Haussmannization in the tropics: Abject urbanism and infrastructural violence in Nicaragua

Rodgers, D. (2012) Haussmannization in the tropics: Abject urbanism and infrastructural violence in Nicaragua. Ethnography, 13(4), pp. 413-438. (doi: 10.1177/1466138111435740)

Abstract

This article considers the underlying dynamics of the elite-oriented urban transformation that Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, has undergone during the past decade and a half. It begins by drawing a cross-historical comparison between Managua 19s metropolitan makeover and a paradigmatic case of planned urban change, that of 19th-century Parisian Haussmannization, in order to highlight the systemic and purposeful nature of the former 19s transformation from a top-down perspective. It then focuses ethnographically on the grassroots consequences of specific instances of infrastructural development that have affected two poor neighbourhoods in the city, providing a bottom-up view on the way that these have constituted the poor communities as 18pacified spaces 19, to the extent that their inhabitants can be said to have internalized a form of 18abject urbanism 19 that actively contributes to sustaining the unequal spatial order of the city. When seen from this perspective, the planned urban transformation of Managua emerges as a systemic form of violence mediated by the workings of infrastructure, a process that I suggest can be termed 18infrastructural violence 19.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Rodgers, Professor Dennis
• Authors: Rodgers, D.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Ethnography
• ISSN: 1466-1381
• ISSN (Online): 1741-2714
• Published Online: 12 April 2012