Epfl TH7729

The City of Extended Emotions
THÈSE NO 7729 (2017)

PRÉSENTÉE LE 27 SEPTEMBRE 2017
À LA FACULTÉ DE L'ENVIRONNEMENT NATUREL, ARCHITECTURAL ET CONSTRUIT
ATELIER DE LA CONCEPTION DE L'ESPACE
PROGRAMME DOCTORAL EN ARCHITECTURE ET SCIENCES DE LA VILLE
ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE
POUR L'OBTENTION DU GRADE DE DOCTEUR ÈS SCIENCES
PAR
Darío NEGUERUELA DEL CASTILLO
acceptée sur proposition du jury:
Prof. C. R. Binder Signer, présidente du jury

Prof. D. Dietz, Dr E. Cogato Lanza, directeurs de thèse
Prof. G. Colombetti, rapporteuse
Prof. J. Portugali, rapporteur
Dr Y. Pedrazzini, rapporteur
Suisse
2017
Abstract
Cities are much more than just the background of our lives, or complex artefacts.
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vulnerabilities that crystallize in our cities. It also signals a crisis in design and
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for studying and designing the city.
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and their relevance is highlighted. The recent activities of a group of activists i
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constituted and are spatially performative. Their contentious actions take the
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mirroring crisis in architecture and urbanism.
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complementary empirical studies that tackle space, action and emotion, making
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the spatial conditions of porosity that have accompanied the emergence and
development of these social movements. It uses methods developed by Space
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analyse the spatial content. The second study elaborates on the actions of these
social movements, their spatial practices. In this study, I use cartography and
ethnographic methods to capture and analyse both the momentary seizing of
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segregative urbanism. Finally, the third study explores the emotions felt and
experienced by these activists. Through emotional dimensional analysis and
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a substantive transformation of their spatial perception accompanying a strong
emotional transition.
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identifying urbanity as an extended emotion. In addition, the modes of using
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model of urban governance and action, the urban prototype, proposing a more
inclusive, democratic and socially sustainable forms of enacting our cities, in
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affectivity, spatial perception city, urbanity, porosity, affordances, prototype,
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urban governance.
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le reste du Monde.
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Acknowledgements
This doctoral thesis has been possible thanks to the support of my thesis directors
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journey into uncharted intellectual territory. I am also grateful to the members
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has also been a source of inspiration and discovery, and she deserves to be
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Binder.
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curiosity at the unexpected and the brutal, the beautiful and the outrageous. v
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of various participants to the diverse platforms, collectives and urban social
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here to honour their trust.
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and many others for the many good moments and fruitful conversations.
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for their support and mentorship during that time.
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elegance.
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ideas and progress has been the foremost contribution to the success of this
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my side.
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Pre-:criptum
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This thesis can be read through various angles that provide for diverse theoretical
trajectories. These are complementary and respond to the multifaceted nature of
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$QG WR WDON about space, emotions and inclusive urbanity is already a radical
act, aiming at placing them at the core of the technical, academic and political
debates on the FLW\ 2QH RI WKH PHPEHUV RI WKH MXU\ KDV VHHQ LQ WKLV ZRUN D
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not only circumscribed to the city of Madrid, Spain. In the empirical part of
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of this thesis do pertain to a more intelligible and generalizable dimension. The
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and elaborate on the germ of the operational and space enacting essence of
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urban areas of the Global South.
This doctoral thesis aims at threading urban and affective sciences, urban
studies and philosophy of mind and of emotions. The means and the result are
methodologically interdisciplinary and theoretically transdisciplinary. I have tried
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through numbers, language and the visual. I consider it necessary to mention the
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and interpolated my objects of research. The visual apparatus mobilized for this
doctoral research is truly a research tool and does not simply depict, represent or
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tools of research. If I have tried to combine and complement the visual dimension
and an approach through language is also to remind that our experiencing of
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senses.
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Table of Contents
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Bibliography
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xii
List of Figures
Figures: Pag_ Figures: Pag_ Figures: Pag._
3.1.1_a2 201 3.2_a20 276 3.3_33 329

3.1.1_a2_1 218 3.2_a21 278 3.3_34 329
3.1.1_a3 220 3.2_a22 281 3.3_35 330
3.1.1_a4 221 3.2_a23 283 3.3_36 331
3.1.1_a5 222 3.2_a24 284 3.3_37 332
3.1.1_a6 222 3.2_a25 284 3.3_38 333
3.1.1_a7 224 3.2_a26 285
3.1.1_a8 224 3.2_a27 285
3.1.1_a9 225 3.2_a28 286 3.4_a1 349
3.1.1_a10 226 3.2_a29 3.4_a2 350
3.1.1_a11 226 3.2_a30
3.1.1_a12 226 3.2_a31
3.1.1_a13 229 3.2_a32 5.1 426
3.1.1_a14 230 5.2 427
3.1.1_a15 230 5.3 428
3.3_1 305
3.1.1_a16 232 5.4 429
3.3_2 307
3.1.1_a17 234 5.5 430
3.3_3 310
3.1.1_a18 235 5.6 431
3.3_4 310 xiii
3.1.1_a19 235 5.7 432
3.3_5 312
3.1.1_a20 236 5.8 433
3.3_6 312
3.1.1_a21 237 3.3_7 313
3.1.1_a22 238 3.3_8 313
3.3_9 313
3.3_10 315
3.2_a0 250 3.3_11 315
3.2_a1 251 3.3_12 316
3.2_a2 252 3.3_13 317
3.2_a3 254 3.3_14 318
3.2_a4 254 3.3_15 319
3.2_a5 255 3.3_16 319
3.2_a6 256 3.3_17 320
3.2_a7 256 3.3_18 321
3.2_a8_1 258 3.3_19 322
3.2_a8_2 258 3.3_20 322
3.2_a9 259 3.3_21 323
3.2_a10 260 3.3_22 323
3.2_a11 262 3.3_23 324
3.2_a12 262 3.3_24 324
3.2_a13 264 3.3_25 325
3.2_a14 264 3.3_26 325
3.2_a15 265 3.3_27 325
3.2_a16 265 3.3_28 327
3.2_a17 267 3.3_29 328
3.2_a18 268 3.3_30 328
3.2_a19 269 3.3_31 328
xiv
1
•
Introduction
2
3
We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time
ߊT. S. Eliot, Little Gidding, 1955
Caminante, son tus huellas

el camino, y nada más;
caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
ߊA. Machado, Campos de Castilla, 1912
4
-- Storia--
Madrid, year 2011. Embraced by the long shadows of a recent strong economic
crisis, Polia looks down to the poignant vision of closed down shops, fallen leaves
and shining foil wrap as they populate melancholically the wind-washed centre
of the city. She feels blue and isolated. There is nothing she can do to change the
situation, as forces that have caused all these failings, vanishings and disconnections are
incommensurably bigger and stronger than her. The street she walks along appears very
depressing to her, with many shops closed down and less activity.
She is vaguely entertained by the whirls of cheaply coloured newspaper pages dancing
in the asphalt to the soft breeze of Spring, but suddenly when turning a corner, her eyes
are reclaimed to look up,
just enough for her introverted gaze to meet a another person across the street, as lost as
her. Their eyes meets and recognize each other’s sorrows.
Soon, more people arrive. They all came with a cloud of worries and indignation
in their heads, but incapable to speak. As they recognize each other, their bodily
movements begin a slow dance. They walk together and their movement helps them
finally speak out. Polia sees their indignation and, empathically, her heart inflames
with anger. A rush of cloudy and spicy lightnings burns under her chest. She wants to
cry out loud: enough! In this moment, she decides to join. During the course of the 5
non-violent demonstration she has the chance to meet other people and talk about
their different opinions and views on the causes of the problems they all share. It soon
becomes clear that there are not alone. They are a multitude, an infinity of people with
many ideas about how to do things differently in their society and in their city. She is
imbued with a feeling of recognition. She knows that other people feel and think like
she does. The feeling of alienation and loneliness has left, is not with her anymore. In
its place, a new energy has come to her aid, helping her to feel lighter, more optimistic,
capable.
On the way back home, she walks along the same street, and to her surprise, she sees
it with very different eyes. What before seemed lonely, still and gloomy, now appears
to shine with potential. All of those empty streets and closed down shops are spaces
awaiting new uses. And there is so much need of space!
As the new morning dawns, she will join the newly constituted local assembly and
propose to occupy an abandoned shop to open a much needed community-managed
kindergarten.
This is a story about the birth of the city.

6
Thesis.
Individuals participating in episodes of urban political contention (such as

demonstrations, but also more everyday activities such as meetings in occupied
social centres and even urban gardening) undergo an emotional transition at
different levels that generally goes towards more positive, more connected and
integrated.
This emotional transition usually goes hand in hand with a change in their
perception of the urban space and their proclivity to act upon, engage with and
modify this space.
On the other hand, I believe that these episodes have the tendency to occur in more
urban spaces, that is to say, places where there is more accessible diversity. It is as
if this level of urbanity is accompanied by a degree of civic cognitive integration
that results in a surge of civic engagement when there is a strong perturbation.
However, accessible diversity depends on the perception individuals may have.
Here this emotional transitions can actually activate and attune individuals to
perceive this diversity and its accessibility and to increase their practice of it.
Finally, what I am in fact pointing at is that the city can and does constitute an
active and integral part of our cognitive-affective processes. I believe that the city
provides us with tools for thinking and tools for feeling. This means that through
cognitive offloading and affective scaffolding in highly urban places it is possible 7
that we do think and feel things that we could not think or feel otherwise.
With this thesis, I intend to conceptualize urbanity as embodied appraisal of
accessible diversity, rendered possible by an emotional extension and reunion
with the city.
8
Amazement
Source: Juan Carlos Lucas. 2015
9
Amusement
10
0
Indignation, Desperation, Rage

11
11
Surprise
12
Encounter, Recognition
13
13
Estoicism
14
1 4
Joy, Elation, Relief. Celebration

15
5
Contempt
16
6
Fragility, Strength
17
17
Resignation, Pensiveness
18
18
Determination, Extimacy
19
Theatricality
1.1 Background Context & Main Elements
The Emergence of a “New Urban Question”.
The Discovery of New Urban Practices
Social unrest, professional crisis as well as uncertainty in academia. This thesis

happens in times of trouble. Often, our current context is characterized as
complex, multifarious and absent of certitudes, an aspect that if not precisely
helping to appease fears, adds to the interest and dynamics of such conversation.
,WLVIRUWKDWUHDVRQWKDWLQIRUPHGOXFLGDQGUHÁH[LYHYRLFHVDUHVRQHFHVVDU\WR
KHOSXVIUDPHDQGUHTXHVWLRQWKHPRVWGHÀQLQJHOHPHQWVRIRXUFRQWHPSRUDU\
world, aiding us to feed our critical abilities and setting the key for a collective
GHEDWH ,Q P\ RSLQLRQ RQH RI WKH PRVW LQÁXHQWLDO HOHPHQWV LQ VKDSLQJ RXU
present times and those to come is the urban condition. This thesis modestly
aims to contribute to this debate.
7KHFXUUHQWRQJRLQJJOREDOFULVLVLJQLWHGE\WKHÀQDQFLDOFROODSVHRIDQG
fuelled by the combined effects of related environmental, energetic, and food
crises, has been signalled to be as radically relevant as previous crises like the
post industrialization period of mass urbanization (Secchi, 2013). In our times,
we must add the new and pressing problem of the increasing crystallization
20
of social inequalities in the urban fabric (Secchi, 2013). This is accompanied
and fed by growing and increasingly visible spatial injustice, widening
environmental problems and climate change vulnerabilities. Alongside these
issues, we must further add the question of accessibility and mobility as an
integral element without which there cannot be any right to the city. It is in the
crossing of these problematic issues that Secchi situates his enunciation of the
emergence of a «New Urban Question».1
The emergence of the «New Urban Question» signals also a crisis of the disciplines
dealing with the inception, design and planning of the built environment. A
novel renewed approach is needed in order to re-apprehend the changing
object of the city and the built environment, but also for capturing intelligibly
the contemporary conditions of urbanity in this era when urbanization endows
a planetary extent. We do not seem capable of understanding the city anymore.
Against this background, new and innovative forms of urban thought and
new urban practices are emerging among movements of social contestation. I
contend that these movements and practices hold a key to better understand
the gist of contemporary urbanity. I have coined the term New Urban Practices
to convey the proposal of urbanity of these contentious urban movements,
WR RYHUFRPH H[FHVVLYHO\ FKDUJHG SUHYLRXV GHÀQLWLRQV DQG WR SODFH DQDO\WLF
emphasis on the alternative dimension of their social and spatial practices.
7KHQDPHUHIHUVWRWKHIDPRXV´8UEDQ4XHVWLRQµLGHQWLÀHGE\0DQXHO&DVWHOOVLQKLVKRPRQL-
mous book from 1977.
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4VKLSZVM[OL*P[`;HRPUN(ɈLJ[:LYPV\ZS`
In order to capture what these New Urban Practices have to teach us, we should
approach them through tools attuned to the dimension in which they operate.
And these movements are indeed moving. They operate through the realm of
emotion and affect. Albeit familiar and tempting, emotions are neglected in the
study of the urban. Even if current trends impose a bit of emoting here and there,
affective phenomena are still dismissed or reduced to cliché. Unfortunately, they
are all too often disregarded either as uncontrollable contagious phenomena
- that can be studied through a tweet, capable of causing a digital storm but
incapable of substantive social changes -, or as irrelevant subjective appreciations
of the aesthetic qualities of form-- taste-. Not for a second contemporary urban
scholars dare to update their views, accept emotions to be not just passive images
RIRXUHQYLURQPHQWLQÁXHQFLQJRXUMXGJHPHQWVDQGDFWLRQVEXWWUXO\HQDFWLYH
constructions of meaning that shape the world we conceive, and the space we
make.
Several models of the city emerge from the work of scholars, professionals
and thinkers working on the changing condition of the contemporary forms of
FXOWXUHDQGXUEDQL]DWLRQ7KLVSUROLIHUDWLRQRIXUEDQYLVLRQVÀQGVUHDVRQLQWKH
adequacy of the city as tool to enquire contemporary culture : «(...)the city is the 21
territory in which the experience of contemporaneity unfolds. Consequently, it is
necessary to frame in the city any essay on issues as relevant as the emergency
of new subjectivities, the emergence of new forms of work and resistance, the
XVHRIFXOWXUHDVDÀUVWUDWHHFRQRPLFUHVRXUFHWKHLQFUHDVLQJPHGLDWLRQRIDQ\
attempt to communication or as many other possible statements»2 (Peran, 2013)
In addition, this is combined with a renewed interest in materialistic philosophical

approaches to sense our contemporary condition, where the bodily dimension3
stands out as a tool for the diagnostic of the state of our culture. Since the objective
of this thesis is not to depict an comprehensive portrait of these approaches, it
VXIÀFHVWRFLWHKHUHIHZDPRQJWKHPRVWUHSUHVHQWDWLYHLQFXUVLRQVRIDFHUWDLQ
«embodied-informed» attention to urban cultural theory.
These observations raise a call for the adequacy of addressing the urban
dimension from its experiential dimension. Moreover, it converges timely
with the issue of the expansion of the urban condition anticipated by Lefebvre
(Lefebvre, 1996) and further developed more recently by Schmidt and Brenner
(Brenner & Schmid, 2012). These authors postulate that the urban condition
has undergone a categorical expansion, at the same time as cities have grown
and expanded all over the world. This does not only invite us to think to say that
we are in an increasingly urban society, but also that the urban condition has
2 . Translated by the author from the original in Spanish

3 . For obvious reasons, I do not exactly mean to englobe these approaches as complying with the
precise directives of an embodied cognitive approach, but to simply denote their appeal to the role
of the body, and equally important, of its felt experience
exploded in variety of conditions. The contemporary realm of experience of the
XUEDQGHÀHVSUHYLRXVFDWHJRUL]DWLRQV
On the other hand, we witness the growing attention to the role of informal
and everyday practices of and in urban space. Such an approach is behind
FHUWDLQUHFHQWQRWLRQVOLNHWKRVHRIWKH,QYLVLEOH&LW\ &DUOR ,QVWDQW
City (Lerup, 2001) or Post-it City (Giovanni La Varra, 2003), which «share
the interests for detecting the reality of uses of the city which are foreign
to the forecasts and pre-established norms, and which moreover denote
WKH PDJQLWXGH RI WKH LQÀQLWH FDUWRJUDSKLHV WKDW FRXOG VXEVWLWXWH WKH FORVHG
and static map that is offered as a banal object of passive and disciplined
consumption» (Peran, 2013). Such models could be grouped under the rubric
«occasional cities» (Peran, 2013), which stand as diametrically opposed to the
model of the regimented city or ville garantie (Breviglieri, 2013).
This acceleration of life in cities4 is often due to the combined effect of modern
technologies of communication, and increased mobility have resulted in
exacerbating the traditionally hectic lifestyle of the city into a caricature of
deprived hyperactivity. Here, I would like to stress its deprived aspect. Often,
the effects of that acceleration are not the positive abundance and richness
of information, but the accumulation of repetitive, yet cognitive burdening,
bombardment of unproductive stimuli that deprive the urban experience of what
22
I consider its most relevant crucial elements: invitation and embrace of alterity
and its related constant state of becoming. The results of this hyperactive life
have been widely addressed by several attentive scholars and carries a plethora
of diverse diagnosis, which despite their nuances and different developments,
coincide in singling the impoverishment of the experience and its direct
FRQVHTXHQFHDQDWRPL]HGLVRODWHGLQGLYLGXDOZLWKRXWDQ\VLJQLÀFDQWKROGQRU
say of its governance of the surrounding reality and thus prone to exploitation.
The list is well populated: the corrosion of character (Sennett, 2000), bare
OLIH $JDPEHQ GDPDJHG OLIH $GRUQR /ySH] 3HWLW VRFLHW\ RI
fatigue (Han, 2015), depressive society (Ehrenberg, 2009), «psychopathology
RI QRWKLQJQHVVª 'HVYLDW )HUQiQGH] /LULD 5HQGXHOHV RU HYHQ WKH
factory of unhappiness (Berardi, 2001).
While many of these insights, theories and models are of inspiring value, I fail
to recognize one that responds to the current most advanced and promising
theories that concern contemporary lines of thought: Enactivism, and Extended
Mind and Affectivity. I consider that this recent affective turn (Clough & Halley,
2007) and its application to urban sciences deserve engagement with these
enactive and extended approaches, as, I contend, they hold important and
relevant contributions to make.
4 This phenomenon of acceleration has given rise to diverse movements of resistance. Among
those, it is notable the movement of slow cities or cittàslow founded in Italy in 1997 and seeking
to promote higher quality of life in cities by slowing down the pace of everyday life, especially in
the use of public spaces
;OL 9LSL]HUJL VM [OL 4\[\HSS` *VUZ[P[\[P]L
+ÙHTPJZ)L[^LLU[OL:WH[PHSHUK[OL:VJPHS.
7KHLQÁXHQFHRIWKHEXLOWHQYLURQPHQWRQWKHYHU\PRGHVRIVRFLDOLQWHUDFWLRQ
is an inexhaustible topic that keeps intriguing and occupying a good deal of the
VFLHQWLÀFFRPPXQLW\'HVSLWHUHFHQWVSDWLDOWXUQV VHHIRULQVWDQFH 0RQWHOOR
Grossner, & Janelle, 2014) and (Lévy & Lussault, 2003)), this relationship
between the social and the spatial seems to be never fully disc losed, but,
instead, to ever produce new research questions as it is being investigated. As
our knowledge develops, our tools also evolve along, revealing an inextricably
coupled nature that requires, in turn, the development of new conceptual
frames to analyse it.
:LWKLQ UHFHQW FRQFHSWV SRURVLW\ %HQMDPLQ /DFLV 'HKDHQH

Vigano, 2006, 2009) holds a promising potential for describing this mutually
constitutive relationship. It remains a topic of major relevance within the
social sciences as the consequences of rich, mixed and thriving urban tissues
continue to provide new and intriguing evidence of their fertility. Moreover, in
WKHFRQWH[WRIÀQDQFLDOVWDJQDWLRQDQGRUUHFHVVLRQDFFRPSDQ\LQJWKHZLGHO\
argued economic, social and environmental crises, other supplementary effects
touch upon the areas that porosity describes. The dismantling, dilapidation,
privatization and patrimonialization of the structures sustaining the welfare 23
state in Europe (Bianchetti & Sampieri, 2015) and beyond have reinforced the
dynamic of spatial segregation in urban areas that appear salient in moments
RIFULVLVDQGVRFLRHFRQRPLFUHFRQÀJXUDWLRQ6HFFKL
I contend that urban porosity is a valuable concept that has not yet been
VDWLVIDFWRULO\ GHÀQHG QRU H[SORLWHG IRU DQDO\WLFDO SXUSRVHV DQG WKHUHIRUH
believe it should be given attention within the research agenda for the coming
\HDUV)RUWKRVHUHDVRQVZLWKWKLVWKHVLV,LQWHQGWRSXWIRUZDUGDQHZGHÀQLWLRQ
of urban porosity as a notion capable of describing the rich relational quality
necessary for coupling urban space and social and civic engagement.
Therefore, the objective of this thesis must be approached through a two-

fold strategy. Firstly, the revision and critique of the notion of porosity within
the context of geography and urban studies. Secondly, this problematization5
is accompanied and contrasted with the analysis of the production of space
through the practices of new urban social movements in the city of Madrid,
7KHÀUVWFRQFOXVLRQVRIWKHVHDQDO\VHVSRLQWWRDQHZJHRJUDSK\RIXUEDQVRFLDO
governance, which bears the potential of redirecting the policy and praxis of
urban interventions.
5 . Problematization is here not referred to as simply inheriting a subject matter for research,
but to actually reconsider the scope of a given notion or phenomenon as to provide insights into
unresolved issues and thus producing a new research agenda.
1.2 Approach & Disciplines:
Epistemological and Methodological
Frames
In what regards the epistemological frame, this thesis combines inspiration
from both constructivist- transactional research and post-positivist research.
Even though researchers have argued that positivist and constructivist
ontologies are inconmensurable and thus are irreconcilable6 (Guba & Lincoln,
,FRQWHQGWKDWPDQ\EHQHÀWVFDQEHDWWDLQHGWKURXJKWKHLUFRPELQDWLRQ
This thesis essays their coordination and combination, thus responding to the
alternative ontology of constructivist realism.
An approach allowing to account for the mutually constitutive relation between

the spatial and the social from an determined point of view that ambitions to
UHPDLQRSHQPLQGHGPHWKRGRORJLFDOO\ÁH[LEOHDQGHSLVWHPRORJLFDOO\FXULRXV
requires without doubt, to combine virtues and possibly defects from a series
RIUHIHUHQWLDOVWDQFHV2QWKHRQHKDQGLWQHHGVWRSURÀWIURPWKHH[SORUDWRU\
nature of the best constructivist- transactional research (Raf Vanderstraaeten,
2002), which allows for the objects of research to speak for themselves and
question pre-given ideas by clarifying the dynamic and interactive bases of its
construction as phenomena, concerts or situation. At the same time, it requires
24
the lucid limits to imagination and the rigour of the evidence posed by current
open minded post-positivist research (Ryan, 2006).
We can contrast the opinion of Gadamer (2013), who argues that there can be
no object in itself to be known, as opposed to the nature of the inquiry of the
natural sciences which do base their progress in the acquisition of some objective
realist knowledge and so seek dig deeper in our comprehension of the essence
of nature. Instead, the inquiry of the human aspects, of which the inhabiting
and practice of cities is a substantial one, can only, in my understanding, consist
of unveiling the relational web in a critical and generative form. Such should
be the background note to this enterprise. In other words, to fully embrace
ZKDW *DGDPHU FDOOHG UHÁH[LYLW\ PRYLQJ IURP WKH DFFHSWDQFH RI RXU
RZQFRQWLQJHQWSUHMXGLFHVWRDPRUHTXDOLÀHGXQGHUVWDQGLQJ
1RZLQWHUPVRIWKHVSHFLÀFPHWKRGVPRELOL]HGDWULDQJXODWLRQEHWZHHQWKH
study of physical space, social action and emotional experience is achieved
WKURXJK D PL[HGPHWKRGV DSSURDFK 7KH VSHFLÀF FKRLFH RI PHWKRGV DQG
approaches have varied for the different parts of the research, which are
explained in their correponding chapters and sections. However, they are
conceived and deployed with the intention of complementing each other and
provide a comprehensive view beyond usual methodological triangulation. To
WKDWDLP,FRPELQHTXDQWLWDWLYHVSDWLDOFRQÀJXDWLRQDQDO\VLVGHPRJUDSKLFV
6 . According to Lincoln and Guba (2000), the reasons for this incompatibility are positivism’s
“naive realism”, which holds that reality is both “real”and “apprehendable,” and constructivism
foundational claim that meaning is generated by individuals and groups
HPRWLRQDO GLPHQVLRQDO DQDO\VLV DQG FRQWHQW DQDO\VLV DQG TXDOLWDWLYH
cartography, discourse analysis and ethnographic use of audiovisual material.
,JDWKHUGDWDRQDWWKH0HWURSROLWDQDQGORFDOVFDOHVIURPVWDWLVWLFVRIÀFLDO
cartography, as well as from surveys and in depth interviews. This combination
of methods and scales of analysis emerges from the perceived need to move
away from the study of the social-spatial entanglement based on sociological
types and serialized quantitative analysis towards a more in depth portrait
FRQVWLWXWLQJ D TXDOLÀHG DQG JURXQGHG WKLFN GHVFULSWLRQ DQG QRW MXVW PHUH
picturesque portrait.
Additionally, in order to better understand some of the fundamental qualities

of urban space which foster social innovation, I address this research into the
urban condition through the angle of experience. Instead of simply analysing
physical properties of the arrangement of built structures or to study aggregate
social composition through statistical methods, my proposal seeks to reconcile
physical properties of space and social content. I do so by studying the active
practice of urban space and its cognition through a qualitative analysis of the
situated experience of the actors of urban actions. This approach, I contend,
allows to investigate the qualities of urban space that allow for the kind of active
grabbing and enactment of space that constitutes a most relevant characteristic
of New Urban Practices.
25
This thesis is not set as a model answer for that search, but as an honest attempt
at essaying a potential path for shaping a research agenda that addresses that
heterogenous, complex and fascinating ground.
A Tentative answer: An Enactive Approach of the

