This article examines conflicts concerning urban space, focusing on relationships between autonomous space and neoliberal urbanism through the empirical example of the cultural centre AKC Metelkova ...Mesto in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Through a thematic discourse analysis of activist interviews and collective statements by activist groups connected to Metelkova, research questions concern how urban conflict is constructed from the vantage point of autonomous space; what role autonomous space is assigned in relation to such conflict; and how tensions and antagonisms within the autonomous space can be understood. Theoretically we engage in a reinterpretation of the notion of heterotopia in conjunction with critical urban theory, analysing Metelkova as an autonomous heterotopia. Further, we argue that theoretisations of autonomous spaces need to consider experiences from Central and Eastern Europe, in which the conditions are shaped and constructed in conjunction with particular configurations of abruptly implemented neoliberal governance and the rise of the authoritarianism.
Contemporary strategic planning represents a logic of space reproduction based on the promotion of tourism as the cornerstone of cultural and creative economy. However, some grassroots social ...initiatives aim to build alternative spaces to the economic approach that permeates contemporary urban planning. This article reflects comparatively on the cases of the Metelkova self-organized autonomous zone (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and the STOP Shopping Center (Porto, Portugal). We suggest that both the squatting of military installations (Slovenia), as the strategic reconfiguration of a private commercial building (Portugal), share common aspects that must be addressed under a place-making approach. In doing so, we propose that the cultural activity produced in these places, their socioeconomic influence in the urban environment and their ability to promote tourism has resulted in a brand that allows them to be tolerated by their respective local governments.
Rad se bavi jednom dimenzijom kapitalističkog sustava, fenomenom kooptacije, kojeg tretira kao važan aspekt čijom je dekonstrukcijom moguće dospjeti do kompleksnijeg razumijevanja cijeloga niza ...aktualnih manifestacija današnjeg razvojnog stadija neoliberalnog kapitalizma. Kooptacija je u osnovici fenomen gospodarsko-političkog karaktera, no njezini manifestacijski oblici mogu i trebaju biti detektirani i na socijalnim te (kontra)kulturnim razinama artikulacije, što je i primarna nakana ovog teksta. Paralelan problemski motiv rada, iako u tekstu pozicioniran sekundarno, jest kooptaciji srodan koncept gentrifi kacije, to jest gospodarski, politički, socijalno i kulturalno defi niran fenomen klasnog preuzimanja grada. Kooptacija i, dijelom, gentrifikacija, problematizirane su u domeni alternativne kulture ili supkulture i to kroz svojevrsnu case study analizu dva konkretna primjera. Radi
se o ljubljanskim supkulturnim skvotovima, Metelkovoj i Rogu, koji danas nedvojbeno simboliziraju urbane bastione alternativne kulture u Sloveniji, ali i u regiji. Namjera je u tekstu napraviti prikaz
nekoliko relevantnih aspekata transformacije spomenutih mjesta unutar širih povijesnih, političkih, ekonomskih, društvenih i (sup)kulturnih tranzicijskih konteksta, ali i praktično testirati fenomen kooptacije aplikacijom kvalitativne analize na odabrane uzorke. U zaključnom dijelu rada pokušavaju se ponuditi neki mogući praktični odgovori suvremenim izazovima, neoliberalnim kapitalizmom modeliranih, kooptacijskih mehanizama.
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