"Walking in the City"
from The Cultural Studies Reader
(Routledge, 1993)
by Michel de Certeau
In this article, de Certeau writes,
"one can analyse the microbe-like, singular and plural practices which an urbanistic system was supposed to administer or suppress, but which have outlived its decay; one can follow the swarming activity of these procedures that far from being regulated or eliminated by panoptic administration, have reinforced themselves in a proliferating illegitimacy, developed and insinuated themselves into the networks of surveillance, and combined in accord with unreadable but stable tactics to the point of constituting everyday regulations and surreptitious creativities that are merely concealed by the frantic mechanisms and discourses of the observational organization" (156).
The tension between the "collective administration" and "individual modes of reappropriation" (157) that de Certeau illustrates here reminded me of the "Tower of David" in Caracas, Venezuela (link to video below). The "Tower of David" is considered the tallest slum. It is housed in the Centro Financiero Confinanzas, which is a partly finished skyscraper, a result of a failed bank. 2,500 people live in the tower and contribute to communal amenities such as electricity and water. What's interesting about this slum is the attitude towards it of government officials compared to those who actually live there.
In the video, a Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Guillermo Barrios, says, "This is not a better or nice use of an abandoned structure" and that the real solution would be to build proper housing with public services for the people. Barrios is out of touch with the reality of the situation, which is that the country has a huge housing problem that isn't easily solved. The tenants of the "Tower of David" have been able to do what the government hadn't, which is provide housing in the first place. Obviously, this situation is far from ideal. However, it's also not "anti-housing" or "anti-residence" as Barrios puts it.
This example shows how an entire community and economy can arise in a city in a hectic and unplanned way. I think that de Certeau's article points to a lot of the misconceptions of the "city" and community that are obvious in the "Tower of David," just as with the gridlock highways and their street vendors.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1p9jlQUW0k