<YIHU*VUKP[PVU;OYV\NO(ɈLJ[HUK,TV[PVU
With this thesis, my tentative answer to the above mentioned state of affairs
VSULQJV IURP DQ HPEUDFLQJ RI WKH HQDFWLYH DSSURDFK DV LQLWLDOO\ GHÀQHG E\
Francisco Varela, Eleanor Rosch and Ewan Thompson (1991) and later
developed further by authors like Ezequiel Di Paolo, Joel Krueger and Giovanna
Colombetti among others. Since the object of this research as well as its framing
are necessarily impure in disciplinary terms, the enactive approach practiced
DQGSXWIRUZDUGLQWKLVWKHVLVUHTXLUHVFHUWDLQÁH[LELOLW\LQWKHPHWKRGVDQG
well as certain exploratory heterogeneity in the categories and intellectual
framework.
1.3 Structure
I would like to distinguish here between the formal order of the thesis, which
follows its separation into a series of chapters, from the deep structure of the
enquiry that permeates the approach and the construction of this research during
these years of manufacturing.
With regards to the formal order as expressed in the table of contents, the thesis
LVVWUXFWXUHGLQIRXUSDUWVWKHÀUVWRQHEHLQJWKLVLQWURGXFWLRQ7KHVHFRQGSDUW
«The Urban and Cognition», constitutes the theoretical grounding and framing
of the thesis. In this part, I address the relationship between space and cognition,
including and focusing on emotions. In coherence with the enactive perspective
embraced for this research, I frame emotions as the basis for the human capacity
to comprehend and engage with the world, constructing its meaning for us and
prompting us to act upon it -- a capacity otherwise known as agency. This
relationship is covered through a review of the research literature on this topic
and it is structured in three main chapters:
,QWKHÀUVWFKDSWHU6SDFHWR$IIHFWLYH$JHQF\,UHYLHZWKHRULHVGHDOLQJZLWK
the effects on urban living in our spatial and social cognition, placing the notion
26 of urbanity at the centre of a historical debate on the effects of the human and
spatial diversity on our mental, emotional and social frames. In the second
chapter 2.2 Emotions to Space, I cover theories of emotions through their relation
to our individual and social spatial agency.The third chapter 2.3 Overcoming
the Divide. Embodiment, Dynamic Interaction and Extension, sees the review
of theories that have searched to bridge those approaches covered in previous
FKDSWHUV$QGÀQDOO\LQWKHODVWFKDSWHU3UREOHPDWL]HG2SHUDWLRQDOL]DWLRQ
Research Questions and Hypotheses, I summarize the concepts to be mobilized
and expose the research questions to be tackled in the empirical study in the
following Part 3.
The third part, «New Urban Practices: Madrid», covers the exploration of the
research questions through the analysis of the selected case study, the city of
Madrid. I this chapter I develop three empirical studies that elaborate on
complementary angles of approach. Chapter 3.1 Introduces Madrid as relevant
FDVHVWXG\ZLWKLQDZRUOGFRQWH[WRIXUEDQFRQÁLFW0RUHRYHUWKLVÀUVWFKDSWHU
LQWURGXFHV WZR VSHFLÀF DFWRUV LQ WKLV VWXG\ 7KH RFFXSLHG VRFLDO FHQWUH 3DWLR
Maravillas and its location, the neighbourhood of Malasaña in the Historic Central
'LVWULFW RI 0DGULG &KDSWHU GHYHORSV WKH ÀUVW HPSLULFDO VWXG\ WKURXJK WKH
explorations of the spatial conditions of porosity in the urban fabric of Madrid.
,WÀUVWGHYHORSVWKHVHDQDO\VHVDWGLIIHUHQWVFDOHVPHWURSROLWDQDQGORFDOWKURXJK
a comparison of selected urban tissues and later focuses on the neighbourhood
of Malasaña for a more detailed study. Chapter 3.3 elaborates on the exploration
and analysis of the spatial practices of activists of 15M and Patio Maravillas. I
conduct this analysis at three different scales that are relevant for the geography
RI XUEDQ FRQÁLFW &KDSWHU HQGV WKH HPSLULFDO SDUW RI WKLV WKHVLV ZLWK WKH
analysis of the emotional transition undergone by participants of urban struggles
and the accompanying changes in their spatial perception.
The fourth part , «Conclusion: The city of Extended Emotions» articulates the
PDLQFRQFOXVLRQVDURXQGWZRWKHPHVÀUVWLQFKDSWHU´$&DVHRI&RJQLWLYH
Reappraisal.» And Chapter “4.2 Urbanity as Extended Affectivity”.
)LQDOO\ LQ WKH ÀIWK SDUW ©2XWORRN 7RZDUGV WKH 8UEDQ 3URWRW\SHª , WDNH WKH
conclusions of this thesis into the future of urban design and governance.
1.4 Findings
7KHPDLQÀQGLQJVRIWKLVWKHVLVDUHWZRIROG2QWKHRQHKDQG,UHDVVHVVWKHXUEDQ
condition through the lens of affective phenomena, and identify urbanity as an
H[WHQGHGHPRWLRQ0\ÀQGLQJVVXVWDLQWKHYLQGLFDWLRQRIHPRWLRQVFRQWDLQLQJDQ 27
irreducible spatial component. Moreover, we can consider affective phenomena
to be constitutive of urbanity in their full right.
On the other hand, I identify certain forms of contentious social movements

in cities, named New Urban Practices, as bearers of new and promising forms
of enactive, participatory and inclusive space making. This amounts to their
capacities for social innovation through new forms of governing space at the
same time as they produce it.
,QDGGLWLRQDVHULHVRIFRPSOHPHQWDU\ÀQGLQJVDUHWREHQRWHG:LWKUHJDUGVWR
the spatial conditions of the urban tissue of the neighbourhood of Malasaña in
0DGULG,ÀQGLWVSDUWLFXODUFRQGLWLRQVRIFRQQHFWLYLW\ RWKHUZLVHFDOOHGVSDWLDO
FRQÀJXUDWLRQ DQGLWVVSHFLÀF©FRQWHQWVª RWKHUZLVHUHIHUUHGWRDVFRPSRVLWLRQ
to provide favourable context for emergent urban porosity. This condition of
porosity facilitates an ecology of encounter and avoidance that accompanies
the appearance of alternative forms of political and civic participation. Among
these forms are the social movements, collectives and platforms that partake to
the New Urban Practices. Thus, this thesis stresses the importance of the spatial
conditions for the enactment of a pulsating civic life and engagement in cities.
&RQGLWLRQV RI VRFLDO FRQÁLFW LQ SDUWLFXODU QRQYLROHQW XUEDQ FRQÁLFW RU OXWWHV
urbaines is found to be particularly fertile for the creation of novel forms of
VRFLDO SDUWLFLSDWLRQ , ÀQG WKH FRQWH[W RI FRQÁLFW WR DFFUXH WKH WHQGHQFLHV WR
appropriation of space by participants through a conception and construction
of notions of sovereign space and its subsequent territorialization. However,
in the context of New Urban Practices, these tendencies are compensated by
and complemented with a particular xenophilic7 tendency, constitutive of the
embrace for alterity behind the emotions of urbanity.
:KLWKLQWKHVWXG\RIWKHVHFRQGLWLRQVRIXUEDQFRQÁLFWLQ0DGULGDQGLQ0DODVDxD
, ÀQG HOHPHQWV RI WKH XUEDQ WLVVXH WR EH FRJQLWLYH DQG DIIHFWLYH UHVRXUFHV IRU
participants of New Urban Practices. This applies to both the elements of the social
urban environment, as well as to the physical structures. The coupling between
ERWK WKHVH HOHPHQWV SURYLGHV IRU RSWLPDO FRQGLWLRQV IRU FRJQLWLYH RIÁRDGLQJ
through scaffolding. In other words, both social groups and space, through their
coupling, help to serve not only as depositories of «information», but as systems
that function as extension of the cognitive capacities of individuals and groups. As
such, these external elements, when incorporated, can become truly generative
of distributed forms of cognition that boost the performativity of the system. This
also applies to the affective dimension, as the enactive approach embraced in this
thesis considered cognition and affect as coupled and inseparable.
In simpler terms, the seizing of urban space, through the concurrence of people
and physical structures, allows individuals to think and feel. If this extension
means that this way of thinking and feeling is more and better is up to discussion.
,EHOLHYHWKLVFDQQRWEHVLPSOLÀHGWRWKRVHWHUPV$VZHDUHWDONLQJRIH[WHQGLQJ
28
our cognitive and affective capacities, we are simply talking another level of
complexity that does not override nor deny the importance of lower levels but
clusters with them.
1.5 Relevance
7KLVWKHVLVÀQGVLWVSODFHDVDWKLQVXUIDFHLQWKHERXQGDU\EHWZHHQXUEDQVFLHQFHV
and affective-cognitive sciences. As such, I hope its consistency, its degree of both
VWLFNLQHVVDQGSHUPHDELOLW\DQGLWVUHVXOWLQJSOD\EHWZHHQGHQVLW\DQGÁXLGLW\
allows it to sometimes perform as connection and sometimes a mirror for both
disciplinary families.
Thus, I will argue that the main point of relevance of this thesis works for both
urban sciences and affective-cognitive sciences. It results from the open and direct
consideration of the importance of individual and collective affective processes
in mediating our cognition of the urban space and, in turn, the relevant role of
the space in emotions. In other words, the thesis states that certain emotions are
7 . xenophilia is conceived as the diametrical opposite to xenophobia (fear/loath of otherness or

alterity).
indeed forms not only of spatial and social cognition, but also are, as affective
processes situated in urban contexts, acts of spatial projection through their
action readiness components. The imagination of space, and therefore the
possibility of conceiving another city, is an affective capacity.
Moreover, this is done in the context of social interaction along the two ends of
WKHFRQWHQWLRQFRRSHUDWLRQJUDGLHQW$WDÀUVWJODQFHLWPD\EHWKRXJKWIXWLOH
to study a rather minority group of social activists involved in actions of urban
struggle and political protests. They are just a drop amidst the oceans of human
interaction taking place constantly in a metropolitan region of 6 million people.
Accordingly, one might even doubt the relevance of such actions in determining
the fate of such an intricate and complex artefact. But what this thesis shows
is that such apparently minute act of contention sometimes holds the key for
understanding the city to come. Following Portugali’s account on the evolution
of the balconies in Tel Aviv, or the beginning of the Arab spring, we know that
SDUWLFXODU VSHFLÀF KXPDQ DFWLRQV SHUIRUPHG LQGLYLGXDOO\ RU LQ VPDOO JURXSV
can nevertheless overcome apparent unsurmountable structural constraints.
$QG E\ GRLQJ VR WKH\ FDQ XQOHDVK VLJQLÀFDWLYH FKDQJH LQ VRFLDODQG FROOHFWLYH
dynamics. This results in a radical mise en question of the scale of the structural
forces constraining and regulating human interaction in cities, and calls for the
consideration of such small acts of spatial imagination contained within certain
urban practices as a legitimate subject matter and object of analysis of the urban
29
sciences. The strands of sociology of elites can be argued to precisely study this
SURFHVVE\ZKLFKDOLPLWHGJURXSRILQGLYLGXDOVZLWKKLJKHULQÁXHQFHRUSRZHU
DUHDEOHWRJRYHUQLQÁXHQFHRULQYHVWFKDQJHLQDJLYHQVRFLDOVWUXFWXUH+RZHYHU
this thesis precisely addresses what I consider the most interesting aspect prior
to the emergence of such an elite. That is, the dynamics that helped these people
to pass from completely unknown activists and squatters to become members at
the highest level of the administrative government of the city by simple means of
social interaction and co-operation.
7KLVPDLQSRLQWRIUHOHYDQFHGHFDQWVLQWRGLIIHUHQWVSHFLÀFDVSHFWVRIUHOHYDQFH
for the different dimensions the thesis touches upon.
Epistemological:
7KH TXDOLÀFDWLRQ RI DIIHFW DQG HPRWLRQV DV IXQGDPHQWDOO\ VSDWLDO FDSDFLWLHV
follows the cues anticipated by work on concurring disciplines, but it is given
a fundamental reassesement. Moreover, the «extension» of affect and emotion
into the urban environment, changes the way of conceiving how the city is
capable of actualizing unexpected human potentialities. To know that we not
only think more and better with cities, but that we also feel more with others in
space, means that the challenge to enquire and get to know the best of the urban
condition becomes an ethical due, and not just a matter of caprice or infatuation
with the city.
6* . In both the Weberian and the Marxist strand (Khan 2012)

Methodological:
The bid to approach the study of the urban through the plane of experience
EULQJV DERXW PHWKRGRORJLFDO FKDOOHQJHV RI LPSRUWDQFH 7KH PDLQ VLJQLÀFDQFH
of this thesis in this respect is the effective combination of methods. I believe
that this thesis shows the possibilities for integrating and complementing
quantitative and qualitative methods upon the study of relevant situated human
SKHQRPHQD,QSDUWLFXODU,ÀQGWKDWWKLVFRPELQDWLRQDQGFRPSOHPHQWLQJFDQ
\LHOG D UHGHÀQLWLRQ RI WKH SUREOHPDWLF DW VWDNH 7KLV LV WKH FDVH LQ WKLV WKHVLV
ZLWK UHJDUGV WR WKH FRPELQDWLRQ RI VSDWLDO FRQÀJXUDWLRQDO DQDO\VLV VSDFH
syntax) qualitative cartography, emotional dimensional analysis and qualitative
analysis of interviews. The resulting composite emerging from this doctoral
UHVHDUFK FRQWULEXWHV WR GHÀQLQJ ZKDW D FRPSUHKHQVLYH KROLVWLF DSSURDFK LV LQ
methodological terms.
Disciplinary
For way too long now, our environment suffers from a «proliferation of
commercial structures that are rolled out to a highly formulaic spatial format
DFURVV WKH ZRUOG·V FLWLHVª (DVWHUOLQJ S 2Q WKH RWKHU KDQG PDQ\
urban researchers acknowledge that contemporary «cities are turning into
DUFKLSHODJRVSXEOLFLQIUDVWUXFWXUHDUHVSOLQWHULQJDQGSXEOLFVSDFHVDUHEHLQJ
left to wither» (Rieniets et al., 2009). For this reason it urges to clarify which are
WKHVSHFLÀFFRQGLWLRQVVSDWLDODQGVRFLDOWKDWHQDEOHVXVWDLQDEOHIRUPVRIXUEDQ
30
experience.
0DQ\ZLWKLQWKHÀHOGVRIDUFKLWHFWXUHDQGXUEDQGHVLJQH[SORUHWKHUHODWLRQVKLS
between design and conditions. Architect Bernard Tschumi has written,
«Architecture is not about the conditions of design, but about the design
of conditions» (Tschumi, 1996, p. 233). In a similar fashion, architect and
urban designer Kees Christiaanse defends that urban design is about creating
conditions (1990). With this research exploring the space making capacities of
QHZXUEDQSUDFWLFHVWKURXJKHPRWLRQDOHQDFWPHQW,KDYHLGHQWLÀHGDQRYHODQG
useful theoretical frame for the understanding, analysis and replication of those
capacities.
,QGRLQJVRWKLVUHVHDUFKLGHQWLÀHVDGLVFRXUVHWKDWDGRSWVDKROLVWLFDQGQRQ
technical perspective of socially sustainable urban design. I shall contend that
this theoretical frame, as well as its proposed methodological apparatus make a
valuable contribution for the exploration of novel and collective forms of design,
creation, production and management of urban space.
This thesis emerges from the combination and careful interweaving of

contributions from several disciplines. By doing so, does it not only recognizes
WKHLULQGLYLGXDOYDOXHEXWVHHNVWRJRIXUWKHUWRÀQGDQRYHODQGUHOHYDQWSRWHQWLDO
in their articulation. Many of these disciplines dealing with the inception, design,
FRQVWUXFWLRQ PDQDJHPHQW RI RXU OLYHG DUWLÀFLDO HQYLURQPHQW KDYH QR GRXEW
relevant contributions to make. However, this fragmentation can lead to a lack of
comprehension of a complex emergent whole. I shall contend that the approach
undertook in this thesis does not exhaust this, but invites the body of these
disciplines concerned to adopt a new approach emerging from situated practice,
enaction, and emotion.
Alex Krieger’, in his essay, Where and How does Urban Design Happen? contends
that «what binds urban designers is their commitment to improving the livability
of cities, [...] and indeed to enhancing urbanity» (2009, p. 129). This observation
is complemented with his opinion that «Urban design is less a technical discipline
than a mindset among those of varying disciplinary foundations seeking, sharing,
and advocating insights about forms of community» (Krieger, 2003, p. 129). I
believe this thesis responds to this mindset and the ideas here contained are of
value to this enterprise.
1.6 Dialogue
Any of the building blocks of knowledge, every of the little or large steps
allowing for a leap forward in knowing our world jut a little better, must be
considered as a part of an ongoing conversation. This thesis does obviously
not escape that condition. Thus, I seek to interpellate fellow researchers from
31
related disciplines, proposing this thesis as a one instance of a conversation.
This conversation is to take place around certain phenomena: processes of social
DQGSROLWLFDOFRQÁLFWLQXUEDQFRQWH[WVZLWKWKHSDUWLFLSDWLRQRIWKHKXPDQIHOW
experience and the embodied, enactive approach to knowledge that emotions
and affective phenomena propose. This proposal epitomizes to prime seeking
ÀHOGV RI VWXG\ WKURXJK WKH LGHQWLÀFDWLRQ RI UHOHYDQW SKHQRPHQD EH\RQG DQG
often independently of the established research agenda.$VDSHUVRQDOUHÁHFWLRQ
I confess that this proves the most adequate route, ensuring that the researchers
ÀQGVDUHOHYDQWDQGPHDQLQJIXOSUREOHPDTXHVWLRQVKHIHHOVPRVWPRWLYDWHG
to address. This imposes necessarily a dialogue with my home disciplines or
architecture and urbanism, for most of the main problematics populating this
research can initially appear foreign to them. In fact, emovere - the Latin verb
from which the modern term of emotion is evolved in English, French, Spanish,
Italian, German and other related languages, was used to imply «move out,
remove, agitate»9. I hope the emotion put in the elaboration of this thesis and
contained herein is capable of sparking and stirring this dialogue.
In coincidence with Portugali’s efforts, my intention with this thesis is also to

help establish bridges between different ways of approaching the study of the
concerned subject matters as well as to and the quest for knowledge. These
differences between cognitive science, philosophy of mind, urban planning and
the design disciplines, can be looked at through the lens originally proposed
2UIURPZKDWDJLYHQGLVFLSOLQHVSUHVFULEHVGXHWRHLWKHUFXVWRPRUWUHQG
9 . Online Etymological Dictionary. 2001-2017 Douglas Harper.
by Snow (1961) also developed further by Portugali (2011). If we do so, we
consequently focus not in terms of unreconcilable different forms of logic, but
instead in differences in culture. By doing so, we will come to understand that
those different groups in the family of human knowledge, perhaps tend to
respond to certain social dynamics of group identity and cultural reproduction,
already understood and formulated by Bourdieu (1977, 1993) and Giddens
DPRQJRWKHUV7KLVLQWXUQZLOOLPPHGLDWHO\FDVWOLJKWXSRQWKH
WHQGHQF\ RI WKHVH GLIIHUHQW VFLHQWLÀF RU VFKRODUO\ FXOWXUHV WR RIWHQ H[DJJHUDWH
their differences and to resist to fruitful dialogue. Rather, I contend, they should
engage to facilitate the bridging and evolution into more open, and adequate, in
my opinion, forms of enquiry.
In consequence, this thesis constitutes a humble plea for the overcoming of the
limitations imposed on us by narrowly conceived territorial disciplinary borders
DQG SUDFWLFHV RI VFLHQWLÀF ©FRPPXQDOLVPª /pY\ ,W DOVR FRQVWLWXWHV D
modest attempt at answering Portugali’s proposal that «complexity theories of
cities (CTC) have the potential to link the two cultures of cities « elaborated in
the article «Complexity Theory as a Link Between Space and Place» (Portugali,
2006) and will further developed in his book Complexity Cognition and the
City. In this regard, this thesis might not initially appear to be fully endorsing
CTC, since it lacks the usual jargon end perhaps even the research structure
pervading most of their studies.The reason for this is that I consider that CTC
32
continue to approach the study of the city primarily from a systemic quantitative
approach, generally disregarding the importance of also addressing the
individual qualitative experience of urban environments. Also, when they do
address questions of cognition, they seem to only concentrate most of the time
in again overall systemic approaches of cognition, disregarding few key aspects.
First, that this approach does not easily let them reframe their enquiry to address
apparent exceptions, second, that the felt experience of the urban subjects
adds an invaluable and non-substitutable knowledge, third that indiidual and
collective emotion is related to both the cognition and manipulation of urban
space in non-trivial ways. The cognitive approach advocated by Portugali for
the relaunch of CTC needs, in my opinion, to be duly complemented by and
embodied and enactive understanding of cognition as involving emotion in its
full right.
By rejecting to embrace and assume these situated social and human problematic,
such questions of social justice and the surely emotional involvement in counter
hegemonic movements of protest, CTC misses out in gathering incredible rich
and meaningful information. Not only for the but because this information can
indeed fundamentally change our insights. Following Portugali and Haken’s SIRN
SRVWXODWHV DV GHULYHG IURP SUHYLRXV ÀQGLQJ LQ FRPSOH[LW\ VFLHQFHV ZH NQRZ
that a small perturbation, a punctual individual act is capable of changing the
course of a whole system10. Thus, we infer the relevance of studying these often
10 . Here I would like to recall and celebrate Juval Portugali’s insightful and brave stance in a
polemics with Prof. Matthias Finger, on the occasion of the organisation of the ETHZ-EPFL PhD
Summer School “Anthropology of Complexity” in 2015.
FRQÁLFWXDOFRPSOH[DQGGLIÀFXOWHPRWLRQDOKXPDQSKHQRPHQDIRUDFKLHYLQJD
precise and holistic view on the phenomenon of the city.
*SHYPÄJH[PVU VU [OL <ZL VM (ɈLJ[P]L

Terminology
)L[^LLU(ɈLJ[,TV[PVUHUK7HZZPVU
,WLVQRUPDOIRUÀHOGVOLNHKXPDQDQGXUEDQJHRJUDSK\WRDGGUHVVDZLGHUDQJH
of affective phenomena and feeling states under the generic term of affect, or
even within an overstretched use of the word emotion. On the other hand, other
disciplines, in particular psychology and affective sciences, have long argued that
a more precise use of the terms for different affective phenomena is a necessary
VWHSVWRZDUGVDOORZLQJUHDVRQDEOHSURJUHVVLQWKHVHUHODWHGÀHOGV7KHFRQÁLFW
and disagreement is guaranteed, as many other researchers have argued, the
YHU\GHÀQLWLRQRIHPRWLRQIHHOLQJDIIHFWLVQRWVHWWOHGDQGYDULHVZLOGO\QRWRQO\
DFURVVGLVFLSOLQHVEXWHYHQZLWKLQLQGLYLGXDOUHVHDUFKÀHOGV
My own stance with regards to this debate is that affective phenomena is

33
preferred as an umbrella term that can cover all of the more precise terms like
preference, emotions or moods. Having said this, In this thesis I do not comply
WRWKHWLJKWGHÀQLWLRQVRIWKHGLIIHUHQWW\SHVRIDIIHFWLYHSKHQRPHQDSURSRVHG
by Klaus Scherer (2005). The reson being that what I appeal when using these
WHUPVLVWRWKHLUYHU\DJHQWLDOPRWLYDWLRQDODQGZRUOGFRÀJXULQJFRUH$IIHFWLYH
phenomena are, inmy understanding, different declinations pertaining to that
which can be termed emotionality (Slaby) or affectivity (Colombetti)11.
Affectivity as I understand it and discuss it in this chapter goes beyond

such fleeting events: it is a broader phenomenon that permeates the mind,
necessarily and not merely contingently. The mind, as embodied, is intrin-
sically or constitutively affective; you cannot take affectivity away from it
and still have a mind. Affectivity as discussed in this chapter refers broadly
to a lack of indifference, and rather a sensibility or interest for one’s exis-
tence
In this research, I sometimes use emotion to convey what could appear to be just
feelings12, and other times or what could qualify as moods. I consider the term
11 Not to confounded with Russell’s (2003) idea of « core affect » as an ever-present “primitive”
and “raw” feeling constituted by a certain degree of hedonic tone or valence (pleasantness or
unpleasantness) and felt arousal, which It does not depend on language and becomes part of diffe-
rent emotions via a process of “psychological construction” ( Colombetti, 2014).
12 There is a widespread consensus in emotion research about considering feelings as the conscious
H[SHULHQFHRIDQHPRWLRQDOSURFHVV2QWKHRWKHUKDQGPRRGVDUHGHÀQHGE\UHVHDUFKHUV 6FKHU-
er, 2005) as not event focused, less intense, acting more as an underlying basis for everyday activity
DQGORQJHUODVWLQJWKDQHPRWLRQV7KHVHGHÀQLWLRQVDUHKRZHYHUQRWH[HPSWIURPSROHPLFVDVLW
happens with many other aspects of affective phenomena.
emotion to be capable of portraying affective phenomena that are not
necessarily event-focused not short time bound. I contend emotion to be apt
for denoting an intense if intermittent feeling of arousal that is something
more than a simple enchainment of single short emotions or low intensity and
diffuse overarching mood. Moreover, my use of the word emotion to cover all
of these phenomena responds to one essential angle of enquiry of this thesis.
1DPHO\WRSODFHDJHQF\DWWKHFRUHRIDIIHFWLQWKHIRUPRIZKDW)ULMGD
has termed action readiness, or action tendencies.
State of action readiness is a central notion in emotion. Its extension

roughly corresponds with the extension of the emotion notion. If an
event has no repercussion on an individual’s inclinations to act, one will
hesitate to call it an emotion, except, perhaps in the emotions evoked by
art. (...) They were among the features leading to the concepts of affec-
tion and passion, which were the predecessors of the emotion concept.
(Frijda, 2007, p. 4)
Undoubtedly, however, this research owes to the methodological apparatus

developed by generations of researchers in positive experimental psychology,
DQG XVHV QRWLRQV FRQFHSWV GHÀQLWLRQV DQG SUHYLRXV UHVHDUFK ÀQGLQJV IURP
VRPH RI LWV PRVW SURPLQHQW ÀJXUHV OLNH .ODXV 6FKHUHU 1LFR )ULMGD RU 3DXO
Ekman. Despite this fact, my understanding of emotion cannot, as I note in
34 different passages throughout this thesis, be contained nor exhausted by these
GHÀQLWLRQV
I agree with Margaret Wetherell that “It has been seriously unhelpful to posit a
generic category of autonomous affect (applied to relations between all bodies
human and non-human). Human affect and emotion are distinctive because
of their immediate entanglement with very particular human capacities for
making meaning. These entanglements organize the moment of embodied
change and are crucial to the ways in which affect articulates and travels. They
need to be centre stage in any social theory of affect and emotion.” Furthermore,
I consider that the manyfold and multifaceted nature of emotion, passions and
affectivity are only deprived and isolated from their social dimension only at
an unaffordable cost, that of stripping from what is beyond a mere additional
aspect and remains largely a constitutive factor as argued by many scholars
(e.g., Gross 2015).
Robert C. Salomon has prefered to frame his research endeavour under the
term “passions”13 , for at once warn us about the reductionist attempts from
contemporary psycho-biological approaches and to restate the changing names
DQGGHÀQLWLRQRIDSKHQRPHQRQ WKDWRIWKHSDVVLRQVRUDVDIIHFWLYLW\ ZKLFK
13 “It would be a mis-take, however, to put too much emphasis on the term “emotion,” for its
UDQJHDQGPHDQLQJKDYHDOWHUHGVLJQLÀFDQWO\RYHUWKH\HDUVGXHLQSDUWWRFKDQJHVLQWKHRULHV
about emotion. So too, the word “passion” has a long and varied history, and we should beware
of the misleading assumption that there is a single, orderly, natural class of phenomena that is
simply designated by different labels in different languages at different times” (Salomon,
is broader and more problematic than most experimental psychological and
neurobiology would make us believe.
It would seem to me worth stressing that the passions are so inextricably

intertwined in the generation of meaning that their role and importance
supersedes the (mere) “production of ‘atmospheres’, spaces and relations”
to fully partake to “their effects and to subsequent patterns of engagement”
(Wetherell, 2013). This non-trivial dimension of engagement makes for linking
affectivity, the passions and emotions to basic questions of relevance. The
stance taken in this thesis is to link emotion to the very lack of indifference
in living forms. Or to put it in other words, the very crucial act of « giving a
damn » that guides and troubles our lives. This view shares many oint with
recent neo-existencialist theories, most notably, the undrstanding that emotions
«“are both the ultimate sources and the situational manifestation of existential
VLJQLÀFDQFHWKHYHU\GLPHQVLRQRIPHDQLQJWKDWLVLQH[WULFDEOHIURPDKXPDQ
life». (Jan Slaby, 2014). Moreover, I contend that what is behind of the the
very breadth of relevance that Solomon seeks to capture with his use of the
term « passions » is not only their role to detect relevance, but their capacity
to enact worlds, to generate meaning. Having (the capacity for) emotion is
having something matter to one in this quite basic, value-constituting sense.
Such neo-existencialist postulates clearly go beyond simple considerations of
emotions as relevance detectors as in appraisalist theories, as they consider
35
that «(e)motionality consists in a fundamental, inseparable unity of evaluation,
intentionality, agency, and self-involvement.» (Jan Slaby, 2014, p. 34).
Let me remind the reader that this thesis does not follow a disciplinary narrow
approach to emotion. In agreement with Colombetti (2014), I consider that the
role and pervasiveness of emotions are such, that it is crucial to consider“ any
theory or study that explores these phenomena (…)as contributing to affective
science. Therefore, “the more these disciplines cross-fertilize, the better are
our chances of gaining an accurate understanding of affectivity, and thus of
ourselves (as well as of other creatures)”(2014, p.1).
Finally, there are two more elements to take into account. First, that the lived
experience of those experiencing an emotion cannot be ignored in studying
such an emotion. In order to engage with that lived experience, not only
direct engagement with those partciapnts is crucial, but also the search for
the contextual, situational considtions that allow for an understanding of such
lived experience. Therefore, and this brings me to the second element, the
enquiry into space from the angle of affect, and viceversa, seems to me only
obvious and necessary.
36
37
38
2
•
The Urban Cognition:

Between Agency and Structure
40
Any moment called ‘now’ is always full of possibles. 41
ߊChina Miéville, Kraken
Over the future, everybody deludes themselves.

