The Paradox of Black Life: Discourses of Urban (Un)livability

dc.contributor.advisorKipfer, Stefan
dc.contributor.authorMohamud, Jamilla
dc.date.accessioned2021-03-10T22:25:10Z
dc.date.available2021-03-10T22:25:10Z
dc.date.issued2020-07-25
dc.description.abstractThe question of livability in the city has inspired plenty of debate amongst urban planning practitioners and scholars who have tried to define what constitutes a livable city and question, for whom is the livable city planned? (Okulics-Kozaryn, 2013, p. 438; Southworth, 2003). This research paper is concerned with thinking through the ways in which livability discourse fails to capture the lived experiences of low-income Black peoples and raises the question, how can a different ethics of livable city discourse – one that attends to the paradox of Black (un)livability –be imagined? This research paper applies a conceptual framework that brings into conversation discussions of urban livability with debates in various strands of Black radical traditions that discuss the paradox of Black life as both livable and unlivable. In doing so, this paper turns to Frantz Fanon’s theory of the zone of nonbeing in relation to Christina Sharpe’s theory of the wake, as part of an ethical and political project that reorients urban planning practices to more humanly livable future that considers the ways in which Blackness, “within and after the legacies of slavery’s denial of Black humanity”, inhabits/occupies and dwells in and across the dividing lines of livability and un-livability (Sharpe, 2016, p. 14 & 20).en_US
dc.identifier.citationMajor Paper, Master of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/38252
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsThe copyright for the paper content remains with the author.
dc.subjectLivabilityen_US
dc.subjectUrban Planningen_US
dc.subjectBlack Subjectivityen_US
dc.subjectAnti-Black Racismen_US
dc.titleThe Paradox of Black Life: Discourses of Urban (Un)livabilityen_US
dc.typeMajor paperen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
JM MES MP final.pdf
Size:
475.43 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.83 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: