***Session change***
Unfortunately, the session on 'The Spatial Meaning of Concentration Camps' originally scheduled to take place this month has had to be cancelled. Please see below for details about the great new topic we have lined up!
This session will now focus on 'Post-Fordist Spatial Transformation' and will be led by Isha Pearce, a first-year PhD student from CLAS. Isha has kindly provided the below introduction to the topic:
In the 50s and 60s the advanced capitalist countries (USA, Britain, France, Germany, Japan) adopted what has been called a Fordist mode of production (based on industrialized, standardized mass production). In the 70s this began to give way to more flexible forms of production and accumulation, leading to: a move away from manufacturing and towards the service sector; more flexible working patterns; and the feminization of the workplace. I am interested in how this economic shift, known as post-Fordism, has had an impact on spatial organisation, spatial experience, and how we relate to the spaces around us, for example:
- Change in the role and appearance of homes
- Urban sprawl
- Out of town shopping complexes
- Increases in number of commercialized leisure spaces
- Changing appearance of cities
To begin the discussion I have attached two things. Christopherson's chapter is a good introduction to the topic. Don't worry if you don't get time to read all of Harvey's chapter, he summarizes his argument in the first few pages.
- Susan Christopherson, 'The Fortress City', in Post-Fordism: A Reader, ed. by Ash Amin (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994)
- David Harvey, 'Time-Space Compression and the Postmodern Condition', in The Condition of Postmodernity: The Origins of Cultural Change (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1990)
As usual, readings will be circulated in advance to those on the mailing list.
All postgraduates and staff welcome!