We can only be sure of the present moment.
Yet is this true? Can we really know the present?
Are we capable of judging it?
How can somebody who doesn’t know the future
make any sense of the present?
If we don’t know towards which future the present leads us,
how can we say that this present is good or bad,
that it merits our support or our mistrust,
or even our hatred?
--Milan Kundera, L’ignorance
2.01 Overview
The study of the relation between space and human agency differs greatly in
thematic focus and methods, but it has usually been approached through the
overwhelmingly hegemonic view that spatial structures largely determine
human agency and thus constrain our freedoms. In this part I seek to provide
a base allowing an alternative approach exploring a more open and potent
relation between built environment, space, and agency, through the role
of affective phenomena. I approach this aim with a critical review of the
literature problematized around the relationship between spatial conditions and
experiential frames of cognition.
7KLV ÀUVW SDUW RI WKH WKHVLV LV VWUXFWXUHG LQ WKUHH VHSDUDWH EXW FRPSOHPHQWDU\
sections in which I introduce and review different approaches to the problematic
of space, agency and emotion. This is followed by a fourth section, where
I conclude with the notions I consider appropriate, relevant and operative in
order to elaborate my guiding hypotheses for the analysis of the case in the
IROORZLQJ3DUW7KHUHIRUHWKHVWUXFWXUHXQIROGVDVIROORZV2QWKHÀUVWVHFWLRQ
2.1 Space to Emotion, I review the state of the art around the notion of the urban
condition. I do so considering urbanity as an entry point for considering the
VRFLRVSDWLDO TXDOLWLHV LGHQWLÀHG WR LQÁXHQFH KXPDQ DJHQF\ LQ XUEDQ FRQWH[WV
42 Furthermore, in this section I discuss theories around the perception of the urban
context. I review the different theories that point towards the importance of
spatial conditions in articulating social diversity through regulating physical co-
presence. Finally, I explore the concept of porosity as instrumental to approaching
the study of urbanity, both theoretically and empirically.
On the second chapter 2.2 Emotion to Space, I address the opposite vector,
with the review of theories of emotion. Firstly, their respective stances on the
functions of emotions with regards of their theorized origin and their role in
social interaction processes and social dimensions. This section also develops a
FULWLFDOUHYLHZRIWKHFRQWDLQHGVSDWLDOLW\RIHPRWLRQVLGHQWLÀHGLQWKHWKHRULHV
of action-tendencies, and discusses theories postulating the adoption of an
enactive approach to affectivity and emotions. This section concludes with a
brief summary of the conclusions and a consideration of the implications of the
enactive approach to affectivity for our understanding of spatial engagement.
So far, on both vectors I locate an overlapping and convergent area that is

subsequently developed in chapter 2.3 Overcoming the Divide. Embodiment,
Dynamic Interaction and Extension. This chapter considers the ways in
which our relationship with space is mediated by an active situated cognitive
engagement. Here, I review theories of ecological affordances and distributed
cognition as relevant contributions that highlight and elaborate on the emergent
and interactive nature of our cognition. Secondly, I review the main postulates
of embodied cognition and its revolutionary implications for theories of emotion
and affect. Finally, I engage with the body of theory proposing to extend our
consideration of our cognitive and affective processes beyond the boundaries of
our body into the physical and social environment. In addition, I consider theories
like scaffolding, participatory sense-making and Synergetic inter-representational
QHWZRUNVZLWKUHJDUGVWRWKHGHÀQLWLRQRIDG\QDPLFLQWHUDFWLYHDQGHPHUJHQW
process of cognition and emoting involving individuals, environment and the
social, in a dynamic and complex manner.
Finally, in chapter 2.4 Problematized Operationalisation: Research Question and

Hypotheses, I summarize the main concepts to be mobilized for this research and
the enunciation of the main research questions guiding the approach to the study
case of Madrid, as derived from the critical discussions of the previous sections.
)HJRNYV\UK! ;OL ,]VS\[PVU VM [OL

*\S[\YLZVM*P[PLZ
The study of cities as objects of knowledge has been approached from diverse
ÀHOGV RI H[SHUWLVH WKURXJK GLIIHUHQW PHWKRGV DQG UHVSRQGLQJ WR YDULRXV
underlying epistemological frameworks. By proposing to read the evolution of 43
the history of human enquiry into the city through cultural perspective, Portugali
(2011a) has come to recognize three different overarching cultures of cities, and
calls for a their effective reconciliation. This thesis responds to this call through
an approach that seeks to reconcile and combine quantitative analysis with
qualitative emotion and spatial perception analysis.
The cultural approach professed by Portugali results from a combination of Snow’s

WKHRU\RIWKHWZRFXOWXUHVDQG.XKQ·VWKHRU\RIWKHVWUXFWXUHRIVFLHQWLÀF
UHYROXWLRQV .XKQ +H LGHQWLÀHV WKH ÀUVW FXOWXUH RI FLWLHV HPEUDFLQJ
a humanistic approach towards the phenomenon of the city. This humanistic
DSSURDFKLVHSLWRPL]HGRQWKHRQHKDQGE\LWVÀUVWGHYHORSPHQWLQWKHZRUNVRI
0XPIRUG·V ´7KH&LW\LQ+LVWRU\µRU:LUWK·V ´8UEDQLVPDVDZD\RI
life”. It is also well represented in the notion of regional geography as developed
in urban geography (MacLeod & Jones, 2001). The second culture of cities
bids for a quantitative approach. It begins with economical, geographical and
ecological studies like the study of the size distribution of cities by Auerbach’s
(1913), central place theories by Christaller’s (1933) and Lösch (1954) , and
gravity/spatial interaction models and like Reilly’s (1931) “Law of Retail
Gravitation”, among others. Finally, the third culture of cities develops alongside
the maturation of complexity sciences and the application of their theories and
methods to the study of cities. Under these premises, cities come to be treated
like complex systems emerging out of the interaction between the many parts
of the systems. Similarly to many natural complex systems, cities are far from
HTXLOLEULXP V\VWHPV W\SLÀHG E\ SKHQRPHQD VXFK DV IUDFWDOV VHOIRUJDQL]HG
criticality, chaos, and non-linearity (Juval Portugali, Meyer, Stolk, & Tan, 2012).
Many of the early approaches pertaining to this third culture have merely treated
cities through notions like self-organization (see Batty, Besussi, Maat, & Harts,
2004, Juval Portugali, Haken, Benenson, Omer, & Alfasi, 2000, among others),
critical non-linearity and other concepts reliant on formal modelling and general
governing principles. In doing so, these approaches have remained largely
quantitative, or at least, have not exactly sought to bridge the previous divide.
An exception inspiring this thesis is Portugali and Haken’s (Haken & Portugali,
1996, Portugali, 2002) theory of SIRN.
We must, however, bear in mind that some of these particular turning moments
DUH PRVWO\ UHIHUULQJ WR WKH $QJOR6D[RQ VFLHQWLÀF DQG VFKRODUO\ VFHQH -XYDO
Portugali, 2011a). This fact, demonstrates that the approach to the evolution
of the different approaches to the study of cities through the notion of Snow’s
cultures and Kuhn’s revolution provide a useful frame allowing us to relativize
this very evolution to particular cultural linguistic areas. I would claim, however,
that the recent irruption of the affective in the study of cities, remains largely
transversal to most English, French and Spanish1 scholarly approaches, if still
to a varying degree. In any case, this converges upon the regained relevance of
affect and emotion, as well as of experience, and it might signal that research on
cities revolves around a common set of similar problematics, even if approached
44 differently.
The change in the landscape of research cultures has not been a matter of simple
smooth evolution, as a series of revolutions have populated granted the rise of
certain hegemonic momentum of one culture over the other. On the 50s of the
20th century, a “quantitative revolution” (Burton, 1963) was based on the strong
FULWLFLVLQJRIKXPDQLVWLFDSSURDFKHVDVQRQVFLHQWLÀFDQGPHUHO\GHVFULSWLYHZLWK
the objective of de-legitimizing them. Later on, during the 70s, the emergence
RIQHR0DU[LVWDSSURDFKHVLQXUEDQVWXGLHVZLWKWKHFRQVHFUDWLRQRIÀJXUHVOLNH
'DYLG+DUYH\0DQXHO&DVWHOOVHWFPDUNHGWKHUHWXUQRIFRQÁLFWDQGSROLWLFV
to the arena of scholarly enquiry, disregarding previous positivist/quantitative
models as partial and uncritically complying and reproducing hegemonic powers.
Finally, during the last 25-30 years, we have witnessed the evolution of two
parallel strands. On the side of the “social theory oriented SMH” (Structural,
Marxist and Humanistic) turn towards the hegemonic trends in general social
theory, thus “adopting postmodern, post-structuralist and deconstruction (PPD)
approaches”. On the other side, those positivistic/quantitative approaches change
FRXUVHZLWKWKHLQÁXHQFHRIWKHWKHRULHVRIFRPSOH[LW\DQGVHOIRUJDQL]DWLRQ
Portugali has asserted that cities, unlike natural phenomena like complex natural
systems, are in fact dual complex systems, which I consider among his most
relevant contributions to the future evolution of this debate This means that
1 . For this thesis, I have concentrated my review on the relevant literature to mostly English and
French language sources, and while I have still reviewed relevant sources in Spanish language, they
remain secondary in number.
“each of their elementary parts – the urban agents (individuals, households,
ÀUPVRUSXEOLFDJHQFLHV ²LVDFRPSOH[V\VWHPWRR6HFRQGO\DQGUHODWHGWRWKH
above, cities are artefacts, that is to say, the product of humans’ intentions, aims,
politics, learning, and hopes” (2011). With the intention of developing tools and
WKHRUHWLFDOIUDPHVDGHTXDWHWRDGGUHVVLQJWKLVGLIÀFXOW\3RUWXJDOLKDVSURSRVHG
together with Herman Haken (Portugali, 2002) the theory and method of SIRN
(see chapter 2.3). Albeit different in approach and method, this thesis is inspired
by their call and should be regarded as an attempt at addressing and bridging
the culture divide.
45
46
2.1 Space to Affective
Agency.
47
2.1.1 Chapter Overview: Background
Context and Questions
)HJRNYV\UK*VU[L_[HUK8\LZ[PVUZ
Why is the city such a fertile and generative artefact? Many are the potential ways
RIDGGUHVVLQJWKLVTXHVWLRQDVPDQ\DUHWKHWKHRUHWLFDOIUDPLQJVDQGGHÀQLWLRQV
of the city: as a system, as civitas, as organized sociospatial aggregate, as an
DFFHOHUDWHGUHXQLRQRIGLYHUVLW\HWF7KHUROHRULQÁXHQFHRIVSDFHRQLQGLYLGXDOV
and on social groups remains one of the most enduring and inexhaustible
questions within the social sciences.
In order to better understand some of the fundamental qualities of urban space
which foster social innovation, I suggest addressing this research into the urban
condition through the angle of experience. The main aim for this chapter is
WKXV WKH H[SORUDWLRQ RI WKH PRVW UHOHYDQW WKHRULHV RQ WKH LQÁXHQFH RI XUEDQ
space in human agency through experience. This requires to go beyond one-
sided analyses of physical properties and arrangement of built structures and
aggregate social composition. Therefore, I tackle those approaches that reconcile
physical properties of space and social content through the active practice of
urban space and its cognition. Within those I favour those using a qualitative
48 analysis of the situated experience of the actors of urban actions.
What follows is a narrowed down and directed review of the literature through
the notion of urbanity. These approaches are discussed and problematized in
order to derive pertinent research questions. These research questions inform the
articulation of the most adequate concepts and methods to aid in the elucidation
of the dynamics behind the climate of social unrest and innovation fostered in
Madrid during the period between 2011 and 2016. The application of the ideas
envisaged in this chapter are developed and applied to empirical analysis of the
case study in part 3.
:[Y\J[\YL
7KLV FKDSWHU LV RUJDQL]HG DURXQG WKH DSSURDFK WR VSDWLDO LQÁXHQFH RQ DJHQF\
through the lens of cognition. This choice of cognition responds to the will to
address the changes in the regimes of experience of residents and users of urban
HQYLURQPHQWV7REHJLQWKLVVXEFKDSWHUÀUVWDEULHIUHYLHZDQGSUREOHPDWL]DWLRQ
of the concept of space is due, in order to clarify the grounds to pursue this
enquiry. In this brief section, I address the surge of relational theories and
GHÀQLWLRQVRIVSDFHDQG,FODULI\P\SRVLWLRQRSWLQJIRUSODFLQJWKHHPSKDVLVRQ
space as constitutive of human agency and advancing a conception of space as
capacity.
7KH FKDSWHU LV WKXV VWUXFWXUHG DURXQG ÀYH PDLQ VXEVHFWLRQV ,Q WKH ÀUVW
section “2.1.2 Exploring the Urban Condition”, I review the work of early urban
VRFLRORJ\ DQG VRFLDO WKLQNHUV ZKR LGHQWLÀHG WKH SUREOHPDWLF FKDQJLQJ UHJLPH
of experience imposed by the emergence of the modern metropolis. Through a
review of the works of classical social theorists, I discuss the consequences of life
in the metropolis for the cognition of the environment and the modes of social
interaction, and therefore, the changes it imposes on social life. I further develop
the discussion into the different theories that have worked on understanding and
GHÀQLQJWKHXUEDQFRQGLWLRQZLWKVSHFLDOHPSKDVLVRQWKHQRWLRQVRIGLYHUVLW\
and accessibility. In addition, this section articulates around the dual ambivalent 49
nature of cities as birthplace of social cultural and economic innovation as well
DVVHWWLQJVIRUFRQÁLFWDQGVWUXJJOHV
In the second section” 2.1.3 Perception” I analyse approaches dealing with the
perception of urban space, through emphasis on urban form and visual perception.
In addition, I review perceptual atmospheric approaches in their relation to
urbanity (ambiances urbaines) as well as recent work on emotions and urban
form. In the following section “2.1.4 Spatial Condition of Co-Presence”, I address
how the notion of diversity has been articulated in the concept of co-presence
and how it can inform the analysis of the cognition of the urban. Furthermore,
I review the operationalization of co-presence into analytical theories of urban
VSDFHDQGLWVUROHDVDWUDQVODWRURIWKHÀQGLQJVRIVSDWLDOLQWHJUDWLRQDQDO\VLVLQWR
sociologically meaningful insights. The review progresses toward the problem of
the increasing segregation of urban space, in what has been termed as urbanism
or urban enclaves. In this regard, I discuss the notion of threshold, as a response
to the theorization of urban enclaves and other territorializing strategies. I
continue by reviewing the notion of porosity applied to the study of the urban.
+HUH,DOVRDGYDQFHP\RZQGHÀQLWLRQRIXUEDQSRURVLW\LQWKHFRQWH[WRI1HZ
Urban Practices. Finally, I conclude by summarizing the most relevant issues
that are to help problematize and to inform research questions and methods of
research for the study case of Madrid in chapter 3.
2.1.2 What Space. Social, Physical and
Situated
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space emerges clearly from the review of the literature. This is necessary in
order to avoid confounding what usually are very different implicitly underlying
meanings, and to neutralize potential misunderstandings. Or put more simply,
D FODULÀFDWLRQ RQ WKH FRQFHSW RI VSDFH LV GHVLUDEOH WR FRQWRXU WKH DOO WR RIWHQ
simplistic, imprecise, and vague characterizations of space as something which
would be supposedly intuitive, tangible, and a conceptually stable notion
englobed under natural language category.
&RQVHTXHQWO\ RQH RI WKH ÀUVW GLIÀFXOWLHV WR WDFNOH LV WKH YDULHG DQG ODUJHO\
DWRPL]HG OLWHUDWXUH RQ WKH FRQFHSWXDOL]DWLRQ DQG GHÀQLWLRQ RI WKH FDWHJRU\ RI
space. Before pursuing this search, I must ask the uncomfortable question: what
space are we talking about? Is it the space of the philosophers, who have widely
considered it as a pre-given datum for knowledge, or a priori intuition (Kant,
" 2U LV LW WKH VSDFH HPHUJLQJ IURP $QWKURSRORJ\ DV VRPHWKLQJ PDGH
50 DOPRVWPDOOHDEOHDQGODUJHO\UHODWLYHLQLWVFXOWXUDOVLJQLÀFDQFH"2ULVLWRQWKH
contrary, the space of geographers, who have largely continued to conceive it in
terms of either location for different kinds of phenomena, or in terms of territory
as appropriated geography?.
One ambition of this research is to reconsider a discussion of urban space

through the lens of embodied cognition and affective phenomena, practice, and
contention. Therefore, I would not refer here to accounts of space that attempt
a mere descriptive attitude. Also I will not engage with extreme realist positions
positing the existence of space as a pre-given independent entity.
Recently, this relational stance on space has come to be widely present either
as explicitly vindicated or simply supposedly underling throughout recent
VSDWLDO WXUQV :DUI $ULDV 0DVVH\ $OOHQ 6DUUH /XVVDXOW
2007). However, I might argue following Corsin Jimenez (2003) , that many
of these recent proposals for understanding space still partake to an underlying
Durkheimian spatiality, posing space mainly as location or even as territorialized
geography. In his work, most notably in “The elementary forms of the religious
life”, Durkheim (2001 [1912]) reworks a Kantian vision of space, by accepting it
as an a priori category of meaning. These “presentations”, if we adopt the Kantian
jargon, do not only cast their understanding of space as territoriality, but have
even more pervasively “colonized” generations of thinkers with their connotation
of space as a container where human experience “takes place”. Recent spatial
turns are not, to the most part, devoid of this underlying assertion.
Relevant, thus, to social theory and sciences, is to see not only how these relations
between social and physical entities are actually exercised and practiced, but
KRZGRWKH\DFWXDOO\FRQÀJXUHVSDFH)RUWKLVDWWHQWLRQWRWKHFRQÀJXUDWLRQRI
space might be the sole way through which to acquire insight on whether these
relations are there, and if they matter at all. An alternative view of space comes
IURP WKHRULHV RI SUDFWLFH %RXUGLHX *LGGHQV 6FKDW]NL .QRUU
&HWLQD 6DYLJQ\ 6WRFN ZKLFK LQ LWV PRVW LQVSLUDWLRQDO WDNH
ERUURZVIURPD+HLGHJJHULDQQRWLRQRI(UHLJQLV +HLGHJJHU>²@
as way of postulating how space is mobilized as “praxis of worldling” (Werlen,
1997). Here, one of the underlying problematics, timely pointed out by Corsin
Jimenez (2003), resides in to what extent space is still considered implicitly an
underlying and constraining given datum, even if as an a priori condition for
knowledge in Kantian fashion. As Corsin Jimenez puts it: “these authors do vest
actors with space-making capacities, but ultimately circumscribe these to the
material base of the world they inhabit” (2003, p.129).
Moreover, added to this notion of space as something produced and relational

rather than as a pre-given and independent container, space(s) have also come
to be regarded as a set of relations that ensue that particular social orders, in
terms of values, distinctions, positions, and rhythms, are reproduced. This social
reproduction is enforced spatially as much as it also requires other dimensions
of normativity such as laws or social conventions. In fact, it is nothing new that
space as such is inextricable from these other categories and activities. As already
51
Lefebvre (2011 [1974], p. 35) noted, “...the ultimate foundation of social space
is prohibition.” For example, the effectiveness of private property as a basis for
allocating and controlling resources ultimately rests upon the ability to exclude
others from the occupation and use of property they do not own. Both the body
and the spatial dimension of our social life, that is, the material spatial devices
of exclusion, delimitation, gathering or bundling, have been posited as the main
loci where power is exercised, already linking in a meaningful manner the scales
of the body and of the city in ways that perhaps do not vary so much from
foundational treatises of architecture (ref and justify in footnote). We know well
DIWHUVFKRODUVOLNH)RXFDOW $JDPEHQ DPRQJRWKHUV
Under this light, the analysis of public space ought to elude, in my opinion,
such still pervasive Durkheimian notion of space as location, embracing instead
a reconsideration of space as capacity and linking it ontologically to the notion
of agency. As Corsin Jimenez puts it “(...) space is no longer ‘out there’, but a
condition or faculty - a capacity-of social relationships. It is what people do and
not where they are” (2003, p.140). Along these lines, new social interventions in
public space revisit the culture of the “open city”, coining a new paradigm which
reunites active participation with the culture of the prototype (Corsín Jiménez,
2014).
Notwithstanding the theoretical and practical pertinence of the topic, the

interactions between the spatial practices and the formation of cognitive frames
have rarely been addressed in a systematic and comparative way. Additionally,
even though particularly poignant forms of collective action, such as social
movements and other forms of civic engagement, are increasingly recognized
as an important birthplace of world-shaping attitudes and initiatives in recent
VFLHQWLÀFGHEDWHV2 , interactions between researchers addressing these questions
IURPVHSDUDWHÀHOGVVXFKDVSROLWLFDOJHRJUDSKHUVDQGHQYLURQPHQWDOSV\FKRORJ\
have been rare. However, promising advances and progress are coming from
DSSDUHQWO\GLVWDQWÀHOGVVXFKDVFRJQLWLYHVFLHQFHDQGHYHQDUWLÀFLDOLQWHOOLJHQFH
where researchers, drawing from neuroscience and biology, have recently
developed theoretical models that truly account for the spatial dimensions as a
category of material practice, or through the lens of practice. Such is the case of
Participatory Sense Making (De Jaegher & Di Paolo, 2007) and SIRN (J Portugali,
2002), theories seeking to truly embrace the fundamental role of situatedness
and active enactment of perception and space making.
:WHJLHZ7SHJL
In accordance with the bid for approaching urban space from the ways of
populating inhabiting appropriating and . Few notions describe this processes
better than the concept of place, which has enjoyed a long and history of
intellectual development, starting from ancient Greece. In Physics IV, Aristotle
GHÀQHGSODFHDVWKHSODFHRI[LVWKHÀUVW LHLQQHUPRVW PRWLRQOHVVERXQGDU\
52 of the thing that contains x (Phy IV 4, 212a20-21). Contemporary urban theorist
0XQWDxROD KDVUHÀQHGWKLVÀUVWGHÀQLWLRQE\VD\LQJDSODFHLVWKHÀUVW
PRWLRQOHVVERXQGDU\KRVWLQJERGLHVWKDWFDQPRYHDQGÀQGWKHUHLQ
Muntañola, departing form a phenomenologist interpretation of this statement

IURP $ULVWRWOH KDV FRPH WR GHÀQH WKH FLW\ LQ UHODWHG WHUPV DV D SODFH WKDW
both groups men and exteriorises the form by which it groups them” (2000, p.
19). This way, for Muntañola, the city is “ the expressive medium, the built or
buildable dream” (2000, p. 19), p.19) ,3 which would then be the place of society
and civilised man. This vision develops a pervading idea of recognition with the
place, by which the city is conceived as vehicle between history and subject,
which cannot be said to be the same but which nevertheless resonates with its
FRQWHQW $OVR WKH FLW\ EHFRPHV XQGHU WKLV DSSURDFK WKH ÀUVW DQG IRUHPRVW
material substrate upon which the individual expresses herself.

