CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2011
| Author | Varsányi, Kata |
|---|---|
| Title | The social life of ruins: urban exploration of abandoned spaces in Budapest |
| Summary | This paper focuses on the transitory, liminal state of urban buildings that have lost their functions but have not been assigned a new one to, i.e. abandoned architectural sites after and before being used. It does not aspire to contribute to the multilayered and multidisciplinary research dealing with the urban revitalization processes, but to present ethnographically the groups of people attracted to the abandoned spaces precisely due to their transitory nature. The paper aims to find the motivation behind such interest and to analyze it within / against their own discourse. I will observe methods and movements in Budapest that intend to rediscover the city at / through the above mentioned derelict spots, by different means: the practice of individual urban explorers, who regularly venture into the unseen and often off-limits parts of the city, sharing their stories with the public on blogs and forums; the "urban walks" organised by the Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre; and people who do not belong to either group but occasionally set out to discover hidden spots of the urban landscape. Based on interviews, participant observation, and the analysis of the online interfaces of the groups, the paper argues that all types of this broadly understood urban exploration can be seen as ‘tactics’ in the de Certeau-ian sense, and as such, these short, temporary visits to abandoned spaces that have lost the original strategic function offer the possibility, the freedom and the anti-structure to experience the city and its past from a new perspective. The practice of urban exploration raises questions concerning (self-) conscious urban citizenship (right to the city), patrimony, legality, and social memory. |
| Supervisor | Monterescu, Daniel; Naumescu, Vlad |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2011/varsanyi_kata.pdf |
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