Wallace, A orcid.org/0000-0002-6580-6641 and Wright, K orcid.org/0000-0002-1791-0401 (2022) The post-industrial English canalscape: from enclosure to enlacement. cultural geographies, 29 (2). pp. 185-202. ISSN 1474-4740
Abstract
In this article we explore how the English post-industrial canal has gone from enclosed and abandoned urban ruin to thriving but contested urban landscape. We contend that canals deserve closer social scientific attention in and of themselves but also as a creative entry point for understanding the instabilities and ambivalences of contemporary urban life. We probe at three dynamics in the English context: uneven cycles of attention from state, capital and civil society that ‘revealed’ the canal over the course of the 20th century; how the contemporary canalscape is made ‘from below’ and how its unique materiality as a stretched, socio-natural waterway has been mobilised, latterly, in biopolitical ways. We note how the cultivated meaning of these previously enclosed industrial relics is now deeply entwined with the mood and mobility of urban dwellers. Methodologically, we excavate these three dimensions through a synthesis of phenomenological attunement and analysis of historical, literary and social scientific accounts.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | canals, mobilities, post-industrial, ruins, urban nature, urbanisation, waterways |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Sociology and Social Policy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 02 Aug 2021 13:31 |
Last Modified: | 27 Jul 2022 12:46 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/14744740211029275 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:176508 |