On the importance of understanding that the recognition of individuals and
groups with place necessarily passes through history. Muntañola warns that when
VXFKUHDVRQLVEURNHQWKHFLWL]HQÀQGVKHUVHOIGLVRULHQWHGDQGWKHQ´SODFHLWVHOI
becomes diffuse, confusing and at its limits, gets confused with death, whom
does not care for our reasons”4.
2 see Moulaert, 2013, on social innovation and social movements, also, Janoschka and colleagues
RQFRQWHVWHGFLWLHV
3 . Original in Spanish: “el medio expresivo, el sueño construido o constructible”
(Muntañola Thornberg 2000: 19). Translated by the author.
2ULJLQDOLQ6SDQLVKHOOXJDUVHYXHOYHLQVLJQLÀFDQWHGLIXVRFRQIXVR\HQHOOtPLWHVHFRQIXQGH
con la muerte, la cual no atiende a razones” (Muntañola 2000, p.17). Translated by the author
Place attachment.
With regards to the status of the studies of place nowadays, we encounter
that while the number of non-places, like highways, hotels or supermarkets, is
DVVXPHGWRKDYHJURZQZLWKPRGHUQLW\ $XJp%HDWOH\ VFKRODUV
FRQVLGHUSODFHVWRKDYHLQFUHDVHGLQLPSRUWDQFH *XVWDIVRQ-DQ]
.UXJHU -DNHV7HUNHQOL
Interestingly, in the wake of increasing possibility of natural and man made

disasters, such as the prospect of war is accompanied by an “awareness of the
XQUHSODFHDELOLW\RI WKHVH SODFHV WKHLU VLQJXODUFRQÀJXUDWLRQDQG XQUHSHDWDEOH
history. Much the same is true for any disruptive event that disturbs the placidity
of cities and neighborhoods (...) An active desire for the particularity of place
for what is truly “local” or “regional”e is aroused by such increasingly common
experiences. Place brings with it the very elements sheared off in the planiformity
of site: identity, character, nuance” (Casey, 1997, p. xii).
:P[\H[LKULZZ
In academic research, there is an ongoing debate on whether space should be

treated as a self-standing dimension and studied through universal metrics or,
rather, be tackled through the result of individuals or objects being in place,. It
53
can however, be addressed from a third enriching perspective that elaborates
RQKRZVRFLDOVSDFHLVGHÀQHGDQGFUHDWHGWKURXJKWKHDFWLRQVRILQGLYLGXDOVRU
groups (in the large sense of the term). Such perspective allows to develop on
the embededness of any social process in their material environment, and how
this provides the frame for understanding that particular space. An approach of
the embeddedness through an analysis of the cognitive integration of a person in
DQGZLWKVLWXDWLRQVZKLFKDUHWHPSRUDODQGVSDWLDOO\GHÀQHGLVEHKLQGWKHRULHV
RI VLWXDWHG FRJQLWLRQ %URZQ &ROOLQV 'XJXLG 7KHVH DSSURDFKHV
take both body and mind to perform simultaneously as interfaces with what
the environment presents to us5. Therefore, such an approach understands and
posits feeling, thinking and learning, that is to say, our access to knowledge,
happens in situated condition (Durning & Artino, 2011).
This situatedness is furthermore been considered to concern not just the

physical environment, but also the social one. Its a way of trying to overcome
the limitations undermining methodological individualism, as criticized by may
scholar like Young, who have worked on stressing the collective dimension of
social entities.
From the perspective of situated cognition, the focus remains necessary

relational, that is, the person in the experience of a situation, or in other words,
the human condition in an environment at a given time (Hess, 2004) One of
5 . The concept of affordance developed by Gibson develops this idea. This is further treated in
more detail in sub-chapter 2.3 Overcoming the divide.
the main realizations that this postulates emerges from, and one of its main
consequences for informing research, is that the experience of the everyday
environment constitutes the interface through which an individual learns “when
personal abilities6 are enabled by situational opportunities (i.e. affordances)
&KHPHUR'XUQLQJ $UWLQR µ
One of the most radical potential consequences is to postulate no “distinction

between person and environment, because both knowing and acting occur as
relations to a given environmental situation” (Hess, 2004). Besides, situatedness,
through its embodied emphasis, invites us to address the body and its role in
the everyday experience of our environment. This, of anything, is of particular
relevance to understanding the relevance of the built environment and its spaces,
and how the body performs as that privileged interface. As Choay reminds us:
L’architecture a disparu qui œuvrait à l’échelle locale et qui, quelles que

fussent les techniques employées, exigeait une expérience directe de la tri-
dimensionnalité, un investissement du corps entier, celui de l’architecte et
celui des habitants, qu’aucune simulation ne peut remplacer, car l’archi-
tecture n’est pas chose mentale. « Les vivants ont un corps qui permet de
sortir de la connaissance », rappelle Eupalinos. Et ce corps jeté dans l’es-
pace fonde l’« intersomaticité » qui, à son tour, fonde l’urbanité. (Choay,
2006, p. 196)
54
6 . By abilities, Hess refers to the combined physical and cognitive abilities of an individual to recog-
QLVHDQGDFWXDOLVHWKHSRWHQWLDODIIRUGDQFHVRIDQHQYLURQPHQW 1RUPDQ
,_WSVYPUN[OL<YIHU*VUKP[PVU
3PMLPU[OL4L[YVWVSPZ*VNUP[PVUHUK:VJPHS:[Y\J[\YL
Early sociological theory was, already at its inception, concerned with the effect
that the contemporary development of the modern Metropolises. In fact, the
growth and development of Paris, London and Berlin into the cosmopolitan
metropolises of the XIX and early XX centuries seems to have been accompanied
by and echoed in the development of social theory. This preoccupation, already
SUHVHQW LQ WKH IRXQGLQJ ÀJXUHV RI VRFLRORJ\ VXFK DV 'XUNKHLP RU 6LPPHO
revolved around the effects of the changing living conditions in environments
that were substantially different from those in rural areas. These cities, with sheer
accumulation of people, goods, economic activities, unprecedented in modern
KLVWRU\VHHPHGWRH[HUWDWDQJLEOHDQGREVHUYDEOHLQÁXHQFHXSRQLWVLQKDELWDQWV
In fact, one might argue that growth of cities into such metropolises captivated
PDQ\UHQRZQHGWKLQNHUVZKRZHUHWREHFRPHHVVHQWLDOÀJXUHVLQVRFLDOWKRXJKW
such as Emile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, and Louis Wirth, to name but among
the most prominent.
The main argument is that, effectively, these cities were conditioning the ways in
which individuals got together, built social ties, organized their lives and acted
55
in the world. This was achieved, they argued, through the novel and mental
framework that the material and social conditions of these new urban phenomena
created for their residents. Past time societies, which were considered mostly
rural, were argued to be built upon a series of common beliefs and values, shared
by their members, and facilitated by their smaller number and spatial distribution,
as well as by their functional connection with the land. In contrast, the new
cities, with their unprecedented accumulation and densities, put forward a new
social space, characterized by an exacerbated division of labour, individuality,
and anonymity7.
The argument sets a particular view of social qualitative change following the
trespassing of a quantitative material threshold in which space was to play a
constitutive role. This qualitative and material change, consisting in an altered
cognition of the environment, of others and of oneself, would therefore have
decanted consequences in the values and beliefs of the urban dwellers, and would
manifest itself in changed behaviour underlying a new and unprecedented logic
of social order.
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Georg Simmel developed his assessment of such new cognitive framework
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Metropolis and Mental Life” (Die Grosstadt und das Geistesleben) from 1903. In
7 . Durkheim’s concepts of “mechanical solidarity” and “organic solidarity” from The Division of
Labor In Society encapsulated the changes these sociologists saw between traditional village life
and the world of the modern metropolis
this work he develops his theories based on a study of the life in Berlin at the turn
of the 20th century. Simmel’s main argument revolves around the problem of
how structural forces restrain individual human agency. Accordingly, the deepest
problems of modern life result from the attempt of individuals to preserve their
individuality in the face of modernity, increasing specialization of work, and
“overwhelming social forces.” (Simmel, 1950/1903, p. 409) .
His observation was that these changing conditions, understood as forces of

modernity, developed most rapidly in large cities. In his opinion it was not just
the sheer accumulation, but the intricacy of the city system, with its millions
of people and activities of every variety, which require a complex system of
interaction to satisfy all of the differentiated interests. Most importantly, he notes
that as a result of this intricate set of relations and its ‘swift and continuous shift
RIH[WHUQDODQGLQWHUQDOVWLPXOL·WKHLQGLYLGXDO·V¶HPRWLRQDOOLIH·LVLQWHQVLÀHG
The psychological foundation, upon which the metropolitan individual-

ity is erected, is the intensification of emotional life due to the swift and
continuous shift of external and internal stimuli. Man is a creature whose
existence is dependent on differences, i.e. his mind is stimulated by the
difference between present impressions and those which have preceded.
Lasting impressions, the slightness in their differences, the habituated reg-
ularity of their course and contrasts between them, consume, so to speak,
56 less mental energy than the rapid telescoping of changing images, pro-
nounced differences within what is grasped at a single glance, and the un-
expectedness of violent stimuli. To the extent that the metropolis creates
these psychological conditions ± with every crossing of the street, with the
tempo and multiplicity of economic, occupational and social. (Simmel,
1950/1903, p. 409)
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emotional life as a clear consequence of the number of changing stimuli present
in the city. Simmel’s conception of the city is developed in contrast to rural life as
he argues that urban life produces a different kind of consciousness, of mind, in
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individual can go to great lengths, such as adopting peculiar personal traits, in
order to preserve his individuality through asserting his or her personality.
Additionally, the increasing division of labour inherent to the metropolitan

accumulation produces a straining tendency to diminish individuality as
individuals are lost in the anonymity of larger systems. In order for a person
to protect herself from being swept away by the multitude and by the forces of
modernity, she learns to react with his head rather than her heart. This thus gives
rise to a calculative and rationalistic attitude with regards to social relations.
It is noticeable that within a city, those social interactions take place, according
to Simmel, mostly between strangers who have to rely on each other for material
goods. This relationship between anonymous individuals produces the effect
that the residents of cities are at the same time full members of society, but are
also outside of it and confronting society (Simmel, 1950/1903, pp. 402-403).
The many surrounding stimuli deplete their emotional energy and individuals
WKXV UHFXU WR DGRSWLQJ D EODVp DWWLWXGH 6XFK DWWLWXGH GHÀQHG DV D NLQG RI
antipathy and lack of engagement, allows urban residents to maintain a sense of
personal freedom. These signals, according to Simmel, that the development of
individualism is due in part to the triumph of objectivity over subjectivity and the
growth of objective systems.9
The city structuring social relations.

The study of the kinds of social interaction and modes of social structuring that
6LPPHOKLQWHGDWZDVGHYHORSHGE\7|QQLHV DQGODWHU'XUNKHLP
(2005/1912) through his notions of mechanical and organic solidarity.10 The
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57
to structure social interactions and thus change social structure in contrast
to previous rural settlements. Additionally, the modes and types of social
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DQGPDFURVWUXFWXUDOOHYHOV HJ7ULSOHWW%DQGXUD5RVVDQG5RVV
*RIIPDQ=DMRQF $IWHU*RIIPDQ·VHQFDSVXODWHGDQGRSHUDWLRQDOL]HG
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the term co-presence (1966) which will be duly covered in an upcoming section
2.1.5 Spatial Conditions of Co-Presence (see page 91).
The work of Walter Benjamin deserves especial mentioning. Benjamin (1996a,

1996b) differs in his approach from both socio-economic and socio-historical
approaches of Weber,in that he is not interested in technological or economic
developments. He remains interested in the changes of urban environment on
&XULRXVO\WKLVYLHZRIWKHHQDFWLYHHIIHFWVRIFLWLHVLQRXUFRJQLWLYHV\VWHPVKDYHEHHQDOVR
developed through two main streams of research. On the one hand, urban areas are linked to the
appearance and thriving of deviant behaviour, mainly from functionalist, ecological and subcultural
UHVHDUFKHUV VHH&RKHQ0HUWRQ 2QWKHRWKHUKDQGWKHUHKDVDOVREHHQDSDUWLFXODUO\
fertile strand of considering the effect undertook in clinical studies (refs). . These two approaches
are not consider for the purposes of this thesis as my main focus is on the role of cities as positive
extensions of our cognitive and affective capacities.
,WLVUHOHYDQWWRQRWHWKDW6LPPHOLGHQWLÀHVWKHRULJLQVRIH[DJJHUDWHGPDQQHULVPDQGRYHUWO\
expressive behaviour in the incapacity to deal with many stimuli with the necessary antipathy, This
LGHDFRQQHFWVZLWKDUHÁHFWLRQRQWKHUROHRIH[WLPDF\LQXUEDQHQYLURQPHQWVWKDWZLOOEHGLVFXVVHG
later on
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to derive their cohesion from the similarities among their members, what he called mechanical
solidarity. For more developed societies (Gesselshaft), characteristic of urban centres, the solidarity
is based upon their interdependence, which is in turn based on their difference and specialization.
This later form is what he termed organic solidarity.
our perception and experience, and thus he will focus in the physiological and
psychological transformations of the subjective experience of the inhabitant
of large cities. For him the city is a milieu where speed disorientation and the
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as inability to transmit intergenerational experiences (Erfahrung), inscribed
in forms of community sociability, in favour of strictly individual experiences
(Erlebnis), proceeding from shocks passively undergone by consciousness
(Benjamin, 1996a).
While the city is the pivotal point of Benjamin’s reading of modernity, he did
not somehow endorse the general theme of the metropolization of society11, nor
the intention to apprehend the totality of society present in the work of Weber.
Instead, he preferred to observe the most concrete urban phenomena, where
the contradictions of modernity can be acutely observed and are thus, the most
revealing.
Weber (1966/1921) offered an evolutionary explanation where the modern city

is seen as a sophisticated and decanted version of the medieval one. Simmel,
on the other hand, was more interested in clarifying the differences between
urban and non-urban society. His reading of the city has been argued to be “a
UDWKHUH[FOXVLYHVRFLHW\RIVHOIUHÁH[LYHXUEDQLWHVWKDWFRQVWLWXWHLQPDQ\ZD\V
a new historical community with very different mores and values to traditional
58 society” (Parker, 2004, p. 9). Benjamin differs as he locates what makes urban
living distinct in its constant renewing and becoming. Not only does this concern
the content of urban life, but urban dwellers themselves, who can reinvent
themselves. Intimacy and anonymity are ubiquitous, differentiating the urban
society, which he epitomizes as on e of artists and intellectuals, apart from rural
society.
Weber, like previously Marx, Tönnies and Simmel, developed his theory of the
city partially as a critique of the distinct phenomenon of the metropolis, which
he considered the paradigm of inhuman debasing social environment. While his
theory owes much to the work of Tönnies and Simmel, he developed a systematic
theory of the city through a structural perspective encompassing all aspects of
social structure, economic, political, religious and legal institutions. In his theory,
PDVVXUEDQL]DWLRQQXOOLÀHVRSSRUWXQLWLHVIRUSROLWLFDOSDUWLFLSDWLRQZKLFKLVRQH
of the crucial characteristics of the city.
Urban life was claimed to restrict residents’ dependence on others to a small part
RIDQRWKHU·VDFWLYLWLHVLQFRQWUDVWLQJWRUXUDOZD\VRIOLIH :LUWK 7KHUHIRUH
urban residents’ knowledge and experience of these secondary contacts is rather
limited. For Wirth, this means that the individual loses the sense of participation
belonging and the morale that pertains to tightly integrated small social groups
at the same time as she sets free from the social control usually exerted by such
social environment. Again, the dynamics between freedom, individualization
11 . The expression is orginally developed by S. Jonas in (2000)

DQGWKHVHQVHRIEHORQJLQJDQGLGHQWLÀFDWLRQZLWKDFRPPXQLW\DUHDWSOD\7KLV
delicate balance of such loose social ties comes through the formation of groups
of smaller individuals on the basis of voluntary association.
According to Wirth, the increased complexity of the social structure and

GLYHUVLÀFDWLRQ RI WKH FLW\ LV GXH WR WKH LQFUHDVHG SRSXODWLRQ GHQVLW\ 7KLV
concentrated and specialized world, primes visual recognition and individuals
develop a sensitivity to material objects, rather than human relationships. It is
important to note that, at the same time, the density and size of the city constrain
the ability of urban residents to conceive of the city as a whole and to see their
particular position in the system. Friction and irritation is produced by the
movement of a large number of people and nervous tensions increase due to the
rapid speed of city life. For Wirth, the result of these frustrations of city life is a
greater amount of disorganization and a greater number of mental breakdowns.
The idea that urban culture, or urban mode of life, would somehow result from
WKHFRPELQHGDFWLRQRIVL]HGHQVLW\DQGKHWHURJHQHLW\RIFLWLHV :LUWK LV
however, criticized for not taking explicitly into account the technical and social
structure as a distinct and culturally contingent feature12 (Castells, 1971) .
Concluding remarks.
In sum, cities, as it is derived from the above-reviewed literature of early
59
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PRGHVRIVRFLDOLQWHUDFWLRQLPSRVHGE\WKHFLW\·VVL]HGHQVLW\DQGGLYHUVLÀFDWLRQ
6XFKORJLFRIDFFXPXODWLRQDQGGHQVLÀFDWLRQSURYRNHVD´LQWHQVLÀFDWLRQRIWKH
emotional life”, which imposes a series of particular changes in urban residents.
Firstly, by changing the modes of social interaction and kinds of relationship
DPRQJWKHPVHFRQGO\E\DOWHULQJLQGLYLGXDOVIRUPRIFRJQLWLRQDQGWKLUGO\E\
imposing in consequence a novel set of morals, ideas values and aspirations (a
sort of urban mentality) whose most prominent features are the propensity for
individualization, intellectualization and rationalization of social relations. This
in turn results in change in behaviour. However, such changes have also brought
about an increased solidarity due to the complementarity of labour activities, an
increased freedom favoured by higher levels of anonymity as well as increased
cultural diversity.
12 . “The social organization and the cultural system depend on something more than just the
number and heterogeneity of individuals. We must take into account the techno-social structure as
organizational foundation of society” (translated by the author from the original in Spanish
Elusive Urbanity
Go up on to the wall of Uruk and walk around. (...)

Look for the copper tablet-box,
Undo its bronze lock,
Open the door to its secret,
Lift out the lapis lazuli tablet and read.
(SLFRI*LOJDPHVK7UDQVODWHGE\'DOOH\ SJ
The possible lines of enquiry into the role of space in enacting, constraining,
channelling or even facilitating human agency, are inexhaustible. For the sake
of directing the present research into the terrain of intelligibility, I have chosen
to approach this issue from the perspective of urban space. The reasons for this
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SRWHQW VSDWLDO DQG VRFLDO FRQÀJXUDWLRQV FRQVWLWXWLQJ WKH SOHWKRUD RI REMHFWV
of enquiry into this relationship between space and human agency, the city
continues to be the most widely used example. It moreover remains arguably the
richest one due to its multifaceted and never easily reducible nature. However,
60 the approach from the urban vector does not take its object as unproblematic.
Quite on the contrary.
The multiple and varied ways in which a city manifests (how it becomes
PHDQLQJIXO DQG LQÁXHQWLDO IRU RXU OLYHV JLYHV D PHDVXUH RI LWV KHWHURJHQHLW\
We all know different cities, different corners where the eyes of the child learn
to read the multifarious human actions under the lights of diverse cultures and
their codes. There, the city’s nature as a locus of either hectic activity, solitary
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experience. As such, each city is a world in itself that reunites extreme variations
of the possible conditions of our existence, a unique constellation with its own
codes and messages. This fact in itself already presents the city as a reunion of
heterogeneity and diversity, being itself composed of a multitude of phenomena
DQG SURÀWLQJ IURP D P\ULDG RI PRGHV RI LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ DQG LQVLJKW +RZHYHU
the city can also be viewed as the place where we encounter the embodiment of
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cities.
+RZHYHUPDQ\RIWKHVHGLYHUVHDQGVSHFLÀFFLWLHVVHHPWRVKDUHFHUWDLQFRPPRQ
universal features, a particularly elusive set of characteristics that we have come
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While the effects of space in the agency of individuals and groups can surely be
approached diligently through its constituent components, I would argue that
it is urban space as a synthetic realm of experience that bears some irreducible
quality13$QGIRUSURSHUO\WDFNOLQJVXFKLQÁXHQFH,QHHGWRUHVRUWWRWKHQRWLRQ
of urbanity, as that which describes the distinctive quality. Urbanity is thus a
notion considered to be of strategic importance by many authors of reference.
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what it’s limited to simply “colour” the stable determinants, such as economic
capital. On the contrary, all of these authors clearly oppose economism as well as
the structuralist approach, and have valorized the role of agents, including the
smallest ones” (Lévy, 2013)
%HIRUH DGGUHVVLQJ WKH GLIIHUHQW WUHDWPHQW E\ VFKRODUV RI D PRUH VSHFLÀHG DQG
nuanced concept of urbanity, I must recall that the term urbanity addresses two
fundamentally distinct ideas, which are,as I will argue later, also intimately
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meanings as following:
61
1 Courteousness and refinement of manner: ‘that polished urbanity of his’
2 Urban life: ‘a picture of banal urbanity’
Origin: Mid 16th century: from French urbanité or Latin urbanitas, from
urbanus belonging to the city (see urban)
The awareness of this inherent polysemy is more or less acute depending on

which language we review the literature. For example, when reviewing the
scholarly literature on urbanity in Spanish, we remark that researchers draw
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urban life, is undeniably what has called for more efforts from researchers across
disciplines and cultures.
Research Into Urbanity

$V ZH VWDQG WKH GHÀQLWLRQ RI XUEDQLW\ VHHPV IDU IURP EHLQJ À[HG 5HFHQW
research(Bisson, 2016) has shown that the understanding of urbanity greatly
varies even within researchers from the related disciplines of geography,
urbanism and architecture pertaining to one linguistic community, in this case
francophone. Researchers also come to argue that urbanity can be said to have
become a “fuzzy/unclear concept” (Bourdin, 2010). Other authors, like Vinicius
M. Netto (Netto, 2015), argue that few other concepts have been subject to
D UHSHDWHG KLVWRU\ RI VR XQV\VWHPDWLF GHÀQLWLRQV :KLOH 1HWWR 1HWWR
DUJXHV WKDW WKH QRWLRQ RI XUEDQLW\ KDV SURÀWHG PRVWO\ IURP JHRJUDSKLFDO DQG
philosophical approaches through the notions of “place” and dwelling” (E. S.
13
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scene. This differs among French scholars. In the francophone scene, two
main approaches are present. Firstly, urbanity is conceived as an combination
of density and diversity (Jacques Lévy, 2013). Secondly, urbanity is conceived
mostly as the as a sum of social interactions and ways of being which enable
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French take seems promising for inciting an approach from situated experience
as it conceived urbanity both reunion of material conditions as mediated physical
urban structures (urban morphology) and the content and modes provided by
social interactions (Berque, 1993). However, a more explicit approximation to
“the “urban framing” of experience or the experience of “urbanity” – the idea
that our experience of the world and of the other is profoundly mediated by
the city” has been found to be a minority if not absent in the overall literature
(Netto, 2015)
1. Henri Lefebvre: “urbanity as central heterogeneity and simultaneity”
According to Lefebvre (1970), after the agricultural, mercantilist, and industrial

ages, we are now going through an urban revolution. In his opinion this does
not simply consist of the usually remarks consequence of the effective extension
62 and amount of urban population worldwide, but affects the very way we
conceive our own world. In fact, Lefebvre contends that our cognition has
also undergone a process of urbanization. For Lefebvre, all aspects of human
life , such as personalities, economic behaviour, spiritual beliefs, and modes of
VRFLDOLQWHUDFWLRQKDYHEHFRPHXUEDQ$FFRUGLQJO\WKLVGHÀQLWLRQRI8UEDQLW\LV
worldwide increasingly a general characteristic since the 1970s.
Moreover, Lefebvre understands the urban through the notions of centrality

and differentiation. Centrality understood as the accumulation of goods,
information, people. Such idea centrality originates in a very simple observation:
´7KHXUEDQLVGHÀQHGDVWKHSODFHZKHUHSHRSOHDUHFURZGHGZKHUHWKH\ÀQG
themselves facing and among pieces of objects , intersecting until they no longer
recognize themselves as the children of their activities, confusing, mixing and
blurring their situations in ways that generate unexpected situations” (Lefebvre
1970, pg.57)14. This accumulation, this centrality can also be approached as
an ensemble of differences. We should note that Lefebvre here seems to imply
“vector” as in the narrow sense of a line uniting a centre to an element of its
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allow broader considerations about the union of two points in space, wherever
they are both located.
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trouvent devant et dans des monceaux d’objets, entrecroisent jusqu’a ne plus s’y reconnattre Ies
ÀOVGHOHXUVDFWLYLWHVHPEURXLOOHQWOHXUVVLWXDWLRQVGHIDoRQHQJHQGUHUGHVVLWXDWLRQVLPSUHYXHVµ
(Lefebvre 1970, pg.57) Translated by the author
While for Lefebvre, the urban unfolds through centrality, urbanity, on the
other hand, elaborates around two main notions: accessible heterogeneity and
simultaneity. The urban thus, reunites different important factors, requiring the
participation of all sense for the emergence of urbanity. These elements comprise
encounter, difference (including strangers as social difference), works (like
art pieces and cultural products in general), possibilities and unpredictability,
interchange, and life and play for their own sake. The urban, take, then the
SURSHUWLHVRIDIRUPDFRQÀJXUDWLRQ´7KHXUEDQLVDERYHDOODIRUPWKDWRIWKH
encounter and assemblage of all the elements of social life, from the fruits of the
earth (agricultural products) to symbols and cultural works. As form, the urban
bears a name: simultaneity15” (Lefebvre, 1972, p. 206).
The concept of simultaneity bears also crucial importance for Lefebvre’s

