The Materiality of Urban Discourse

The author uses poststructuralist advances in discourse analysis to examine the ways the circulation of symbolic representations and characterizations of the city are useful to understanding urban restructuring. He defines the relationship between discourses about the city and the material or spatial practices that transform the built environment, and then he examines how stake-holders translate, adapt, and employ discourse about the inner city to facilitate changes in its social and physical environment. The employment of urban discourses serves to define urban restructuring as normal and beneficial, to legitimize the process of urban restructuring—especially its accompanying social costs—and to facilitate a new place identity.