public matter. Keywords Architectural theory, political theory, contention, infrastructure
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institution Kabale University
issn 1875-1504
1875-1490
language English
publishDate 2021-02-01
publisher TU Delft OPEN Publishing
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spelling doaj-art-18b5a7174e8b4a7caea970ed9f8654592025-02-03T06:46:03ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingFootprint1875-15041875-14902021-02-01142In the Midst of the RevolutionLutz RobbersAbstract The purpose of this essay is to explore the political agency of the rond-point, an element of infrastructural design which, since the 1980s, has become a ubiquitous feature of urban planning across the French territoire. Doesn’t the fact that the gilets jaunesseem to choose the peripheral roundabouts as their preferred sites of political contestation – while ignoring the square in the town centre – attest to a proverbial political unconscious? What makes the centres of the roundabouts amidst the informal peri-urban space such attractive mediators for the political causes of the gilets jaunes? The fact that thousands of yellow vests perseveringly chose to assemble at or on roundabouts requires us to come up with alternative ways of thinking the spatial settings for the appearance, the representation and the practice of ‘the political’, the res publicaor public matter. Keywords Architectural theory, political theory, contention, infrastructurehttps://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/4735
spellingShingle Lutz Robbers
In the Midst of the Revolution
Footprint
title In the Midst of the Revolution
title_full In the Midst of the Revolution
title_fullStr In the Midst of the Revolution
title_full_unstemmed In the Midst of the Revolution
title_short In the Midst of the Revolution
title_sort in the midst of the revolution
url https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/4735
work_keys_str_mv AT lutzrobbers inthemidstoftherevolution