PXOWLIDFHWHGGHÀQLWLRQRIXUEDQLW\DVLWUHVSRQGVWRWKHDSSDUHQWO\SDUDGR[LFDO
question of how can all this heterogeneity be made accessible and “central”. As he
“This form has a place among the forms that we can study differentiating them
from their content. What the urban form assembles and renders simultaneous
can be very diverse. It can be things, peoples, as well as signs. The essential is the
concourse (gathering) and simultaneity”. (Lefebvre 1972. p. 206)
We should bear in mind, however, that Lefebvre asserts a clear distinction between
city and the urban. “The contemporary “city” is, for Lefebvre, the capitalist city,
63
which is just an impoverished manifestation of an urban world reduced to its
economic elements. In which capitalist industrialization imposes the primacy of
H[FKDQJHYDOXHµ 3XUFHOOSS²
The city, nonetheless, must also contain, for Lefebvre, the necessary opposition:
recognition, stability, and possibility of withdrawal. Lefebvre’s urbanity, as well as
Sennett’s, is about urban liberty and complexity in a much-developed capitalist
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Sennett, develop their ideas to a point where they can be used directly for
empirical studies and even less as direct design guidance. However, Lefebvre
has ultimately developed his notion of the right to the city in the context of the
enquiry into urban movements of resistance (Purcell, 2014)
“Lefebvre does not see the right to the city as an incremental addition to
existing liberal-democratic rights. He sees it as an essential element of a
wider political struggle for revolution.” (Purcell, 2014, p. 142)
15 . Original in French: “[L ‘urbain] c ‘est plutot une forme, celle de la rencontre et du rassemble-
ment de tous les elements de la vie sociale, depuis les fruits de la terre (trivialement: les produits
agricoles) jusqu’aux symboles et aux oeuvres dites culturelles. L’urbain se manifeste au sein meme
du processus negatif de la dispersion, de la segregation, comme exigence de rencontre, de rassem-
blement, d’information. En tant que forme, l’urbain porte un nom: c’est la simultaneite. Cette forme
prend place parmi les formes que 1 ‘on peut etudier en les discernant de leur contenu. Ce que la
forme urbaine rassemble et rend simultane peut etre tres divers. Ce sont tantot des choses, tantot
GHVJHQVWDQWRWGHVVLJQHVO¶HVVHQWLHOF¶HVWOHUDVVHPEOHPHQWHWODVLPXOWDQHLWH(QFHVHQVRQ
SHXWGLUHTXHOHÝHFWHXUQXOµHVWHVVHQWLHODODGHÀQLWLRQGHO·XUEDLQµ Translated by
the author
2. Richard Sennet: “urbanity as a process of learning to live with multiplicity,
fostering the embrace of the unknown”
What I think of as urbanity is precisely making use of the density and

differences in the city so that people find a more balanced sense of identi-
fication, on the one hand, with others who are like themselves but also a
willingness to take risks with what is unlike, unknown.... It is these kinds
of experiences that make people find out something about themselves
that they didn’t know before. That’s what urbanity is at its best....To me,
how to privilege the notion of difference that is what urbanity is all about.
(Sennett, 2007, p. 109)
Sennett has a view on urbanity that is the contrary of friction-free. In accordance

with the model of the democratic society he believes in, as a higher ethical goal,
Sennett proposes to stimulate urban behaviour through difference. Such view of
XUEDQLW\DVIULFWLRQIUHHVHHPVWRSUHFOXGHWKHFRQVLGHUDWLRQRIFRQÁLFWDVLQKHUHQW
to the urban condition, not only considered at the scale of social interaction, but
also within the urban individual herself: “the experience of urban life can teach
people to live with multiplicity within themselves. The experience of complexity
LVQRWMXVWDQH[WHUQDOHYHQWLWUHÁHFWVEDFNRQLQGLYLGXDOV·VHQVHRIWKHPVHOYHVµ
64 (Sennett, 2007, p. 109).
3. Jacques Lévy: “urbanity as gradient of density and diversity”
)UHQFKJHRJUDSKHU-DFTXHV/pY\LVRQHRIWKHOHDGLQJÀJXUHVKDYLQJDWWHPSWHGD
PRUHV\VWHPDWLFGHÀQLWLRQRIXUEDQLW\WKDWZRXOGDFWXDOO\FDSWXUHWKLVTXDOLW\RI
DQXUEDQFRQGLWLRQ+LVGHÀQLWLRQGHÀQHVXUEDQLW\´DVVWDWHRIDVSDFHUHVXOWLQJ
from a combination between density and diversity”( Lévy, 1997). In Levy’s
GHÀQLWLRQXUEDQLW\LVXVHGWRFKDUDFWHUL]HXUEDQVSDFHVDFFRUGLQJWRDORJLFRI
“gradient”(2003a).
Mobility of actors and inter-accessibility of places it makes possible are additionally
proposed by Lévy as necessary concurrents of the historical mutation of society
undergoing massive urbanization (2013). Mobility is thus, a crucial factor in
understanding how urbanity does actually enhance the agency of actors, not only
spatially, but permeating to a scale where participation, personality traits and
RWKHUGHÀQLQJHOHPHQWVDUHDTXHVWLRQRIFKRLFH
8UEDQLW\IRU/pY\SHUWDLQVWRDNH\SRVLWLRQLQDODUJHULQWHOOHFWXDOHGLÀFHQRW
GHYRLGRISROLWLFDOPHVVDJH/pY\ LGHQWLÀHVWZRPDLQFRQVHTXHQFHVWKDW
signal the extent of the social transformations that accompany the urban mode
of life. On the one hand the emergence of the individual as an autonomous entity
with her own inviolable personal space,beyond those from family or community,
and public space. On the other hand, this gives, for Lévy, a measure of to what
urbanity is largely performative. Thanks to it we are able to integrate: public
space as an cognitive and affective resource, the engagement of bodies that are
therein produced, the civility that allows for their management, the exposure to
alterity, serendipity and the creativity that these last two make possible. All of
this ensemble of “weak links” (Granoveter, 1973) constitute the strength of the
city. (Lévy, 2013).
4. Bill Hillier: “urbanity as density and spatial integration”
Bill Hillier has described cities as movement economies, where the very conditions
FUHDWHG E\ LWV VSDWLDO FRQÀJXUDWLRQ IDYRXU WKH DFFXPXODWLRQ RI SHRSOH JRRGV
and information into higher densities, catalysing a sort of multiplier effect, are
LGHQWLÀHGDVWKHNH\EHKLQGWKHXUEDQFRQGLWLRQ)RU+LOOLHUEHVLGHVWKHVRFLDO
components that make a city, such as personal or collective decisions, physical
space plays a non-trivial role. It is in that sense that cities can thus be said to be
“mechanism for generating contact”. The structure of the grid, that is to say, the
SK\VLFDOVSDWLDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQLVWKHUHDOJHQHUDWRURIWKHVHHIIHFWV2UDVKHSXWV
it:
It is this positive feedback loop built on a foundation of the relation be-

tween the grid structure and movement this gives rise to the urban buzz,
which we prefer to be romantic or mystical about, but which arises from
the co-incidence in certain locations of large numbers of different activ-
ities involving people going about their business in different ways. Such
65
situations invariably arise through multiplier effects generated from the
basic relation between space structure and movement, and ultimately this
depends on the structure of the urban grid itself. In other words, how the
urban system is put together spatially is the source of everything else. (Bill
Hillier, 1996, p. 126)
Urbanity, thus is approached as a direct result of the reunion of certain conditions

of density and integration of the grid structure16, This means that the structure of
the urban grid, the distribution of land uses and the assignment of development
densities are bound together (...) by the principle that relates the structure of the
urban grid to the by-product of movement , assuring that for Hillier urbanity is
“not so myterious” at the end (Bill Hillier, 1996, p. 127), and can be approached
empirically.
Good space is used space. Most urban space use is movement. Most move-
ment is through movement, that is, the by-product of how the grid offers
routes from everywhere to everywhere else. Most informal space use is also
movement related, as is the sense and fact of urban safety. Land uses and
building density follow movement in the grid, both adapting to and mul-
tiplying its effects. The urban buzz, or the lack of it when it suits us, is the
combination of these, and the fundamental determinant is the structure
of the grid itself. The urban grid through its influence on the movement
16 . See section ahead “ Architecturally Constrained Sociality” ( page 94) for an elaboration on
these ideas.
economy is the fundamental source of the multifunctionality that gives life
to cities. (Bill Hillier, 1996, p. 127).
These ideas on urbanity, together with his development of a comprehensive

method for analysis of spatial integration, has motivated Hillier to elaborate on
their consequence for thinking and designing cities:
Movement is so central to this process that we should forthwith cease to

see cities as being made up of fixed elements and movement elements and
instead see the physical and spatial structure as being bound up to create
what we have called the ‘movement economy’, in which the usefulness of
the by-product of movement is everywhere maximized by integration in
order to maximize the multiplier effects which are the root source of the
life of cities. (Bill Hillier, 1996, p. 137)
5. Lars Marcus: “urbanity, both socially and spatially, is primarily constituted by

high accessibility and high diversity”
The adoption and further development of the importance of the topological

qualities of urban space (spatial integration), has led Marcus (Marcus, 2007) to
FDOOIRUDGHÀQLWLRQRIXUEDQLW\WKDWZRXOGEHSRZHUIXODSSRVLWHDQGZLWKWKH
66 objective of allowing us to “start to discern urban forms that will be particularly
LQÁXHQWLDOµ +H GLVWLQJXLVKHV WKHQ WKLV HQWHUSULVH IURP RWKHU FRQFHSWV IURP
urban geography, like density measures and gravity analyses, that he deplores as
PRUHDEVWUDFWDQGWKXVPRUHGLIÀFXOWWRDSSO\ 0DUFXV
$GGLWLRQDOO\ 0DUFXV FRQVLGHUV WKDW WKH PRUH WUDGLWLRQDO GHÀQLWLRQ RI XUEDQLW\
through density is problematic,17 performing two distinct moves in order to give
DPRUHRSHUDWLRQDOGHÀQLWLRQRIXUEDQLW\)LUVWKHSURSRVHVWKDWDFFHVVLELOLW\LV
NH\DVLWWHOOVXVDERXWWKHFRQÀJXUDWLRQDODVSHFWVRIWKHXUEDQIRUPDQGVHFRQG
KH LGHQWLÀHV GLYHUVLW\ DV D PRUH VWUDWHJLF TXDOLW\ WKDQ GHQVLW\ +LV GHÀQLWLRQ
can then be summarized in the following manner “urbanity, both socially
and spatially, is primarily constituted by high accessibility and high diversity”
(Marcus, 2007, p. 3)
6. Vinicius M. Netto: “urbanity as a momentary experience of transcending

differences”
“urbanity as becoming”
Approach systematically as a particular temporal and spatial experience of the

social and material world, urbanity is , for Neto, a systematic approximation with
philosophy departing from the usual focus on the spatial conditions of urbanity
through Netto (2016), departs his analysis from the forces of social differentiation
´3XWLQPRUHFRQFUHWHWHUPVZHOLYHLQFLWLHVVRWKDWZHFDQJHWFORVHWRPDQ\GLIIHUHQWWKLQJV
7KLVLVQRWVD\LQJWKDWGHQVLW\LVXQLPSRUWDQWDQGLWZLOOEHUHWXUQHGWRLWLVSURSRVLQJWKDWWKHWZR
concepts of accessibility and diversity are more poignant descriptions of urbanity” (Marcus, 2007)
at work in everyday life, I discuss how differences shape the temporal condition
of encountering, from bodily presence and the vision of the “face of the Other”
to actual communication. Addressing phenomenological, communicative and
ontological dimensions of urbanity, Netto proposes urbanity as a momentary
experience of transcending differences, as a form of counterbalancing the
tendencies towards social differentiation and distancing. The recognition of
differences in social and spatial contexts leads to an enunciation of “urbanities”
in plural, which are open to contingency, yet dependent on material conditions
(Netto, 2016).
7KLVGHÀQLWLRQRIXUEDQLW\WXUQVLQWRDQXUEDQHWKRVLQKHUHQWO\DVVRFLDWHGZLWK
an unconditional hospitality, unbounded communication, and an “orientation
towards the Other”. Such a view places urbanity in an ethical horizon of
experience relating past, present and (the responsibility for) future forms of
producing and enacting the city – a view of urbanity as becoming.
+RZHYHU WKH ZD\V E\ ZKLFK D VSDWLDO GHYLFH OLNH WKH FLW\ DOWHUV RI LQÁXHQFHV
our actions goes beyond the immediate physical aids or constraints. Cities are
also appropriated territories, geographies of identity in where memory orders
the cognition of experience into meaningful associations. Accordingly, Neto has
argued that cities can also be seen as mnemonic machines (Netto, 2016).
)XUWKHUPRUHDORQJWKHOLQHRIUHÁHFWLRQWKDWJUDQWVFLWLHVWRTXDOLWLHVZHOODERYH
67
and beyond the mere container for our actions, there are opinions that range
from the aggregated effect, as cities often “represent the possibility of weaving
our actions into complex associations” (Netto, 2016), to those who see cities
as the elaborate artefact allowing for a change in qualitative degree in our
communication(Juval Portugali, 2011a). These views, even though differing in
the ultimate theoretical and ontological consequences of taking this argument to
the next levels, do constitute at least a major evolution in terms of spatial thought.
At their most promising level, these views present cities, or shall we say highly
urban environments, as a device that has major functional, epistemological and
ethical consequences. The city would then provide us the chance to weave our
actions into complex bundles with aggregated meaning and performing clear
cognitive enhancement. As such, the most extremist of these positions would
then be my own, considering the urban under the extended cognition paradigm.
In a manner that recalls Lefebvre’s, Netto pursues his research of urbanity into a
project with ethical and, probably, political connotations. As urbanity is originally
related to possibilities for civility and conviviality, we might be tempted to recur
to normative social rules in order to manage it, to make it inhabitable, to control
it. Netto argues, however, that urbanity needs not such normative or control
systems, since “(b)y rendering us constantly exposing to alterities, cities have the
potential to assimilate differences”.(Netto, 2016). On the other hand, he warns
us that failure to assimilate such difference would result in ‘unassimilated others’,
people who are rendered strange, irreconcilable, potentially paving the ground
VHHVHFWLRQ´2YHUFRPLQJWKH'LYLGHµ
IRUVHULRXVFRQÁLFW0RUHRYHUZKHQVRFLDOGLIIHUHQFHVLQWHQVLI\LQWRLQHTXDOLWLHV
FRH[LVWHQFH HQGV XS EXLOW SUHFDULRXVO\ XSRQ LQVWUXPHQWDO DQG VXSHUÀFLDO
relations between anonymous and distant actors. Such relations can very fast
become interpreted as potentially hostile and provoking highly asymmetrical
exercises of power. These views seem to clearly point towards a different reading
of urbanity in terms of differences between community and society than those of
early sociological thought such as Simmel or Wirth. Researchers like Lévy (2014)
would argue that Netto proposes to subsume urbanity in a sort of idealized
enlightened communalism, I suspect, however, that his arguments do not enter
into such dichotomous logic opposing community and society. In fact. It seems
to me that he proposes to radically locate urbanity in a geography of empathy
towards different others, essentially postulating a different concept of articulated
social aggregate, closer to that of the multitude (Hardt & Negri, 2000):
Hence we need to establish a relation between the diversity of possible

urbanities and the recognition of ethical forms of urban living - forms
that will be based on cultural codes produced solely in collective life as an
absolute openness to alterity. This idea certainly evokes the city, or horizon
of the city, as the expression and overlapping of different forms of life: the
shift from the view of urbanity as mere reproduction of distinct forms
of urban life, implicit in many views of urbanity, to an understanding of
urbanity as a form of life based on an ethics of difference - not as an ideal,
68 but as the practical requirement and craft of living together. (Netto, 2016,
p. 20).
%H\RQGWKHUHSURGXFWLRQRIWKHXUEDQSROLVHWKRVEHFRPLQJ
Netto sets up his research agenda with the purpose to explore three main ideas
(i) the city as an assemblage that projects past actions onto the present
through channels of movement and places of memories and activities that
produce relations between acts in the now;
(ii) the city as a way of constituting and structuring each person’s experi-
ence, both temporally and spatially – a shared framing of our experience
of the world;
(iii) the city as coexistence of different temporal and spatial modes of be-
ing, enabling the convergence of practices with distinct temporalities, and
as the possibility of encountering and recognizing the Other, a framing of
the experience of alterity.
Put otherwise, urban life involves a fundamental duality: it sustains differ-
ent individual experiences and relates them in modes of shared experience
that take the form of urban life.
Finally, for Netto, urbanity holds “a clear emancipatory potential”. He moreover

proposes three main observations:
Evoking urban space as a medium of unrestricted communication. This
view of urbanity suggests cities largely constituted by spaces enacted, in
principle, as the opposite of social control, and around public spaces. He
then says that this is echoed in Habermas idea of the public sphere- and
the idea of a politics of urban space as its materialisation.
/HYLQDV QRWLRQ RI KRVSLWDOLW\ RIIHUV D YLHZ LQWR WKH
ethical relationship with the other, realised in language and mediated
by closeness and physical proximity, a “home open to the Other”. In
-DFTXHV 'HUULGD·V ZRUN ZH ÀQG DQ H[SDQVLRQ RI WKLV HWKLFV WRZDUGV
an “unconditional hospitality”, with the idea of welcoming differences
rather than tolerating them.
5HODWHGWRDQRWKHUFRQFHSWIURP'HUULGD ED DOVRWHPSRUDO
in kind: l’avenir. The arrival of the Other whose coming and presence
I cannot foresee, an Other whose identity is impossible to anticipate.
Neto argues that, in his opinion, “encounters in the city as a place of
alterities takes precisely this form”. This seems to particularly resonate
with the concept of serendipity as developed by Jacques Lévy (2004) in
its application to urbanity.
For Netto, this opening to different identities has material conditions: it requires
urban spaces that enable recognition, and places that support their possible
WUDQVLWLRQ WR FRPPXQLFDWLRQ 2I FRXUVH D GHÀQLWLRQ RI XUEDQLW\ LQ WKLV WHUPV
explicitly embraces ethical qualities: the full potential of social relations realised
in gestures of emancipation from intolerance and coercion. Such qualities
are far from being ubiquitous and as he notes they can even seem radical in
69
FRQÁLFWXDOFRQWH[WVZKHUHWKHVRFLDOLV´WUDYHUVHGE\YDULRXVIRUPVRIYLROHQFH
from prejudice, inequality and disregard of the other to pure bodily aggression”
(Netto, 2016, p. 100). The notion of ethos, understood as “a system of collective
dispositions based on the sense of responsibility and care as an orientation
towards the other “ present throughout the works of Heidegger and Levinas
(Netto, 2016, p. 99)
Unbounded communication, in Netto’s interpretation of the notion as developed

by Habermas, requires the possibility for encounter, free from any control and
repression. The spaces for these face-to-face interactions must therefore be free
of stringent regulations on social roles, and must to a certain extent allow for
uncontrolled or non-surveilled presence.
The concept of co-presence as an articulation of social diversity mediated by

XUEDQ SK\VLFDO VSDFH KDV EHHQ IXUWKHU TXDOLÀHG FRQVLGHULQJ LWV GHJUHHV RI
societal change. Researchers have proposed certain quantitative thresholds
resulting in qualitative changes (Grönlund, 2007) Grönlund enunciates a series
of three thresholds, establishing the minimum threshold of urbanity in three
people visible within 100 metres, based on studies by (Gehl, 2011), a number
related to the basic level of change from morals to ethics according to Bauman
(1993) . “The second threshold is related to visual experience turning into a
UDWKHUFRQWLQXRXVÁRZRIGLIIHUHQWVWLPXOL7KLVVHHPVWRVWDUWWRKDSSHQDWWKH
average level of about 15 new ‘images’ per minute, or roughly at 1000 persons/
KRXU LI \RX FRQVLGHU FRSUHVHQFH 7KLV FRLQFLGHV ZLWK :K\WH·V ORZHVW
level of co-presence to get the feeling of being in a central place. The third level
is related to crowding and the change of behaviour related to crowding. If, in
public space, you consider crowding to begin, when you on average can touch
other bodies stretching out your arms, then crowding begins when there is only
DERXWVTXDUHPHWUHVSHUSHUVRQ$FFRUGLQJWR:K\WH DQGFRQWUDU\WR
PXFK¶ÀUVWPRGHUQLW\·ZULWLQJRQWKHXUEDQPDQ\SHRSOHLQFLWLHVVHHPWROLNH
some crowding.” (Grönlund, 2007).
Concluding remarks.
From the above reviewed theories and approaches, I derive a series of aspects
that should inform a further enquiry into the role of urban space in shaping
LQÁXHQFLQJJUDQWLQJRUUHWUDLQLQJKXPDQDJHQF\WKURXJKFRJQLWLYHDQGDIIHFWLYH
frameworks of experience. These elements are primarily and foremost, social and
SK\VLFDO KHWHURJHQHLW\ GLYHUVLW\ DQG LQWHJUDWLYH FRQÀJXUDWLRQDO SURSHUWLHV
Here, social and physical heterogeneity is enunciated in terms of exposure and
embrace and integration of alterity for that which concerns social diversity. For
WKH SDUW RI XUEDQ VSDWLDO SURSHUWLHV WKH LQWHJUDWLYH FRQÀJXUDWLRQDO SURSHUWLHV
EHKLQG JHQHUDWLYH ´HFRQRPLHV RI PRYHPHQWµ +LOOLHU +LOOLHU +DQVRQ
DQGZKLFKFDQUHQGHUWKRVHSURSHUWLHVRIGLYHUVLW\´DFFHVVLEOHµ 0DUFXV
2007).
Secondly, in a higher degree of complexity, that access to diversity requires a

70 necessary embracement of alterity (Levinas, 1979), which results in an inherent
V\VWHPLFXQFHUWDLQW\DQGDSHUSHWXDOVHQVHRIEHFRPLQJ 'HUULGDE 7KLV
imposes not only a directional ethos to the concept of urbanity, but also grounds
it to the risk and bid of welcoming uncertain and, sometimes, unknown forms of
heterogeneity.
Furthermore, cities need to be conceived of as being themselves complex artefacts
that are comprised of humans who are themselves also complex (Juval Portugali,
2004). This is caused through the emergence of a complex system fuelled by
an interactive, non-linear and iterative process of communication (Haken &
Portugali, 1996). Such increased level of complexity does not allow to consider
urbanity under certain linear mechanical and aggregate logic, but calls for an
analysis of situated and dynamic process of spatial sense making.
)L[^LLU*VTT\UP[`+PɈLYLUJLHUK1\Z[PJL!
)L`VUK[OL7ublic :phere
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metropolises has been associated with the retreat of community as a result of
the expansion of modes of social interaction that fomented the more anonymous
and organic form of social aggregate we call society 19
&URZ $OODQ
Delanty, 2003). Even though this clear distinction was initially circumscribed
to a contrasting of rural and urban sociology, the concept of Gemeinschaft, as
SXWIRUZDUGRULJLQDOO\E\7|QQLHV LVXVHGWRUHIHUWRDFRQGLWLRQ
of moral unity, rootedness and kinship where relationships are tied to social
status, close contact and emotional ties within a bounded local territory. On the
other hand, Gesellschaft is a state of individualistic, impersonal anomie (Silk,
9DOHQWLQH ZKHUH FRQWUDFWXDO REOLJDWLRQV IUDPH VRFLDO UHODWLRQV
7RQQLHV $FFRUGLQJO\FKDQJHVLQWKHVRFLDODQGHFRQRPLFVWUXFWXUHVRI
urban areas have produced profound changes on ‘communities’ within them. The
separation of home and workplaces, increasing inclusion of women in the labour
force, growth of private and public transport, and the process of urban sprawl
and suburbanisation,are said to have produced the weakening of what has been
traditionally viewed as a locality-based sense of ‘community’ (Andrew Clark,
'HQFK*DYURQ <RXQJ-&DWHU 7-RQHV5'3XWQDP
71
2000). However, many scholars have come to challenge these views by stressing
the thriving role of neighbourhood based communities in modern metropolises
VHH*DQV-DEORQVN\-DFREVDPRQJRWKHUV
The process of urbanisation has in the processes of differentiation and

centralisation (Lefebvre) two main constant transformational forces. Moreover,
difference is lately been applied as a pervasive fundamental concept across
diverse scales and dimensions of urban life (Netto, 2016). The concept of
difference has also been approached as a multifaceted idea pervading urban
morphological characteristics and processes of social differentiation. With the
aid of an articulation of difference as “differance”, inspired by the theories of
'HUULGD UHVHDUFKHUV KDYH LGHQWLÀHG D SDUWLFXODU VHW FRXSOHG RI VRFLR
spatial morphological characteristics of neighbourhood resisting, whereby the
differentiated social character and identity is reinforced and mutually constituted
by minor acts of spatial appropriation (Lanza, Pattaroni, Piraud, & Tirone, 2013).
Patarroni, Cogato Lanza and colleagues, have thoroughly applied the concept of
difference in its relation to the urban condition a study of the neighbourhood of
Grottes in the Swiss city of Geneva.
19 . The advent of modern capitalism, industrialisation and urbanisation is theoretically considered

to disrupt ‘pre-modern’ social organisations built around the family or kin group, to be replaced
by ‘Gesellschaft’ relationships of contractual obligations between individuals with specialised roles
7RQQLHV
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development of sub-cultures (Fischer, 1995) . From the ecological perspectives
of the school of Chicago, Fischer enunciated his theory of subcultural urbanism,
contending that “cities stimulate unconventionality” (1995). Unconventionality
is here meant to refer to modes of life, covering a wide scope of behaviours
including artistic innovation, expressions of dissenting values, serious criminality,
which can be described to deviate from societal norms (Fischer, 1995). While
other researchers explain explain the correlation between urban life and
unconventionality as largely incidental, i.e..: due to compositional differences
in the population, for Fischer, “(p)opulation concentration generates a variety of
subcultures20, or “a set of interconnected social networks . . . and the . . . norms
DQG KDELWV FRPPRQ >WR LW@ LW LV ORRVHO\ V\QRQ\PRXV ZLWK ¶VRFLDO ZRUOG·µ
)LVFKHUS
Societal process of differentiation alongside spatial processes have been seen

