Space and Environment
- P-ISSN1225-6706
- E-ISSN2733-4295
- KCI
ISSN : 1225-6706
Vol.32 No.1
Abstract
This thesis case studies the production of Electronic Entry Register as a spatiality during the covid-19 pandemic in the city of Seoul. Electronic Entry Register is a spatial strategy that the South Korean government developed to control the circulation of bodies on the move as a response to the pandemic. Showcasing an experimental and a short-term approach typically intensified in times of an emergency, its developments indicate how digital technologies mediate organisations of the urban. Criticising undertheorization of human agencies in the production of digitally mediated space, this thesis adopts a posthumanist approach to bring forward the data-producing bodies to study how digitally mediated spaces come into being. For example, some of the research participants came to embody digital speed by using the ‘shaking’ or automation functions of the smartphones, to erase frictions and to further compress time inside their smartphones; ultimately leading to minimisation of time-space at the sites of the Electronic Entry Register across the city of Seoul. Posthumanist perspective helps the researcher overcome the dichotomous spatial imagination where human beings are often deemed to be ‘surrounded’ by digital urban environments. As Lefebvre (2013) asserts that time-space is produced through practice, the posthuman performances by the citizens of Seoul reproduced the instantaneous materiality of the digital onto the urban landscape. This thesis proposes that the study of digitally mediated cities, including smart city discourse, could take posthumanist perspective more productively.
Abstract
This study examines how the mobile communication infrastructure permeated the existing urban space during the introduction of wireless mobile communication. The digital transformation of urban space began in earnest with the introduction and popularization of wireless mobile communication. The telecommunication infrastructure prior to mobile communication was created as an invisible one that provides horizontal and linear connectivity along the existing urban infrastructure such as roads and electric power grids. On the other hand, mobile communication required a new infrastructure that was premised on vertical and areal delivery of mobile communication services based on cellular communication technology in the last mile. The spread of this mobile communication infrastructure was functionally visualized as the installation of mobile communication base stations, and spatially in the form of occupying the roofs of intermediate buildings. The upgrade to 5G is progressing slowly, but it is expected to accelerate the increase in base stations in the end. The rooftop of the neighborhood has traditionally been in charge of functions such as storage, yard, and residence, and has recently been attracting attention as a place of green space, solar power, and commercial space. As a new mobile communication infrastructure, the base station, which has been positioned on the roof of an intermediate building, collides with the existing functions of the roof, and is reconstructing the politics of the rooftop space in the era of smart city.
Abstract
This study attempted to understand the workplace geographies of food delivery platform workers as an example of place-making that displaced persons practice. This study defined displacement as an unstable socio-political state of beings separated from individual and collective identity and recognition as a member of society due to social change in a broader context, paying attention to the possibility of resistance of displacement as a temporary state and process that triggers the reconstruction of the place. In this approach, the phenomenon that the current labor law does not recognize platform workers as workers by judging the status of workers based on their exclusiveness can be analyzed as displacement. Displaced food delivery platform workers were reconstructing their place based on relationships in the workplace outside the ‘place of workers’ defined by legal boundaries. Specifically, food delivery platform workers were reconstructing the place of workers in the displaced workplace through material and non-material relations between heterogeneous bodies formed in four relatums: technology, encountering, shared senses of fear and pain, and social norms.
Abstract
In order to see a theoretical context of debate between the Anthropocene and the Capitalocene which has attracted a lot of interests in recent ecological discourse, this paper is to reconsider in comparison main contents of J.B. Foster’s theory of metabolic rift and J. Moore’s theory of world ecology. and central issues of what the former calls ‘epistemic rift’ between them. Drawing out and theorizing the concept of metabolic rift from Marx’s works, Foster understands metabolic rift=alienation=dialectics, while Moore criticizes Foster’s theory in several aspects as deeply committed to the Cartesian dualism, arguing metabolic rift=separation=dualism. Defining capitalism as ‘a way of organizing nature’, Moore has developed what he calls ‘world ecology’, and tried to describe history of capitalism since the longue 16 century, newly proposing or reconstructing various concepts such as unpaid work/energy, exploitation and appropriation, cheap nature, commodity frontier, abstract nature, value relation, ecological surplus value, negative value, etc. But Foster asserts Moore’s world ecology as a hyper-social constructionist or left anthropocentric monism, criticizing that it has strayed from Marx’s historical dialectics and law of value. This theoretical rift or conflict seems to have arisen, since there may be some difficulties or limitations in arguments for their own theory and there seems to be some misunderstanding or distorted interpretation of each other’s theory in their critique and anti-critique. Yet, their arguments can be seen not as contradicting but as supporting and remedying each other’s limitations and weaknesses. Thus, we need to consolidate these theories, especially in relation with Marx’s theory of alienation and that of value, in order to reconstruct relationship between capitalism and nature.
Abstract
This article explores the place-making of Vietnamese married immigrant women in South Korea through Vietnamese language classes for multicultural children. Utilizing mixed qualitative research methods, including participant observation and narrative interviews, the study presents several findings. The paper first contends that Vietnamese language classes constitute one kind of place-making for Vietnamese married immigrant women and explores the meaning of place-making among these women. Accordingly, these women face certain barriers in performing place-making, as their gender roles as foreign wives and mothers are deeply embedded in the discourse of the host society. Thus, it leads to the desire to engage in place-making in a form as simple as speaking their language, along with their engagement with Vietnamese language classes for their children. This study contributes to the feminist discussion as well as place-making discussion by combining gender, race, and ethnicity in the consideration. Keywords:married immigrant women, place-making, marriage migration, Vietnam, South Korea
Abstract
This study points out that the pedestrian issue has drawn critical attention to the existing discussion of new town planning and suggests that walking needs to be modified with the mobility perspective. While existing new town walking planning element for the development of accessibility and high density, it is argued that there is a lack of concern about walking itself. When considering walking as mobility, the meaning of walking, the social value caused by walking, and the democracy and rights guaranteed by walking emerge as essential considerations. This case study examines the walking plans of Korean New Town Planning from the first to the third phase. It confirms that walking has been utilized in the mainstream planning discourse, particularly on the relationship between automobiles and walking, environmentally- friendly and sustainable plans, and community-based planning. The third phase of the new town planning needs to develop an apparatus that includes various family forms, including the socially vulnerable. Above all, it is necessary to draw social consensus on and prioritize the value of walking in the new town planning.