By any means necessary: urban regeneration and the “state of exception” in Glasgow's Commonwealth Games 2014

Gray, N. and Porter, L. (2015) By any means necessary: urban regeneration and the “state of exception” in Glasgow's Commonwealth Games 2014. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography, 47(2), pp. 380-400. (doi: 10.1111/anti.12114)

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Abstract

When compulsory purchase for urban regeneration is combined with a sporting mega‐event, we have an archetypal example of what Giorgio Agamben called the “state of exception”. Through a study of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) on the site of the Athletes' Village for Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games, we expose CPOs as a classed tool mobilised to violently displace working class neighbourhoods. In doing so, we show how a fictionalised mantra of “necessity” combines neoliberal growth logics with their obscene underside—a stigmatisation logic that demonises poor urban neighbourhoods. CPOs can be used progressively, for example to abrogate the power of slum landlords for social democratic ends, yet with the increasing urbanisation of capital they more often target marginalised neighbourhoods in the pursuit of land and property valorisation. The growing use of CPOs as an exceptional measure in urbanisation, we argue, requires urgent attention in urban political struggles and policy practice.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Gray, Mr Neil
Authors: Gray, N., and Porter, L.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
Journal Name:Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
Publisher:Wiley
ISSN:0066-4812
ISSN (Online):1467-8330
Published Online:06 August 2014

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