WRSHUPHDWHVHYHUDOUHOHYDQWDVSHFWVRIVRFLHW\LQFRRUGLQDWLRQ+LOOLHU
has suggested that spatial structure and sets of activities or functional patterns
LQÁXHQFHHDFKRWKHU7KLVLVKDSSHQVWKURXJKWKHDELOLW\RIVSDFHWRGHWHUPLQH
PRYHPHQWSDWWHUQVDQGWKXVWRLQÁXHQFHWKHSDWWHUQRIODQGXVHVSHFLDOLVDWLRQ
which will in turn produce new spatial structures. This process carries important
social consequences. Such is the case of labour, due to the impacts of industrial
72 restructuring (Massey, 1995). In her now classic text “Spatial Divisions of Labour”,
Doreen Massey (1995) argued that economies were shifting away from regional
sectoral specialization (in which regions tended to specialise in all aspects of the
SURGXFWLRQRISDUWLFXODUSURGXFWVHJGHVLJQÀQDQFHDQGPDQXIDFWXUH WRZDUGV
regional functional specialization (in which regions specialize in particular
VWDJHVLQWKHSURGXFWLRQRIDZLGHUDQJHRISURGXFWVHJMXVWGHVLJQÀQDQFHRU
manufacture).
The problem of to what extent processes of differentiation are inherent to space

has also been the backbone of debates at highly abstract theoretical instances.
The relational stance on the heterogeneity of urban space, has come, under the
auspices of Deleuze and other post-structuralist thinkers, to theorise the urban
as largely unstable set of ongoing interacting processes (Roo & Hillier, 2016).
Under this view, cities are no longer bounded territories whose elements can be
modelled easily into causal linear processes. That is true for its economy as much
as it is for its social milieux. Therefore, certain scholars hold the opinion that the
wy we deal with the city, through activities like planning, but not only, should
endorse multiplicity and complexity rather than systematic certainties (Hillier,
&RQVHTXHQWO\ ´VSDWLDO FRQÀJXUDWLRQV DQG VSDWLDO ERXQGDULHV DUH QR
longer necessarily or purposively territorial or scalar, since the social, economic,
political and cultural inside and outside are constituted through the topologies
´0RUHH[SOLFLWO\DVXEFXOWXUHLVDODUJHVHWRISHRSOHZKRVKDUHDGHÀQLQJWUDLWDVVRFLDWHZLWK
RQHDQRWKHUDUHPHPEHUVRILQVWLWXWLRQVDVVRFLDWHGZLWKWKHLUGHÀQLQJWUDLWDGKHUHWRDGLVWLQFWVHW
RIYDOXHVVKDUHDVHWRIFXOWXUDOWRROV 6ZLGOHU DQGWDNHSDUWLQDFRPPRQZD\RIOLIH7KHVH
attributes are matters of degree, and subcultures’ boundaries may be vague and overlapping..”
of actor networks which are becoming increasingly dynamic and varied in spatial
constitution” (Amin & Thrift, 2002, p. 1). While this view calls for the embrace
of a relational approach to the study of the urban condition, it does so warning
us on the dangers of an easy and bounded methodology. “Seen in this way, cities
and regions come with no automatic promise of territorial or systemic integrity,
VLQFH WKH\ DUH PDGH WKURXJK WKH VSDWLDOLW\RI ÁRZ MX[WDSRVLWLRQSRURVLW\ DQG
relational connectivity” (Amin & Thrift, 2002, p. 34).
The debate on whether difference can be considered constitutive or, instead as

simply an outcome of the urban condition, brings us to a related sphere of debate,
namely justice, which is strongly related to the city and to the urban condition.
In fact, the topic of justice has not only pervaded large parts of the but has also
inspired and fostered interesting and fundamentally relevant contributions to
a debate on urbanity indirectly through other related notions. An example is
this is the work of feminist scholar Young on the notion of difference (Young &
Allen, 2011). For her, social processes are producers of differentiation among
members of a society.21 Such is the case of sexual division of labour, which
has “created social groups of women and men in all known societies” (Young,
S )ROORZLQJGLIIHUHQWLDWLRQFRPHVRSSUHVVLRQ22, which she considers
structural. Based on these structural forces of difference and oppression, she has
strongly criticized the homogenising attempt at through the idea of the public
sphere, so much favoured by scholars of the school of Frankfurt. An interesting
73
aspect of her critique is the reconsideration of the relevance of agential social
groups23, like social movements (which essentially are mostly urban). While
traditional marxist scholarly approaches had views social movements and other
social upheavals as of the protest expression of an indiscriminate, and largely
homogenised mass of exploited working class, Young, however, appears to take
the new social movements much more seriously: “In these movements I locate
the social base of a of justice. that seeks to reduce and eliminate domination”
(p. 67). In that sense, her work develops in the context of social groups based
on personal identity rather than economic interest that begun increasingly to
demand cultural and political representation in North America. It is nevertheless
unclear how to reconcile the fact that oppression is the structural result from
processes of social differentiation with emancipatory processes that can be
generators of differentiation themselves.
The relevance of her consideration of difference as a concept capable of
´0HPEHUVRIHDFKJHQGHUKDYHDFHUWDLQDIÀQLW\ZLWKRWKHUVLQWKHLUJURXSEHFDXVHRIZKDWWKH\
do or experience, and differentiate themselves from the other gender, even when members of each
gender consider that they have much in common with members of the other, and consider that they
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<RXQJKHUHH[SOLFLWO\UHIHUVWR0DULO\Q)U\H·VGHÀQLWLRQ´DQHQFORVLQJVWUXFWXUHRIIRUFHVDQG
barriers which tends to the immobilization and reduction of a group or category of people” (Frye,
DS
23 . Young (Young, 2009) puts emphasis on the lack of theoretical treatment to groups in political
philosophy, for instance. She characterises identity as the key the difference between groups and
other more neutralizing concepts used in social sciences like aggregates. “When philosophers and
political theorists discuss groups they tend to conceive them either on the model of aggregates or
on the model of associations, both of which are methodologically individualist concepts.” (Young,
2009, p. 11).
transforming our interpretation of the actions of social movements upon the
city can be traced back to her proposal in the context of theories of democracy.
Young, in her book Justice and the Politics of Difference introduces the notion of
difference, as operational in her resistance to totalizing categories. In particular,
Young mobiles difference more attuned to post-structuralist French social
theory rather than with traditional critical theory and its continued reliance on
the Enlightenment ideal of the “public sphere.” Young criticises the very idea
of justice based on the appeal to the normative public sphere as this can have
“oppressive consequences” . While oppression continues as a reality in our
societies, she argues that “particular histories and traditions” will continue to
reproduce difference (p.164). Her analysis does remain within ideal justice, but
results in an enquiry into difference ignited by the realisation of the reality of
exploitation. As such, the idea of justice that emerges from her work is not that
of a distributive logic of justice, equating it to an equal distribution of material
goods, but a broader and more inclusive concept that encompasses division of
labour, decision making and culture.
Concluding remarks.
The spatiality of urbanity has been posed to operate through constant processes of dif-
IHUHQWLDWLRQ7KHVHSURFHVVHVKDYHPRUHRYHUEHHQLGHQWL¿HGDVKDSSHQLQJERWKVRFLDOO\
and spatially in a coordinated and mutually constitutive manner. Besides, the urban is
also located along the lines of inherent and dynamic heterogeneity, being the reason for
74 a particular ontological uncertainty associated with contingent becoming.
The concept of difference, can also be said to be operational with regards to
unveiling the perception of injustice that often is behind demands for a right to
the city among new urban movements and in urban struggles. The work of Young
(2009, 2011) is very relevant for addressing the role of difference with regards to
oppressing homogenization of the hegemonic projects defending the democratic
DQGHJDOLWDULDQSXEOLFVSKHUH6XFKSRVLWLRQRSHQVXSDÀHOGIRUUHTXHVWLRQLQJ
oppositions between communitarian and public space, potentially allowing
IRU WKH LGHQWLÀFDWLRQV RI HPDQFLSDWRU\ DQG LQFOXVLYH SUDFWLFHV ZLWKLQ LGHQWLW\
dependent groups. I detect in these formulations a thread that links them to
positions that are close to the concepts of the multitude and its constituent and
space generative capacities.
;OL JP[` IL[^LLU JVUÅPJ[ HUK
innovation
*P[`HUK*VUÅPJ[
While urban areas are still often at the forefront of state- making, para-
doxically they are increasingly also primary sites of state erosion and crisis
across much of the developing world – a fact that is often obscured by the
concentration of both wealth and state organisation in cities24 (Sassen,
2012, p. 3)
While cities are recognised as birthplace of considerable advances in human

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:HEHU WKH\ DUH DOVR LGHQWLÀHG DV SHUVLVWLQJ VFHQHULHV RI FRQÁLFW 7LOO\
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accepted among archaeologists that the emergence of cities and, alongside, rise
RI XUEDQ DQG WKH VWDWH VRFLHWLHV DURXQG %&( EURXJKW DERXW D VLJQLÀFDQW
decrease of brutal violence among human groups (Roser, 2016). However, the
increased division of labour and specialisation also brought about increased
social differentiation, and the appearance of distinct groups and sub-cultures 75
with their respective identities and sets of interests. It my seem, thus, that the
city as a given spatial reality in which an agglomeration of people, resources and
FDSDFLWLHVLVDFKLHYHGQHFHVVDULO\EULQJVDERXWDGLPHQVLRQRISRZHUDQGFRQÁLFW
WKDWVHHPVWREHLQHVFDSDEOHWRWKHXUEDQFRQGLWLRQ6LQFHWKHÀUVWHQXQFLDWLRQ
of urban sociological thought, which accompanied the growth and development
of modern metropolises during the XiX and XX centuries, (as I have previously
discussed in section “2.1.3 Exploring The Urban Condition”) the modern urban
condition has been seen and postulated as a source of an increased alienation
and estrangement of the individual from its social anchoring. We can, thus,
LGHQWLI\ WZR GLVWLQFW VRXUFHV RI WKH HPHUJHQFH RI FRQÁLFW )LUVW WKURXJK WKH
supposed process of uprootedness of the city dweller, fostered by the alienation
and separation of the individual from allegedly previous rural communitarian
VRFLDO DJJUHJDWHV DV SRVWXODWHG E\ 6LPPHO DPRQJ RWKHUV 6HFRQGO\ FRQÁLFWV
related to increased social differences and perceived grievances.
An interesting and fertile line of enquiry into the role of cities and the urban
phenomenon in the capitalist social and economic order, has focused on the
FRQGLWLRQV RI FRJQLWLYH LPSRYHULVKPHQW DOUHDG\ VLQFH LWV ÀUVW FULWLTXHV RI WKH
24 . A complementary comment: “The large, complex city is a new frontier zone. This is especially
WUXHLILWLVDJOREDOFLW\GHÀQHGE\LWVLPSRUWDQWIXQFWLRQZLWKLQDQHWZRUNRIRWKHUV$FWRUVIURP
different worlds meet there, but without clear rules of engagement. Whereas the historic frontier
lay in the far stretches of colonial empires, today it lies in our large cities. The efforts of global
ÀUPVWRIRUFHGHUHJXODWLRQSULYDWL]DWLRQDQGQHZÀVFDODQGPRQHWDU\SROLFLHVRQKRVWJRYHUQPHQWV
have to do with creating the formal instruments to construct the equivalent of a military fort on the
historic frontier: the regulatory environment they need in cities worldwide to ensure a global space
of operations.”
everyday urban condition as an alienating environment. This critique, with
underlying philosophical and political critique of Marxian foundations, is
developed in parallel and further pursued by Henri Lefebvre onto his formulation
on the conditions and modes of the capitalistic production of space and its effects
on society and individuals.
Lefebvre’s foundational contribution is viewed by many as one of the main

pillars upon which critical urban theory has been built. Endowing a critical
attitude in the spirit of the Frankfurt school and endorsing an heterodox Marxist
DSSURDFKVFKRODUVIURPFULWLFDOXUEDQVWXGLHVKDYHVLQFHDQGIRUWKHODVW
GHFDGHV UHVHDUFKHG RQ WKH FRQÁLFWXDO GLPHQVLRQ RI FLWLHV DQG XUEDQL]DWLRQ
Among the many authors25+HQUL/HIHEYUH'DYLG+DUYH\
0DQXHO &DVWHOOV 3HWHU 0DUFXVH KDYH
theorised and researched on the city and the urban under the prism of inequality,
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displacement of vulnerable urban population. Their research has shaped to a big
extent the research agenda on cities with regards to social movements, questions
of governance, inequality and democratic society, Moreover, it has helped place
cities as a central locus where to research social conditions in our capitalist
societies and where new forms of are also conceived and experimented. From
&DVWHOO·VRULJLQDOÀUVWXUEDQTXHVWLRQWR/HIHEYUH·VULJKWWRWKHFLW\DQG+DUYH\·V
urban commons, the themes and their approach (methodology and theoretical
76 VWDQGSRLQW FDVW WKHLU LQÁXHQFH LQ VXEVHTXHQW LQWHOOHFWXDO HQGHDYRXUV $Q
HYLGHQWH[DPSOHLV0HUULÀHOG·VQHZXUEDQTXHVWLRQ 0HUULÀHOG DQGDOVR
even from scholars who cannot be said to be part of such school, like Bernardo
Secchi’s new urban question (Secchi, 2013), which is a central reference for this
thesis.
Brenner (2009) has characterised their approach as insisting on the need for
theoretical arguments regarding the nature of “urban processes under capitalism,
while rejecting instrumentalist, technocratic and market-driven forms of urban
analysis”. Furthermore, critical urban studies pose the need for any knowledge
RI XUEDQ TXHVWLRQV WR EH KLVWRULFDOO\ VSHFLÀF DQG PHGLDWHG WKURXJK SRZHU
UHODWLRQVDVWKH\DUHFRQFHUQHGWR´H[FDYDWHSRVVLELOLWLHVIRUDOWHUQDWLYHUDGLFDOO\
emancipatory forms of urbanism that are latent, yet systemically suppressed,
within contemporary cities.” (Brenner, 2009).
1RWZLWKVWDQGLQJWKHLULQÁXHQFHWKHVHDSSURDFKHVKDYHEHHQVXEMHFWWRFULWLFLVP
for parochialism and insularity, primarily from political science (J. S. Davies
& Imbroscio, 2010) and for imposing too narrow an ideological frame at the
expense of their capacity for a free and uncompromising capacity of enquiry and
knowledge production (Farías, 2011).
Critical urban theorists have analyzed dynamics of accumulation by dispossession

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.DW]QHOVRQ0HUULÀHOG
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+RGNLQVRQ6HYLOOD%XLWUDJR 7KLVWRSLFKDVPRVWO\IRFXVHGRQWKH
experience of cities in the Global North, but also increasingly in cities of the Global
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DGGUHVVHG WKH TXLQWHVVHQWLDO FRQÁLFWXDO FKDUDFWHU RI FLWLHV WKURXJK D VHULHV RI
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to the militarization of urbanism (Davis & Morrow, 2006), or the concept the
violence of urbanization (Pedrazzini, 2005), placing the process of urbanization
within a landscape of social transformation often imposed violently on vulnerable
populations. Not only urbanization as a process, but the contemporary city itself
would then be portrayed as inherently violent, segregated and violent (Maksim,
Oreiller, Ravalet, & Zorro Maldonado, 2015).
In a more recent context, certain critics do not simply ascribe the city an inherent
FDSDFLW\IRUWKHJHQHUDWLRQRIFRQÁLFWEXWDQGVLWXDWHWKHLUOHYHORIFULWLTXHDW
the capacities of the city for the sustain of democratic forms of sociality. In fact,
Donzelot has recently come to state that “la ville ne fait plus societé” (Donzelot,
1999), in a clear colophon to the catalogue of unmaking of welfare support
in cities across Europe during the last decades. Much has been written on the
changes in the body of urbanity and, by extension, on the nature of urban public
space in our European cities along the course of the current crisis. Times of
austerity have come to change the face of many capitals and important European
77
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&RJDWR /DQ]D $JLP .HUoXNX $QJHOR 6DPSLHUL $QJLROHWWD 9RJKHUD
While many scholars have echoed these transformations inscribing them in a
ORQJJHQHDORJ\RIFRQÁLFWVZKLFKFRXOGIXHODQVSHFXODWLRQRQLWVEHORQJLQJWRD
more fundamental declination of urbanity, other scholars have come to directly
declare a sort of obsolescence of the city as a cohesive project in the wake of our
societal challenges.
Sassen has suggested that in the contemporary climate of global economic

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- the urban “physics” of civil society - may create the conditions under which
powerlessness becomes a complex and ambiguous condition that holds the
possibility of obstructing superior power (Sassen, 2012).
But the city is a strategic frontier zone not just for the powerful but also for
the conventionally powerless: disadvantaged outsiders or minorities facing
discrimination. Those who are traditionally excluded can gain presence in
global cities--presence vis-à-vis both power and each other. This signals the
possibility of a new type of politics centered around new types of political
actors. Access to the city is no longer simply a matter of having or not
having power. Urban spaces have become hybrid bases from which to act
via an increasingly legitimized informal politics. This is an example of what
I seek to capture with the concept of “urban capabilities.” (Sassen, 2012)
7KLVYLHZFRPSOH[LÀHVWKHVFHQHU\RIXUEDQFRQÁLFWVDQGXQYHLOVWKHSRWHQWLDOLW\
of such situations for the future evolution of cities and of democratic civig
engagement. As such it recognises the agential capacities of urbanity in certain
movements of social resistance.
Concluding remarks.
After this brief review, the city appears as an artefactual human environment
subject to unequal accumulation and constant that has strong repercussions in
the
Moreover, I observe that both the processes of urbanization and the city as the
SULYLOHJHGORFXVRIVRFLDOOLIHFDQQRWEHHDVLO\VWULSSHGRXWRIWKHLUFRQÁLFWXDO
FKDUDFWHU0RUHRYHUZHFDQDSSUHFLDWHWKDWQRQYLROHQWFRQÁLFWDOVRHQFDSVXODWHV
DQG FRQWDLQV JHQHUDWLYH DQG SRWHQWLDOO\ EHQHÀFLDO DFWLYDWLRQV RI HQJDJHPHQW
and empowerment, as well as potentially fostering, under certain conditions,
processes of social innovation that should not be underestimated. Even more, the
complex spatiality and material intricacy of the city might
*P[`HUK0UUV]H[PVU
Cities are now widely assumed to be clusters of innovation. While this seems
emphasized lately from both scaling economic performance perspectives of
novel activities and the importance of innovation for the secondary and tertiary
78
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)ORULGD6FKDIIHUV.RPQLQRV 3DOORW LWZRXOGVHHPUDWKHUQDUURZ
minded and even counterproductive to only consider it from this perspective.
Moreover, urban life seems to be associated consistently to the biggest advances
in human knowledge and technology, as well as being associated with constant
FXOWXUDO LQQRYDWLRQ :LUWK KDG SURSRVHG WKDWµVRFLDO EUHDNGRZQµ LV WKH
main mechanism explaining this. The life in the city has a weakening effect on
communities as the main form of social association, fomenting individuation and
formlessness through isolation and alienation.
These ideas, however, have not gone unchallenged as evidence of urban social
breakdown, other than the unconventionality itself, has been weak(Fischer,
1995) . Other researchers have, explained the association of urban living with
innovative or unconventional forms as purely contingent and incidental. They
VLPSO\DUJXHWKDWPLQRULWLHVFKRRVHWROLYHLQFLWLHV *DQVVHHDOVR5HLVV
1955). These researchers, then blame an initial bias in the population composition
as the reason for this correlation. City lifeways differ from lifeways in smaller
places because, and only because, their residents differ.
)URP SRVWXODWHV FORVH WR WKRVH RI WKH 6FKRRO RI &KLFDJR 5REHUW 5HGÀHOG DQG
Milton Singer (1954) explored the role of cities and the urban condition with
regards to innovation and tradition from a different angle. These authors
associated the urban with what they called the heterogenetic form of the city.
Somehow differing from Fischer’s postulates on unconventional behaviour,
but still elaboration on Wirth’s beak down, this heterogenetic form of the city
postulates that a city could only survive and thrive by attracting and producing
SOXUDOLW\7KLVPRGHOZDVEDVHGRQFRQÁLFWSURGXFLQJDFLW\WKDWZDVDQRPLF
disorganized foreign or even hostile to any tradition. A city that was set to be
a refuge for the heterodox and rebel, and dominated by the presence of groups
that were cohesive around certain interests and feelings. Given the fact that all
encounters in this model city were to be rushed and brief, such feelings powerful
enough to aggregate a group were scarce. On the opposite end of the spectrum
there would be the orthogenetic city, modelled upon the strongly centralized,
ceremonial, highly bureaucratized ancient or orient cities.
Elaborating on the capacities of urban settings for generating novel alterity in

WHUPV RI VRFLDO JURXSV DQG FXOWXUH &ODXGH 6 )LVFKHU KDV
proposed the subcultural theory of urbanity. Such theory contends that “city
life is relatively unconventional26-a term that covers a range of behaviour from
artistic innovation, to expressions of dissenting values, to serious criminality, but
all deviate from societal norms” (Fischer, 1975, p. 132).
More recently, Richard Florida (Florida, 2005) has largely elaborated on the
new urban creative classes and the role of space in shaping innovation through
accumulation and segregation of social capital. He has proposed a theory, called
of the 3 Ts (talent, technology and tolerance), which might explain the three main
79
factors that contribute to the creative class choosing a place to settle and work.
Accordingly, those parts of what Florida’s creative class search for a tolerant
KXPDQ FOLPDWH SURDFWLYHO\ LQFOXVLYH )ORULGD VHW KLV DUJXPHQWV IRU GHÀQLQJ
the quality of place in reference to Jacobs (1961) as a frame of reference for
GHÀQLQJWKHFRQGLWLRQVXQGHUZKLFKWRÀQGWROHUDQFH:LWKWKLVWKHRU\)ORULGD·V
approach departs from other approaches seeking the elements that explain
the overwhelming location of innovation sources in cities. He postulates the
argument that now the creative class is increasingly mobile in search of attractive
living conditions.
It is to be noted that Florida’s creative class dissolves the classical division

between the productive bourgeoisie and the bohemian, thereby giving rise to
a new creative subject (which is to some extent reverberant of the theories of
Simmel27). However, as Peck (2005) raises the implementation of such ideas
in contemporary cities show that the investments made with the intention of
attracting creative professionals have most of the times favoured urban upper
middle class. “Creativity strategies have been crafted to co-exist with urban
social problems, not to solve them,” states Peck. “It should come as no surprise,
then, that the creative capitals exhibit higher rates of socioeconomic inequality
26 . see point. n. 5 in th original article for an explanation of the term “unconventional”

27 . In his view, constituted by artists and intellectuals. See section “Life in the Metropolis, Cogni-
tion and Social Structure”.
than other cities.” (Peck, 2005).
Marcus (2007) has argued that “In order to build on the agglomeration advantages
that the place can offer, there is a need to extend our understanding of how to
develop the quality of place in relation to the built environment, infrastructure
DQGJHQWULÀFDWLRQSURFHVVHV7KLVPHDQVWKHLQWURGXFWLRQRIDIRXUWK7WHUULWRU\µ
Indeed, Marcus’s research establishes links between the work of Florida’s
FUHDWLYHFODVVDQGWKDWRI3XWQDP·V VRFLDOFDSLWDOWKURXJKDGGLQJ
an otherwise overlooked spatial dimension. Robert Putnam is, together with
Bourdieu (reviewed further down this section) among the best known researchers
who have elaborated on the theory of social capital. The central idea behind this
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reciprocity have value. They have value for the people who are in them, and
they have, at least in some instances, demonstrable externalities, so that there
are both public and private faces of social capital”. Putnam by that refers mostly
to external public returns, but considers that might be simultaneous public and
private returns (R. Putnam, 2001).
The concept of social capital refers to: (1) resources (and their value of these
resources), which can be both tangible (public spaces, private property) and
intangible (“human capital”, people). (2) the relationships among these
resources, and (3) their impact on the resources involved in each relationship,
80
and on larger groups. It is generally seen as a form of capital that produces public
goods for a common good.
Social capital has been used to explain the improved performance of di-
verse groups, the growth of entrepreneurial firms, superior managerial per-
formance, enhanced supply chain relations, the value derived from strate-
gic alliances, and the evolution of communities. Putnam’s concept of social
capital has three components: moral obligations and norms, social values
(especially trust) and social networks (especially voluntary associations).
Putnam’s central thesis is that if a region has a well-functioning economic
system and a high level of political integration, these are the result of the
region’s successful accumulation of social capital (see Bourdieu 1993). Si-
isiäinen, 2000)
On a recent paper by the OCDE (Bigger, 2006) three varieties of social capital
have been proposed: (1)Bonds: Links to people based on a sense of common
identity (those who are similar to us) – such as family, close friends and people
who share our culture or ethnicity. (2) Bridges: Links with people beyond a
shared sense of identity, for example to distant friends, colleagues and associates.
´$FFRUGLQJWRWKLVLQFUHDVLQJO\SHUYDVLYHXUEDQGHYHORSPHQWVFULSWWKHGDZQRID¶QHZNLQGRI
capitalism based on human creativity’ calls for funky forms of supply-side intervention, since cities
QRZÀQGWKHPVHOYHVLQDKLJKVWDNHV¶ZDUIRUWDOHQW·RQHWKDWFDQRQO\EHZRQE\GHYHORSLQJWKH
kind of ‘people climates’ valued by creatives --urban environments that are open, diverse, dynamic
and cool (Florida, 2003. p. 27)”
(3)Linkages: Links to people or groups in different social classes.
Unlike the liberal and straightforward celebratory capitalist tone of Florida’s

