Writing Performing Cities: An Introduction

Abstract

The main aim of Performing Cities, as a whole, is to explore a range of approaches to writing (about) urban space from the point of view of performance (studies). In other words, to consider what forms the articulation of an urban research practice, refracted through the optic of performance (studies), might take. On the one hand, this endeavour will involve attempting tofind ways of writing the city that encapsulate or replicate performatively the implicit movement, rhythm and morphology of cities, which may include, of course, taking into account the actions and behaviours of bodies that inhabit the space of the city. On the other hand, it will entail writing about the city analytically, emphasizing the performative tensions produced by various uses, occupations and contestations of urban space.