Politics in the Crevices: Urban Design and the Making of Property Markets in Cairo and Istanbul

In Politics in the Crevices, Sarah El-Kazaz explores how the battle for housing has shifted from traditional political arenas to private crevices of the city, with multiple actors using urban design to empower conflicting agendas. She raises critical questions about the role of market reforms in redistributing resources and challenges readers to rethink neoliberalism and its impact on cities and polities.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 03 November 2023
Publisher: Duke University Press

In her captivating book, Politics in the Crevices, Sarah El-Kazaz delves deep into the intricate world of urban planning and design practices in Istanbul and Cairo. Through a transnational ethnography of neighborhoods undergoing rapid transformations, she unveils how the battle for housing has shifted from traditional political arenas to the private crevices of the city. El-Kazaz meticulously outlines how a diverse range of actors, from highly capitalized international NGOs and corporations to city dwellers, bureaucrats, and planning experts, employ strategic urban design to empower conflicting agendas. Whether it's manipulating property markets to safeguard affordable housing or cornering luxury real estate, these actors leverage meticulous urban planning to further their own interests.

El-Kazaz's insightful analysis reveals that these contemporary politicizations of urban design stem from unresolved struggles at the heart of messy transitions from the welfare state to neoliberalism. These transitions have reshaped the politics of redistribution, shifting them from contested political arenas to design practices operating within market logics. As a result, political struggles have found a new home in the city's most intimate crevices.

Through her thought-provoking book, El-Kazaz raises critical questions about the role of market reforms in redistributing resources and challenges readers to reevaluate neoliberalism and its profound impact on cities and polities. She encourages us to rethink the fundamental ways in which neoliberalism shapes urban landscapes and the lives of its inhabitants. Politics in the Crevices is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complex dynamics of urban development, the power of design, and the ongoing struggles for social justice in the modern world.

Weight: 522g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478020493