FUHDWLYHFODVVWKHRU\3XWQDP·VVRFLDOFDSLWDOGRHVQRWLPSO\DVSHFLÀFRXWFRPH
not even one which is socially constructive in general terms, for it mainly implies
a resource independent of its intended use29. With the particularity that, unlike
the Florida’s theories, that of Putnam (Putnam, 2000) directly points beyond mere
isolated or punctual innovation and links it to broader forms of civic engagement
(J. Ekman & Amnå, 2012). This concept has been, however, criticized for
collapsing a problematic principle into a simple single term if perhaps mostly due
to its popularity30. This theory contrasts with that postulated by Pierre Bourdieu
LQWKHVDQGHDUO\V%RXUGLHX·V WKHRU\LVVHWLQFRQQHFWLRQZLWK
his theoretical ideas on class, identifying three dimensions of capital: economic,
cultural and social capital. These three resources become socially effective,
and their ownership is legitimized through the mediation of symbolic capital.
%RXUGLHX·VFRQFHSWRIVRFLDOFDSLWDOSXWVWKHHPSKDVLVRQFRQÁLFWVDQGFRQVLGHUV
how certain social relations increase the ability of an actor to achieve a result in
her interest.31 Thus, from the perspective of Bourdieu, social capital is a resource
in social struggles in different areas of society.
,QVXPWKHEUHDGWKRIWKHVRFLDOFDSLWDOFRQFHSWUHÁHFWVDSULPRUGLDOIHDWXUHRI
social life- namely, that social ties of one kind (e.g., friendship) often can be used
81
for different purposes (e.g., moral and material support, work and non-work
advice)32HYHQLILWLVLQFRQÁLFWXDOFRQWH[WV
Social innovation33RQWKHRWKHUKDQGLVDWHUPWKDWUHFHQWO\KDVFRPHWRGHÀQH
innovative and novel forms of addressing existing problems. The concept is used
enlarging the usual and recently hegemonic economic and technological reading
of the role of innovation34 in development to encompass a more comprehensive
societal transformation of human relations and practices35 (Moulaert, 2013). It
has been used in a variety of contexts, slowly opening to englobe forms of civic
engagement that can take alternative and countercultural forms and practices.
29 . “I certainly agree(...) that not all social capital has good consequences for every one” (Putnam,
2001)
30 . “Ordinarily, a theory’s parsimony i.e., its capacity to explain the most with the least is a desir-
DEOHSURSHUW\LQWKLVLQVWDQFHKRZHYHUDVLQJOHWHUPLVEHLQJDGRSWHGLQGLVFULPLQDWHO\DGDSWHG
XQFULWLFDOO\DQGDSSOLHGLPSUHFLVHO\µ :RROFRFNS
31 . Social positions and the division of economic, cultural and social resources in general are legiti-
mized with the help of symbolic capital.
32 . Putnam insists that there are “these very evanescent forms and also quite regular forms of
social capital, both formal and informal” (Putnam, 2001, p. 2)
33 . “Social innovation is a complex process of introducing new products, processes or programs
WKDWSURIRXQGO\FKDQJHWKHEDVLFURXWLQHVUHVRXUFHDQGDXWKRULW\ÁRZVRUEHOLHIVRIWKHVRFLDOV\V-
tem in which the innovation occurs. Such successful social innovations have durability and broad
impact” (Westley & Antadze, 2010, p. 2)
2(&'GHÀQHVLWLQWKHIROORZLQJPDQQHU´6RFLDOLQQRYDWLRQLVGLVWLQFWIURPHFRQRPLFLQQRYD-
tion because it is not about introducing new types of production or exploiting new markets in itself
but is about satisfying new needs not provided by the market (even if markets intervene later) or
creating new, more satisfactory ways of insertion in terms of giving people a place and a role in
production” (2010)
35 . Even though, there is yet no established paradigm of social innovation (see Nicholls, 2010).
Lastly, research coming from the frame of social contention, protests and
XUEDQFULWLFDOVWXGLHVKDYHFODLPHGGHÀQLWLRQVRILQQRYDWLRQWREHFXUUHQWO\WRR
narrow and politically biased towards liberal capitalist ideals. Generally, these
researchers seek to “challenge some of the emerging normative assumptions
about the ‘promise of social innovation’, namely a general acceptance that it is
an unproblematic and consistently positive phenomenon without drawbacks or
unintended consequences” (Nicholls, Simon, & Gabriel, 2015).
Following these premises, social innovation is to be found also in alternative

social structures such as social movements
Flavia Martinelli, Frank Moulaert and Erik Swyngedouw (2003), have claimed,
however, that the innovative potential of social movements has a limited time
duration, as these movements are often subject to ephemeral life cycles. Moreover,
“there is a constant tension between spontaneity and institutionalization of
innovations brought about by social movements, i.e. between creative, changing,
ephemeral or evolving experiences and their translation into more permanent
structures/organizations” (Martinelli et al., 2003).
These researchers place emphasis on vindicating different contentious social

processes as not only capable of generating innovative social outcomes ranging
from governance methods, to other more tangible forms of social production
(of space) This modality, often called “disruptive” social innovation (Nicholls
82 et al., 2015)., normally aims at thorough change of the socio-economic system
it is nevertheless framed within, often criticized for giving place to certain sense
RIXQGHÀQHG\HWSRWHQWLDOLQEHWZHHQQHVVUHYHUEHUDQWRI7XUQHU·VOLPLQDOLW\ 9
Turner, 1969).
Concluding remarks.
After reviewing these above-mentioned theories, these last observations are a
most relevant aspect to consider for the analysis of the study case, as social
and grassroots movements in contentious urban struggles can indeed constitute
overlooked birthplaces for innovative forms or urban sociality. The novelty and
creativity often accompanying an imaginative use of resources and discourse in
FRQWH[WRIFRQWHQWLRQDQGFRQÁLFWFDQSURGXFHVRFLDOLQQRYDWLRQVWKDWSHUPHDWH
DQG WUDQVFHQG WKH FRQWH[W RI FRQÁLFW LWVHOI $V VXFK IRU WKH VDNH RI D PRUH
attentive and productive research, there is a need to vindicate this role of social
movements and civic platforms, often neglected in favour of a too narrow view
on capitalist forms of innovation addressed from a economicist view.
2.1.4 Perception
7LYJLP]PUN[OL<YIHU,U]PYVUTLU[!:WH[PHS7LYJLW[PVU
HUK*VNUP[PVU
To grasp space, to know how to see it,

is the key to the understanding of building.
ߊBruno Zevi, Architecture as Space:
How to Look at Architecture, 1957, p. 23.
‘In English; I see means I understand.’

ߊYi Fu Tuan, Space and Place:
Humanistic Perspetive, 1977, p. 10
Zora’s secret lies in the way your gaze runs

over patterns following one another as in a musical
score where not a note can be altered or displaced
ߊItalo Calvino, Invisible Cities, 1972 p. 15.
83
The city has been described as structuring spatially and temporally our frame of
H[SHULHQFHDV,KDYHUHYLHZHGLQSUHYLRXVVHFWLRQV7KHUHIRUHVXFKLQÁXHQWLDO
environment seems to play an important role in our experience of things and
of the world, and potentially of ourselves. This seems indeed to be so for our
experience of the urban is largely constructed by our movement through voids
around built urban structures, channelling our experience through the city’s
FKDQQHOVDQGWRSRL 0DOSDV0DOSDV
In this section, I review stances and theories on the perception of the urban
environment. These views are representative of the paradigms that populate the
quest to unveil the mechanisms by which we perceive the urban environment, as
something distinct from the environment in general.36. The scope of this section is
not to review in detail the underlying problematic differentiating cognition from
perception. However, since I endorse an enactive approach to cognition, I will
be reviewing critically the implication for our understanding and theorization of
individual and collective agency.
In an article entitled “Studying cities to learn about minds” (Hillier, 2012), Hillier
reverses the question usually put in cognitive science, in such a way: “What can we
learn of the human mind by examining its products?” The product he is referring
to is certainly the city. He proceeds to discuss distance, which he considers to be
arguably the most fundamental of spatial variables. While Hillier stresses that
(YHQLIVRPHRIWKHWKHRULHVKHUHUHYLHZHGKDYHDUJXDEO\SOD\HGDUROH,WKHGHÀQLWLRQRI
Environmental psychology, as with the rest of the dissertation it is my intention not to aboard the
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we interact with space in cities through both mind and body, he contends for
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dealt by our minds. Thus, distance is approached in double manner: “in bodily
terms the city exists for us as a system of metric distances” (Ibid.), but cognitively
we primarily interact with the city through seeing. He therefore states that “the
city comes to exist for us also as a more or less complex object, with more or less
visual steps required to see all parts from all others, and so as a system of visual
distances” (Hillier, 2012).
In fact, one of the pervading ideas permeating a large part of the approaches to
our cognizing of space, and more concretely of urban space, is the postulate that
we primarily rely on our vision.37 Many researchers still assert that vision is the
most important and relevant sense in our perception of urban space: “From a
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on how people experience and respond to urban areas and planning initiatives “
(Kaiser, Godschalk, & Chapin, 1995, p. 223).
7KLVZLGHO\IDYRXUHGUHODWLRQEHWZHHQYLVLRQPLQGDQGFRJQLWLRQKDVSURÀWHG
from a privileged hegemonic position of two main pervasive paradigms: On the
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“in our head”. And, on the other hand, the broadly sustained idea that the mind
“processes” sensible stimuli from the external environment through the senses,
84 producing another dichotomous differentiation between sensory perception and
cognition. This paradigm of classical cognitivism - or information processing
DSSURDFKHPHUJHGDJDLQVWWKHEHKDYLRXULVPGRPLQDQWGXULQJWKHÀUVWKDOIRI
the 20th century, and it has pervaded all disciplines dealing with these questions,
such as environmental psychology or spatial cognition. However, it has also
been challenged by series of approaches from different origins that have sought
to challenges these ideas based on both theoretical philosophical stances or
empirical evidence. (For more detailed account of these theories and transitions,
please see Section 2.2 Emotion to Space).
As mentioned, critique of these long-standing ideas is not new. To cite some of

the we can recall that as early as the turn of the 20th century, when John Dewey
GHYHORSHG D ODQGPDUN FULWLTXH RI WKH UHÁH[ DUF ,Q KLV ZRUN 'HZH\
opposed the separation between external stimulus and internal response by
showing the interrelatedness of events, environments, people, and actions. Also,
FRPLQJIURPDGLIIHUHQWÀHOG.XUW/HZLQ GHYHORSHGWKHFRQFHSW
of the lifespace around the middle of the XX century. The concept of lifespace,
in general terms, describes the manner by which elements of the environment
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WKHFRQFHSWRIÀHOGIRUPWKH*HVWDOWSV\FKRORJ\IUDPHZRUNWRGHVFULEHDVRUWRI
37 . However, more synthetic attempts at incorporating also non- cold cognitivist aspects involved
in the assessment of the urban such as affect where incorporated as methods for an objective meas-
urement of the quality of architecture and the resulting urban space last boomed in the late 1950s
V &XOOHQ)UDQNH %RUW]*X\'HERUG.UDXVH/\QFK7ULHE
=HLOH5HVFK([QHU 6DJOD
In any case, most of these still involved vision in a prominent manner.
dynamic continuity of the social and physical environment, which changes across
spaces, over time and along accumulation of previous experience. As opposed to
individuals existing as distinct autonomous entities from the environment, Lewin
defended that both people and space are intimately connected co-constitute - co-
produce - one another.
,Q WKH IROORZLQJ SDVVDJHV , ZLOO EULHÁ\ UHYLHZ FHUWDLQ RWKHU UHSUHVHQWDWLYH
contributions which have essayed to develop, ideas that further question the
dichotomous separation of individuals from their environment. These empirical
and theoretical works on questions of experience and perception, postulate that
our cognition of the environment comes necessarily through our interaction with
it.
Since movement through space can be said to be one of our most basic and
important capacities, in regards to cognition of the environment. And such
capacity seems to imply the idea that we are able, to a certain extent, to
scan, explore, elaborate some kind of mental device or map storing relevant
information about the environment, so that next times we are able to navigate
WKURXJKLWIDVWHUDQGPRUHHIÀFLHQWO\7KLVJDYHULVHWRWKHGHYHORSPHQWRIWKH
concept of cognitive maps, describing the process by which human beings think
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WKHLUHYHU\GD\EHKDYLRXUV 7ROPDQ ,PXVWQRWHKRZHYHUWKDW7ROPDQ·V
85
work did not elaborate any connection to the urban environment, but was a
landmark study that helped to shape we nowadays refers to as spatial cognition.
)ROORZLQJVHYHUDOSDUWVRIWKHEUDLQ WKHKLSSRFDPSXV DQGHYHQVSHFLÀFFHOOV
SODFHFHOOV ZHUHODWHULGHQWLÀHGE\2·.HHIHDQG1DGHO WRSOD\DNH\UROH
in cognitive activities such as spatial behaviour, navigation, and memory.
Psychologists Stanley Milgram and Denise Jodelet (1976), through an

experiment in which they asked Parisian residents to draw by hand mental
maps of their city, provided evidence to challenge the idea that mental maps
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cognitive mapping process, which they termed psychological map, much more
embedded in social and cultural environment and practices. They found that
shared social representations helped link the salient elements to individual
everyday experiences, even if the particular individuals had no experience of
that landmark.
While also in both geography and environmental psychology there is a long

lineage of contributions on cognitive mapping, often known more popularly as
the study of ‘mental maps’. This works has elaborated on the mental images and
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in social sciences as a metaphor to analyse peoples’ broader comprehension of
the world. It has been broadly used in management and business studies (Eden,
+XII
Generally, many scholars from related disciplines tend to agree on the existence
and usefulness of what they call spatial knowledge. The precise manner by which
individuals may retain such representations or “images” are, however, still a
point of debate. Also, the adequacy of the term cognitive mapping, as well as
that of mental maps is put in question by some scholars, who question whether
other metaphor should capture their essence in a better description evocative of
other constructs. Ingold (2010), for instance, has argued that cognitive maps are
inadequate and that only navigating through a space leads to spatial knowledge.
On the other hand, there is increasing evidence that builds from both approaches
and understands mental maps to be processual and representational, i.e., never
complete and always becoming (Kitchin & Dodge, 2007)
Reading Urban Form

Cognition of space applied to urban environments, understood as our capacity
to “read” the city and make sense of its fragmented landscape as perceived in a
time sequence, was given a fundamental development with the enduring work of
urbanist and architect Kevin Lynch. In his book, “The Image of the City” , Lynch
(Lynch, 1960) and based on individual interviews and mental maps of residents
RIWKUHH86FLWLHV%RVWRQ-HUVH\&LW\DQG/RV$QJHOHVKHSURSRVHVÀYHHOHPHQWV
that are of salient importance in making the city legible through shaping people’s
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86
and edges. This image of the city is nothing but “the external look of cities”.
His concept of the legibility of this image of the city focuses primarily in one
particular visual quality: the apparent clarity or “legibility” of the cityscape. . .
The ease with which its parts can be recognized . . . a legible city would be one
ZKRVHGLVWULFWVRUODQGPDUNVRUSDWKZD\VDUHHDVLO\LGHQWLÀDEOHDQGDUHHDVLO\
grouped into an overall pattern (Lynch, ibid 2–3).
One of the main original contributions of Lynch’s concepts, as well as what

distinguishes from a mere application of the idea of cognitive maps to cities,
is the fact that he proposed external physical elements of the environment to
constitute representations (Portugali, 2011b). This contrasts with Tolman’s work
on cognitive maps in so far as Tolman and colleagues were primarily concerned
with the mental representations of space, that is to say with what Portugali calls
internal representations. This difference proposals around between internal
and external representations has been recently addressed by the theory of SIRN
(Portugali, 2002) integrating the role of both in a dynamic and emergent process.
However Lynch’s ideas of the image of the city clearly went beyond mere
navigational capacities and entered directly into the realm of the affective,
through the creation of conditions that either facilitate or hinder feelings of well-
being. The category of perceptual cohesion of the architectural form in urban
areas is proposed by Lynch in order to synthesize the concepts of legibility, unity,
LGHQWLW\VWUXFWXUHDQGPHDQLQJRIWKHFLW\VXJJHVWLQJÀUPO\WKDWWKLVFRKHVLRQ
is closely associated with a higher quality of urban environments (Lynch, 1995).
In relation to this, Lynch has argued that apart from the role in facilitating way-
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perceptual cohesion produce images with the capacity to generate feelings of
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areas which are less cohesive can cause confusion, insecurity and lack of
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These identifiable parts should be so arranged that a normal observer can

mentally relate them to one another, and understand their pattern in time
and space. This is not a universal rule, since there are occasions when it is
desirable that parts of the environment be hidden, mysterious, or ambigu-
ous. But at least the general framework of a living space, and the linkages
between its public places, must be legible-in the street and in memory.
Legible structure has an obvious value in facilitating the practical tasks
of way-finding and cognition, but it has other values as well. It can be a
source of emotional security, and one basis for a sense of self-identity and
of relation to society. lt can support civic pride and social cohesion, and be
a means of extending one’s knowledge of the world. It confers the aesthetic
pleasure of sensing the relatedness of a complex thing, a pleasure vividly
experienced by many people when they see a great city panorama before
them. The structural chaos of our great urban regions is notorious, and lies
87
behind some of our distaste for city life . (Lynch, 1995)
Even beyond questions of emotional and psychological well-being, Lynch, in

a move not atypical of many architects and urbanists, has come to argue the
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as one with higher perceptual cohesion, and which amounts to an environment
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His research on these urban mental markers meant for Lynch that the design
and planning of urban spaces ought to be fundamentally anchored on people’s
experience of such environment. Portugali has noted that the pregnancy of
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when Golledge (1999) suggested looking at urban elements in a more general
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/\QFK KLPVHOI LQ D SDSHU IURP ´5HFRQVLGHULQJ WKH LPDJH RI WKH FLW\µ
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Lynch’s Image had already taken up a life of its own, “moving in its own trajectory
irrespective of the critics including Lynch himself” (2011b, p. 120).
Urban form and Behaviour. Isovists.

It is widely assumed that a better understanding of the impact of urban form on
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+DQVRQ +RZHYHUWKHIDFWWKDWWKHFRQWH[WIRUHDFKGHVLJQSUREOHP
and consequently also the design proposal, is unique makes it hard to apply best
practice solutions or patterns to produce good design (Alexander, Ishikawa, &
6LOYHUVWHLQ3DUROHN3DUROHN &UDZIRUG
Hillier (1996) has criticized that in general, these kinds of approaches fail to
capture the multiple interdependencies at play in urban contexts, especially
when involving a design proposal.
An important line and method of research termed isovists (Benedikt, 1979)
was developed in the late seventies to By the time Benedikt (1979) proposed
his theory and method, he lamented that most of the work carried then on
psychology and the perception was mostly directed at the perception of objects,
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,WWHOVRQ UDWKHUXQDGGUHVVHG
But a third and major distinction, one upon whose implications I wish to
focus attention, derives from what Ittelson terms “the surrounding char-
acter” of environments. Whereas in object perception one studies space
in terms of the perceived distance, depth, size, or movement of isolated
objects (often ‘targets’), in environment perception one is called upon to
regard space (a) as somehow substantial rather than empty, (b) as being
defined by visible surfaces themselves not necessarily perceived as belong-
88 ing to discrete objects, and (c) as having topological and fomial qualities
normally appreciated by continuous free movement through space by an
observer always ‘immersed’ in the environment. (Benedikt, 1979)
Based on the precedent theories of Gibson , Benedikt came to describe the
environment as “fused with space, as it were, one might speak of the visual world
DVDÀHOGRIOLJKWERUQHLQIRUPDWLRQLQZKLFKWKHREVHUYHULVLPPHUVHGDQGZKLFK
he samples in accordance with his intentions and curiosities” (Benedikt, 1979). In
order to address the way in which we perceive the environment when immersed
in its surrounding character, he devised the theory and method of isovists39, or
ORFDWLRQVSHFLÀFSDWWHUQVRIYLVLELOLW\,VRYLVWVDUHYLHZVKHGSRO\JRQVWKDWFDSWXUH
spatial properties by describing the visible area from a given observation point.40
As such isovists are objectively determinable basic elements for analyzing spatial
characteristics of surrounding environments or “regions of space”.
Benedikt developed various measures of the properties of isovists, such as

area, perimeter, occlusivity (the proportion of the perimeter lying on the
solid boundary of the environment) and various measures of the distribu-
tion of the distance from the viewpoint to the perimeter. Benedikt calcu-
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claim his parenthood of this concept.
40 . %HQHGLNWQRWHGWKHDIÀQLW\RI of isovists with the concept of optic arrays developed by Gibson,
although he did not comment in length.
lated the properties of point isovists at a grid of locations in the open space
of a configuration and then interpolated to give ‘isovist fields’. He also
developed the representation of an ‘isovist field’ to describe the variation in
these different isovist parameters through the environment. This work was
one of the most thorough attempts to put the representation of the spatial
environment, as opposed to built objects, on a firm quantitative footing,
and is still widely referred to in the literature on analysis of architectural
space. (Turner & Penn, 1999)
Even though isovists appear to provide very interesting and inspiring ways for
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their production, which has until recently been a time consuming procedure”,
“and possibly more importantly, that despite their sensitiveness to the shape of
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Penn, 1999)
Further research on isovists has been integrated into the study of non-local
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(Hanson 2000). It also develops in a view of urban space as “convex”, that is,
as experienced in its surrounding character. Isovists, or rather ‘convex isovists’
(the union of all point isovists within a given convex space), were used in space
syntax, mostly qualitatively until they saw their integration with syntactical
analysis based on graph methods used elsewhere in space syntax (Turner & Penn,
1999). The main whilst the lessons of space syntax research suggest that it is the
JOREDOSURSHUWLHVRIVSDWLDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQWKDWDUHLPSRUWDQWLQGHWHUPLQLQJWKH
functional consequences of design.
Furthermore, computationally powered approaches through graphs have

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%HQHGLNW 7XUQHU 'R[D 2·6XOOLYDQ 3HQQ DFFHVVLELOLW\ +LOOLHU
+DQVRQ 6HYWVXN ZLWK UDWKHU VXFFHVVIXO RXWFRPHV +RZHYHU
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human behavioural responses to urban form beyond pedestrian movement. I
would argue that affect, with its capacity to highlight relevant relations between
individuals and collectives and urban space in a real-life situation, necessarily
needs to be taken into account for studying human behaviour in urban contexts.
Moreover, affect can help the modes of Along these lines some researchers
dismiss the separation between city-object and inhabitant-subject for the study
of urban experience,. For instance, Ledrut (1973) considers that the experience
41 . see section “2..1.5 Spatial Conditions of Co-Presence”

RIOLYLQJLQDFLW\LQFOXGHVERWKWKHFLW\DQGWKHLQKDELWDQWV7KHVLJQLÀFDQFHDQG
meaning would then not possibly exist in the city autonomously, but depend on
the people’s practices in the urban space in certain times and cultures (1973).
8UEDQ)RUPDQG$IIHFW
As mentioned previously, other types of enquiries have been attempted, especially
those giving more attention to different modes of sensing and cognizing. While
the scope and framing of these other approaches differ in great manner, a
relevant constant has been to try to reconcile perception of the environment
with meaningful experience through affect an emotion. Such was the case of the
WKHRULHVGHYHORSHGE\*X\'HERUG DIRXQGLQJPHPEHURIWKH
avant-garde artistic and political group the Situationists, and a social theorist. He
elaborated a proposal called psychogeography, embedded in a broader critique of
WKHUHJLPHRIH[SHULHQFHLQWKHFDSLWDOLVWFLW\,QKLVVHDUFKWRÀQGPRUHGHFDQWHG
and apt ways of capturing, as well as manipulating, the experimental perception
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the détournement as radical novel ways of navigating the city and exacerbating
a more intense and subversive experience of shared human spaces. This eventful
method called dérive, consisted of unplanned tours, or “drifts,” through urban
environments based on misreading maps or altering conventional behaviour
in response to psychological cues, such as moods or emotions. They sought
to challenge conventional patterns of activity in the capitalistic consumerist
90
urban society in the middle of the 20th century. These theories contained a
powerful underlying idea elaborating on a non-deterministic approach to how
our environments might elicit emotions and prompt us to action, which is in
sharp contrast with many other approaches to navigation and cognitive maps.
This idea poses that by concentrating on the feelings evoked by urban space
and emphasizing the sharing them with one another, a given social group can
reinterpret a situation in creative and emancipatory ways.
,Q ZKDW FRQFHUQV PRUH VSHFLÀFDOO\ WKH UHODWLRQ EHWZHHQ XUEDQ VSDFH DQG
emotions, the integration of technical and human sensors has received a new
boost in combination with a direct feedback from citizens to stakeholders via
real-time participatory communication channels (Burke et al., 2006). These new
channels, including social media, but also crowdsourcing and sensing technology,
have offered a novel and valuable supplementary source of data, allowing to
potentially combine such data with analogue individual sources like hand-drawn
mental maps or interviews. For instance, Christian Nold (2004, 2009) has been
DPRQJWKHÀUVWUHVHDUFKHUVWRDGGUHVVWKHFDUWRJUDSK\RIHPRWLRQDOHOLFLWDWLRQLQ
urban environments through the recollection of geo-referenced biometric human
sensor data. In his project Biomapping he combined user-gathered psycho-
physiological data and afterwards share this information with the community.
Researchers have recently focused on how to integrate emotional responses

to the urban environment into urban planning processes (Zeile, Resch, Exner,
& Sagl, 2015b). Combining methods from spatial planning, geoinformatics
and computer linguistics, these researchers collected data of reactions in both
dynamic and static contexts.
“Urban Emotions” and “Space Synthesizer”

Researchers have studied the relationship between environmental features and
emotional responses through a variety of methods representing the environment.
7KHVH FRPSULVH LPDJHV DQG SKRWRJUDSKV *MHUGH :HEHU 6FKQLHU
-DFREVHQ YLUWXDOUHDOLW\VLPXODWLRQ )UDQ] :LHQHU6WDPSV
or real world immersion. Some researchers claim that the use of VR-Systems has
several advantages, like controlling the separate parameters precisely providing
a feeling of immersion higher than with the use of 2-dimensional images. I would
argue, however, that this removes arguably the main element in the equation,
namely the situatedness of real-life events and their meaningful experiential
unfolding. Moreover, such an experimental approach in the laboratory, assumes
that the individual factors can be effectively isolated and controlled, ignoring
potential complex phenomena emerging from the interaction of those many
factors in situ.
Also, recently, Sven Schneider, Johannes Fröhlich, Martin Bielik and Reinhard
König (2014) have elaborated on the development of an experimental setup
for investigating the relationships between urban form and emotional responses
though an interesting immersive interactive setup. In this setup, called “space
91
synthesizer” subjects are immersed in a VR environment and produce a series
of virtual models in response to the environment (c. McManus & Gesiak, 2014),
according to the method called of production developed by Gustav Fechner
6XEMHFWVSURGXFHREMHFWVWKDWFDXVHDFHUWDLQHPRWLRQDOUHZDUGWRWKHP
in a scenario of streetscapes.
Emotions in this context, however, seem to be thoroughly disregarded with a

mere mention to pleasurable- unpleasant axis of measure. It is not clear whether
they differentiate emotions form other affective phenomena, nor whether they
control for previous experience, personality traits, cultural appartenance of
RWKHU IDFWRUV WKDW PLJKW LQÁXHQFH WKHLU VXSSRVHG SOHDVXUDEOH RU XQSOHDVDQW
responses. Unfortunately, their “Space Synthesizer” cannot be said to respond to
contemporary stance on emotions even though it offers a valuable through visual
and haptic interaction which could help pave the way for future experiments
under the premises of enactivism.
The Embodied Urban Atmospheric: from Buzz to
(TIPHUJLZ[V(ɈLJ[
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A radically different approach to the understanding of our interaction, perception
and cognition of the urban emerges around the main core idea that what
constitutes that elusive urbanity, that fundamental distinctive quality of urban
environments does not exactly rely upon a series of simply but, instead in an
atmospheric result. I propose to reunite and contrast around climatic approach
to the urban condition, two distinct approaches, that despite their radically
different origins and disciplinary framing, share the development of this climatic/
DWPRVSKHULF HQXQFLDWLRQ RI XUEDQLW\ 2Q WKH RQH KDQG WKH ÀHOG RI VWXGLHV RI
ambiances urbaines, translated into English as urban atmospheres, stresses on
the one hand the strong role of experience . Perception is a central mediator
to this project, stating the universal centrality of the body as both locus of the
phenomenal sense-making experience42 and a more mundane simple physical a
receptor (Lawson, 2003) .
On the other hand, the theories or ideas around what has come to be denominated
as “urban buzz”. Detailed insights into this notion are developed by Amin and
7KULIW *HUWOHU %DWKHOWHWDO 0F&DQQ DQG
Polèse (2010). Despite the eminently atmospheric affective approach of Amin
92
DQG 7KULIW XUEDQ EX]] LV SHUKDSV PRVW VWURQJO\ GHYHORSHG LQ ÀHOGV VWXG\LQJ
the urban qualities that might be behind the well-know superior economic
performance of cities and their privileged role as stages for social innovation.
While Richard Florida (2005) is reputed for having largely elaborated on the rise
of the creative class, his treatment of buzz focusses on the generative effects of
such
All in all, urban buzz is proposed to be the result of density, proximity and
connectivity externalities (Arribas Bel, Kourtit, & Nijkamp, 2016).While the
SK\VLFDOUHDFKRIVXFKEX]]LVQRWSUHFLVHO\GHÀQHGDUHDVRIEX]]HLWKHUZKROH
cities or particular urban areas – are said to be “powerhouses of innovation,
creativity and unconventional lifestyles” (Arribas Bell 2013).
In a study by Storper and Venables (2004) the authors refer in particular to

the ease of communication and information exchange between different actors
in the urban space as the source of a local buzz economy. As this concept is
a container for local entrepreneurial dynamism (Acs, Bosma, & Sternberg,
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generation and diffusion (Puga, 2010), competitive cluster formation (Porter,
2011), industrial districts (Pyke & Sengenberger, 1992), learning areas (Morgan,
RU VSDWLDO V\VWHPV RI LQQRYDWLRQ &RRNH 8UDQJD (W[HEDUULD
$OWKRXJKVRPHDXWKRUVKDYHFODLPHGIRUWKHH[SDQVLRQRIWKHWHUPWRGHÀQHD
42 “my body is truly the navel of my world, (…) as the very locus of reference, memory, imagina-
tion and integration” (Pallasmaa, 2012)
broader set of phenomena (Rodríguez-Pose & Fitjar, 2013).
From this perspective urban buzz may relate to socio-economic factors, such as
HFRQRPLHVRIFXOWXUDODQGVRFLDOGLYHUVLW\LQXUEDQDUHDV -DFREV.DKDQHF
=LPPHUPDQQ.RXUWLW 1LMNDPS/RQJKL1LMNDPS 3RRW
Waldinger, Aldrich, & Ward, 1990), and or social factors which might boost
productivity, like great variety in product supply, variability in skills and socio-
HFRQRPLF FDSDELOLWLHV .ORRVWHUPDQ 5DWK RWKHUV 0DVXUHO 1LMNDPS
7DVWDQ 9LQGLJQL 2]JHQ 1LMNDPS 3RRW 6DKLQ 1LMNDPS
Stough, 2011), and background functions for innovative forms of art and culture,
etc.
+RZHYHUZKLOHPDQ\PRUHVSHFLÀFIDFWRUVDUHLGHQWLÀHGDVWRFRQWULEXWHWREX]]
its is not exactly clear if we are dealing with proper emergent notion, as a higher
order category, or simply with an additive linear result, for which the exact order
and quantity of those ingredients seem to remain unknown. While seeking to
address agency through the notion of enhanced productivity, innovation and so
on, its insights into seem largely to only take space into account into a sort of
aggregated manner and as something that provides a kind of . As such it is not
clear to what extent space does play a role beyond mere location.
Urban ambiances or atmospheres has been, arguably, situated in the crossing of

93
an aesthetic and a pragmatic analysis of urban space (Thibaud, 2002, 2015). This
ÀHOGRIVWXGLHVFRPHVWRUHSUHVHQWDVHULRXVDWWHPSWDWDGGUHVVLQJHPERGLPHQW
in studying the cities through the sensory experience, as opposed to and critical
of notions of abstract and objective space, and responding to the return to the
concrete. Thibaud has also situated a hermeneutical approach on the inherent
paradoxes of the meaning of dwelling at the heart of the development of this
approach to the city through a sort of sensory ecology. In fact, urban ambiances
DUHVDLGWREHFRQÀJXUHGRUFUHDWHGE\DFRPELQDWLRQRIDONLQGVRIVSDFHGHÀQLQJ
activities: “we are currently witnessing what I call the ‘setting of ambiance’ in
urban spaces. Consider the conditioned environments of shopping malls, the
planted areas of eco-neighbourhoods, the process of ‘heritagization’ of historic
town centres, the privatization of gated communities, the new scenes of the
creative city, and the functional atmospheres of public transport facilities: in each
case, every effort is made to create an ambiance, to channel sensations and to
make people feel a particular way.” (Thibaud, 2015, p. 39).
“A cet égard, quatre apports principaux intéressent plus directement la

thématique des ambiances : la mise en évidence du pouvoir mobilisateur
du lieu, la reconnaissance de la valeur articulatoire du geste, le dévoilement
de l’implicite dans l’ordinaire des pratiques et l’ouverture . de la perception
à sa dimension affective.” (Thibaud, 2004, p. 186)
This sensory path again brings us to the notions of affect as developed by Thrift
(Thrift, 2004). In his work, dwelling on a materialistic philosophical discourse
(with roots in Spinoza, and a more contemporary referent in Deleuze), we
are invited to expand our notion of affect to something pertaining to a more
fundamental and transversal category, beyond a simplistic and circumscribed
human preference. A view of affect that entails a pre-conscious mechanism that
has drive as our main modality of sense making, and which postulates affect
DV D VSDWLDO LPPHGLDWH DQG SUHFRQVFLRXV ÀHOG RI WKH SROLWLFDO 6XFK ÀHOG FDQ
be subject to external forces, be activated and manipulated, and sees cities as
its main locus of deployment and of control. This view expands the view of the
urban as an elicitor of affect and emotion to a more encompassing view of affect
as spatialized, intersubjective and political.
Concluding remarks
7KHÀHOGRIXUEDQDPELDQFHVWULHVWRFDSWXUHDVHQVRU\HFRORJ\RIWKHFLW\EXW
falls short in establishing links to agential capacities of individuals or groups. Its
link to affect seems to rely mostly upon the rhetoric of Thriftean neo-Spinozian
human geography, with the effects of it being an inspiring discourse that falls
short of becoming operational for analysis. Urban buzz seems to address the
aggregate predisposition of areas or district with regard to an economicistic
YLHZ RI SURGXFWLYLW\ OHDYLQJ DVLGH DQ\ FRQÁLFWXDO DQG RU DIIHFWLYH DVSHFWV RI
such enhanced properties of urbanity. Moreover, urban buzz seems to be broadly
treated in its broader and more encompassing meaning, as an emergent property
without actually acknowledging references to it.
94
:WH[PHS*VUKP[PVUZVM*V7YLZLUJL
*VWYLZLUJLHZ(Y[PJ\SH[PVUVM(S[LYP[`
The study on the effects of bodily co-presence can be said to begin with the work
RI7ULSOHWW ZKLFKLVLGHQWLÀHGDVWKHRULJLQRIPRGHUQVWXGLHVRQVRFLDO
LQWHUDFWLRQ DQG KRZ FRQWHPSRUDQHRXV SK\VLFDO SUHVHQFH RI RWKHUV LQÁXHQFHV
individual action. In his foundational study, Triplett came to the conclusion that
while integrating into a group can reduce our sense of uniqueness, it nevertheless
can enhance our ability to perform simple tasks faster.He argued that “bodily
presence of another contestant participating simultaneously in the race serves to
OLEHUDWHODWHQWHQHUJ\QRWRUGLQDULO\DYDLODEOHµ 7ULSOHWWS
Co-presence, however, is a term originally coined by Goffman (1963). As a

sociological concept it describes the conditions in which human individuals
LQWHUDFWZLWKRQHDQRWKHUIDFHWRIDFHIURPERG\WRERG\ 0HDG
(Cooley, 1992) 1902 (Goffman, 1963). This concept was used in early research
RQLQWHUDFWLRQ HJ%DQGXUD5RVV 5RVV*RIIPDQ=DMRQF
Moreover, the concept of co-presence has resurfaced in sociological theory in
consistent manner since the times of Durkheim, most saliently in the theories
RI (UZLQ *RIIPDQ KLPVHOI DQG $QWKRQ\ *LGGHQV ,W 95
constitutes, in fact, one of its foundational problematics, with a plethora of other
researchers having worked to enlighten on the consequences of co-presence at
the scale of individuals and its relationship to larger social structures (ref). Co-
SUHVHQFHLVUHODWHGWRWKHWZRSULQFLSOHVLGHQWLÀHGE\'XUNKHLPWKDWXQGHUOLH
social solidarity or cohesion: the “organic” solidarity based on interdependence
through difference and the “mechanical” solidarity based on integration
through similarities of belief and group structure. Organic solidarity requires an
integrated and dense space, whereas mechanical solidarity prefers a segregated
and dispersed space, presenting a distinct spatial dimension to social relations
'XUNKHLP µ 0DUFXV 7KXVFRSUHVHQFHFDQEHVHHQDVD
necessary condition for the capacity of establishing both strong and weak links
among individuals.
As I shall develop in the following section, these ideas have been picked up
UHFHQWO\LQFRQÀJXUDWLRQDOVWXGLHVRIXUEDQIRUPZKHUHWKHFDXVHRIWKHGLIIHUHQW
VROLGDULWLHVDFFRUGLQJWR+LOOLHUDQG+DQVRQ LVORFDWHGH[DFWO\LQVSDWLDO
prerequisites. Furthermore, Marcus has recently linked these Durkhemian
notions to measures of urban space developed in the school of space syntax
(2010). Accordingly, strong links (Granoveter, 1973) stand for the establishment
of mechanical solidarity, also strongly related to the phenomenon of mutual
recognition behind Gemeinschaft.
$GGLWLRQDOO\DQGSHUWDLQLQJWKLVOLQHRIUHDVRQLQJFRSUHVHQFHKDVEHHQLGHQWLÀHG
by scholars as a potential proxy for it for weak links and the establishment of
non-intensive relationships where potential exchanges of information take place.
Such exchanges of information need not be based solely on informal chat or
verbal formats, but are also constituted by the appreciation of behavioural and
stylistic aspects such as attitudes, styles, fashion, character. Moreover, as it has
been broadly argued, bodily dimension is of primary importance for reading
and assessing structural (institutional) regimes.43 However, the focus of analysis
seems over the years to have shifted from an external reading of the body and
its behaviours in where the observer is another body, to a scheme of enquiry
IRFXVRQWKHÀUVWSHUVRQH[SHULHQFHRIWKHZRUOGWKURXJKWKHERG\DVWKHRQO\
ultimate substrate in where all social, personal is rendered meaningful material
order. This stresses the importance and potential of the presence of the body for
XQYHLOLQJVRFLDOSUDFWLFHVDQGVWUXFWXUHV7KLVLVGRQHÀUVWO\LQWKHFRQVFLRXVDQG
unconscious recording of our interaction with others in space (also developed
somehow to symbolic interactionism). Secondly, not only the information we
gather about others through these conscious or unconscious recordings, but also
the information we gather through our own bodily practices when we are in
presence of others.
Sharon Zukin (1995) has argued that public culture is socially constructed at
a micro-level. The implications of this, as Legeby would put it are beyond the
mere importance of co-presence for small city life: “This implies that being co-
SUHVHQWLQSXEOLFVSDFHLVPRUHWKDQMXVW¶EHLQJLQWKHFLW\·DFWLYHO\RUSDVVLYHO\
96 participating in social processes with other people and with different groups
in society implies that sharing public space with others is central for ‘being
in society’.” An urban public space, according to Zukin, becomes a place for a
constant ongoing process of creating different group identities and solidarities
among those who share space and such identities may be further integrated into
society at large, in an urban public culture (Zukin, 1995, p. 253).
The systematic study of how the physical presence of others changes our modes
of social interaction and our spatial behaviour has been approached through
WKHQRWLRQRISUR[HPLFV :DWVRQ )XUWKHUPRUHWKLVZRUNKDVLQÁXHQFHG
further studies on the ways by which co-presence informs individual perception
and social experience through the notion of personal space (Watson, 1970),
that is to say the space psychologically regarded by an individual as her own.
Hall tackled with proxemics the study of human relations in layers of proximity
based on levels of intimacy. Sommer (1969), on the other hand, complements
Hall’s discursive arguments by enquiring on the physical limits where our
material comfort zones begin and end. His research found that several individual
preferences, needs as well as social and cultural conventions that play a role in
our spatial preferences.
Additionally, and following the digital and internet revolution in the development
of communication and information technologies, researchers have called for
43 . such as through the notions of habitus, biopolotics and even later developed by non-representa-
WLRQDOWKHRU\6HH%RXUGLHX )RXFDOW DQG7KULIW DPRQJRWKHUV
the expansion of the notion of co-presence to include relational and immaterial
superposition in experiential space (Rigoni & Saitta, 2012), a sort of it mediated
co-presence that would render a “digitally augmented” social space (Fatah gen.
6FKLHFN 3HQQ 2·1HLOO 0RUHRYHU ÚHFHQW HPSLULFDO HYLGHQFH RQ
imaginary (e.g., prayer), and parasocial (e.g., watching a television show)
interactions challenges classic copresence assumptions” (Campos-Castillo &
+LWOLQS +RZHYHUDVPXFKDVWKHVHRWKHUIRUPVRIFRSUHVHQFHPD\
have a crucial role in the enactment of contemporary forms of social contention,
such as in the recent case of Madrid, where researchers have even theorised the
emergence of a new paradigm of urban politics (Toret, 2013), the clustering
logics at play in social media and digital communication makes it for the moment
impossible to substitute the role of physical co-presence as means to exposure
and embrace of alterity.
&DPSRV&DVWLOORDQG+LWOLQ GHÀQHFRSUHVHQFHDV´WKHSHUFHSWLRQRIPXWXDO

entrainment between actors, where entrainment is the mutual synchronization
RIWKUHHFRPSRQHQWVDWWHQWLRQHPRWLRQDQGEHKDYLRUµ S ,QDGGLWLRQ
they conceptualise co-presence as a “continuous, intraindividual variable”, in
contrast with the binary aspect (people are together in a space or not) that most
theories of co-presence suffer from, and thus emulating the gradient logic that
is also present in the conceptualisation of urbanity operated by Lévy (2003b).
Their focus on perception seeks to encapsulate broader forms of social interaction
97
and use this to build on previous theorizing on the importance of social context
0DUVKDOO =KDR HJ 0DUVKDOO =KDR DQG (OHVK
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contributed to the inclusion of otherness and alterity as potent themes of research
DQGUHÁHFWLRQZKLOHDOVRVHHNLQJWRJLYHWKRVHRWKHUVDYRLFH44. This has arguably
enlarged not only the areas of application of what kind of alterity we might
EHWKLQNLQJRIEXWKDVKHOSHGUHFRQÀJXUHWKHQRWLRQRIDOWHULW\LWVHOI3URRIRI
this might be that alongside feminist and queer theories, post-humanist theory
breaches the consideration of humans as only legitimate actants in the world
(Barad, 2003).
$OWKRXJKWKLVSRLQWLVKLJKO\FRQWURYHUVLDO6SLYDN LQKHUHVVD\©&DQWKH6XEDOWHUQ

Speak?” criticized this notion of “giving them a voice” as a sort of Western-centred ventronloquism.
She furthermore characterizes it as epistemic violence” and integral to Western knowledge produc-
tion.
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presense and Movement
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as a relevant form of articulating social alterity in urban space, I must consider
how the urban fabric - the reunion of several built structures and their physical
extension in space- does structure those patterns of co-presence. This brings
PH EDFN WR FRQVLGHUDWLRQV RI VHYHUDO SRLQWV ÀUVW ZKHWKHU ZH FDQ WDON DERXW
space with certain independence from its imminent social content and uses, and
second, if so, how the arrange of spatial physical elements (buildings) can still
determine social life.
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DSSURDFKDQGVWURQJHUVFLHQWLÀFVWUXFWXUH,WEHJDQZLWKKLVERRN´7KH6RFLDO
Logic of Space”, co-authored with Julienne Hanson, and continued with the
book “Space is the Machine” (2007), at a later date, and responding to need for
further developing these methods. In these works, Hillier develops what would
DFRQÀJXUDWLRQDOWKHRU\RIDUFKLWHFWXUHWKDWLVWRVD\DWKHRU\WKDWVHHNVWRVKHG
insight into how to study extant space. Hillier admittedly equals extant space to
a very simple notion of the physical space between buildings, with the intention
of developing a series of theory related non-discursive methods of analysis.45
98
The argument of Hillier revolves around the need to consider how architecture
(meaning here the built environment, and more particularly, buildings and their
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UHSUHVHQWVRFLDORUJDQLVDWLRQDVSK\VLFDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQVRIIRUPVDQGHOHPHQWV
that we see” (2007, p. 3) . With this approach, Hillier does not search, in my
RSLQLRQ WR GHWDFK VSDFH ZKDW KH GHÀQHV DV YRLG RI ZKRVH IRUPV FDQQRW EH
taken for granted, just as much as its consequences, from its social dimension.
However, he proceeds to temporarily disentangle them for analytical purposes.
Hillier posits a critical difference between regularities and theories. Regularities

are for him “repeated phenomena, either in the form of apparent typing or
apparent consistencies in the time order in which events occur. Regularities are
patterns in surface phenomena”. On the other hand, theories are “attempts to
model the underlying processes that produce regularities.” (2007, p.4)
Every science theorises on the basis of its regularities. Social sciences tend
to be weak not because they lack theories but because they lack regularities
8UEDQPRUSKRORJ\VSHFLÀFDOO\DGGUHVVHVWKHPLFUROHYHORIXUEDQVSDFH HJ-RXUQDORI8UEDQ
Morphology), but has been criticized fro being inherently descriptive and historical. Furthermore it
has primarily contributed to urban development in preservation issues. Space syntax,on the other
KDQGGHYHORSVDQDQDO\WLFDOUDWKHUWKDQGHVFULSWLYHDSSURDFKWRXUEDQPRUSKRORJ\VSHFLÀFDOO\
DLPLQJDWNQRZOHGJHVXSSRUWLQJDUFKLWHFWXUDODQGXUEDQGHVLJQ +LOOLHUDQG+DQVRQ+LOOLHU
1996).
which theories can seek to explain and which therefore offer the prime test
of theories. The first task in the quest for an analytic theory of architecture
is therefore to seek regularities (Hillier, 2007, p.4)
1RQGLVFXUVLYHDQDO\WLFDOPHWKRG6SDWLDOLQWHJUDWLRQ
We define spatial relations as existing when there is any type of link -- say
adjacency or permeability -- between two spaces, then configuration exists
when relations between two spaces are changed according to how we relate
one or other, or both, to at least one other space. (Bill Hillier, 2007)
Thus, the main postulate is that when it comes to urban spaces, that is the sum
of the spaces delimited by the built structures of our environment, we cannot
analyse them as independent entities, they are connected in ways that have long
lasting consequences, Accordingly, the correct logic to apply to these connection
is topological.
Space syntax departs from a very simple presupposes. In practical terms, the
architectural and urban space is approached not through the qualities of the
EXLOW REMHFWV EXW RI WKH VSDFH WKH\ GHÀQH 7KXV LQKDELWDEOH RU SUDFWLFDEOH
space between physical barriers is a key necessary resource in organizing 99
society. Different spaces are connected through movement, and thus following
DWRSRORJLFDOORJLFRIFRQÀJXUDWLRQ%\WKLVH[SUHVVLRQ+LOOLHUGHQRWHVWKHDFWRI
turning the continuous space into a connected set of discrete units for conducting
analyses on their connections and their relative position.
Hillier thus claims that the movement of people within cities is generated by
WKH FRQÀJXUDWLRQ RI XUEDQ VSDFH 7KLV SURPSWV KLP WR VWDWH WKDW FLWLHV DUH LQ
IDFWPRYHPHQWHFRQRPLHVVLQFHWKHLQÁXHQFHRIWKHJULGLVSHUYDVLYHWRPDQ\
aspects of urban organization, like”the distribution of land uses, such as retail and
residence, the spatial patterning of crime, the evolution of different densities and
even the part-whole structure of cities.” All of these phenomena are described as
by-products of urban movement, “in which the structuring of movement by the
grid leads, through multiplier effects, to dense patterns of mixed use encounter
that characterise the spatially successful city” (Bill Hillier, 2007, p. 4).
These spaces (mostly in built environments) where our lives unfold, are cognitively
perceived through a sort of surrounding space notion. This conceptualization
of space in cognitive and analytic terms results from three complementary,
yet also overlapping notions. (1) Axial space (Hillier) implies a directionality
of perceived surrounding enclosed space, as most of the space we experience
I relation to movement. (2) Convex space (Peponis, Wineman, Rashid, Kim, &
%DIQD RURFFXSLDEOHYRLGVSDFH$QGÀQDOO\LVRYLVWV46 (Benedikt, 1979) .
46 see section “2.1.4 Perceiving the Urban Environment”.

$OORIWKHVHQRWLRQVLPSO\DVSDFHGHÀQHGE\FRQWLQXRXVYLVLELOLW\IURPDOOWKH
points delimited by their region perimeter.
7KH FRQÀJXUDWLRQ RI VSDFH FDQ EH DSSURDFKHG DQDO\WLFDOO\ WKURXJK ZKDW KH
calls, non-discursive method. Hillier and colleagues have developed over the
last decades a series of quantitative approaches to space syntax, mainly through
applying mathematical graph measures. First, the most relevant quantitative
methods proposed for analysing a street network is spatial integration analysis,
Other related methods are Choice and Depth Distance. “(I)nstrumental for such
analysis is the invention of the axial map, which is a representation of urban
space, as structured by urban form, from the point of view of an experiencing
and acting human being, where each axial line in the map represents an urban
space that is possible to visually overlook and physically access” (Marcus, 2007).
7KHVHPHWKRGVDUHGLUHFWHGVWUDLJKWDWWKHSUREOHPRIFRQÀJXUDWLRQRULQRWKHU
words, the problem of understanding the simultaneous effects of a whole complex
of entities on each other through their pattern of relationships. These analyses
measure the “accessibility of each and every axial line from each and every other
axial line in the map”, giving as a result the integration value of each line. A
strong correlation between such integration values and pedestrian movement
has been proven in many studies worldwide (Marcus, 2007).
Hillier’s work has evolved towards the elaboration of a theory of cities as self-
100 organising systems. This theory would have two main components. Firstly, a
theory of how the spatial form of cities is shaped by spatial laws linking the
emergence of characteristically urban space patterns to cognitive as well as to
social and economic factors. Secondly, a theory of how the emergent patterns
of space shape movement, and through this shape land use patterns, leading
through feedback and multiplier effects, to the generic form of the city as a
foreground network of linked centres at all scales set into a background network
of largely residential space.
As a disciplinary note regarding the disciplines of architecture and urbanism,

Hillier’s position seems to be a rather delicate one. In fact it would seem require
to constantly re-iterate its interest in the social dimension of space and risk
remaining non-understood and simply mocked by fellow architects. In fact, one
RIWKHDVSHFWVWKDWKDVEHHQPRUHV\VWHPDWLFDOO\RYHUVLPSOLÀHG
One thing is clear. Encountering, congregating, avoiding, interacting,

dwelling, conferring are not attributes of individuals, but patterns, or con-
figurations, formed by groups or collections of people. They depend on an
engineered pattern of copresence, and indeed co-absence. Very few of the
purposes for which we build buildings and environments are not ‘people
47 . Consistent studies have shown the relation between the design of urban space and its effects
on social life, primarily through what concerns pedestrian movement (Hillier et al, 1993). But with
movement as intermediary, one has also been able to show strong relations between urban form
and effects such as social segregation (Vaughan et al, 2005), crime (Hillier & Xu, 2004), rent-levels
IRUÁRRUVSDFH 'HV\OODV DQGSROOXWLRQ &UR[IRUG3HQQ +LOOLHU
7KHVHDVSHFWVDUHIXUWKHUFRYHUHGLQSDUW´1HZ8UEDQ3UDFWLFHV7KHFDVHRI0DGULGµ
configurations’ in this sense. We should therefore in principle expect that
the relation between people and space, if there is one, will be found at the
level of the configuration of space rather than the individual space. This is
confirmed by common-sense. Individual spaces place little limit on human
activity, except for those of size and perhaps shape. In most reasonable
spaces, most human activities can be carried out. (Bill Hillier, 1996, p. 20)
His insistence of the need for a non-discursive theory remains anchored in two
observations. First, Hillier criticises architects for borrowing often uncritically
(discursive) theories. Such theories, in his opinion, seem to obscure more than
clarify the analysis if the relation between built form and social uses. Second,
KHVHHNVWRHPXODWHWKHV\QWKHWLFLQWXLWLYHWDFLWZD\RIKDQGOLQJFRQÀJXUDWLYH
spatial knowledge that architects and urbanists have developed to deal with the
material and non-discursive assets of the discipline, more specially form and
space.
both social dimensions of building are therefore configurational in nature,

and it is the habit of the human mind to handle configuration uncon-
sciously and intuitively, in much the same way as we handle the grammat-
ical and semantic structures of a language intuitively. Our minds are very
effective in handling configuration in this way, but because we do work
this way, we find it very difficult to analyse and talk rationally about the
101
configurational aspects of things. Configuration is in general ‘non-discur-
sive’, meaning that we do not know how to talk about it and do not in
general talk about it even when we are most actively using it. In vernacular
buildings, the configurational, or non-discursive, aspects of space and form
are handled exactly like the grammar of language, that is, as an implication
of the manipulation of the surface elements, or words and groups of words
in the language case, building elements and geometrical coordinations in
building. In the vernacular the act of building reproduces cultural given
spatial and formal patterns. (Bill Hillier, 1996, p. 30)
Of Enclaves and Thresholds
The forces of differentiation, in combination with territoralizing principles, come

to articulate the increasing phenomenon of spatial clustering and consequent
polarisation of the contemporary city into a system of enclosed entities. These
enclosed entities take different forms, like gated communities, favelas, creative
class neighbourhoods. While have been theorised and described in a number of
ways, the notion of enclaves has been of use recently to articulate a discussion
on the differences between voluntary and involuntary, or hierarchical clustering
(Peter Marcuse, 2012). These dynamics of spatial polarization and segregation is
a constant in most urban areas in Europe, if yet to different degrees depending
RQPDQ\IDFWRUV 0XVWHUG0DUFLˀF]DN+DP 7DPPDUX ,WLVDUJXDEO\
EHKLQGWKHSURFHVVHVRIVSDWLDOFU\VWDOOL]DWLRQRIVRFLDOGLIIHUHQFHVLGHQWLÀHGDQG
signalled by Secchi, especially present alongside a deterioration of the degree
RISXEOLFDQGDFFHVVLEOHZHOIDUH 6HFFKL7LLW7DPPDUX(OLVHGH9XLMVW
Merle Zwiers, 2016). Marcuse (Marcuse, 1997) has proposed a clear taxonomy
according to the dynamics of clustering49, resulting in the main categories of
the classic ghetto, the enclave and the citadel. He furthermore describes the
novel phenomenon of the outcast ghetto, inhabited by those excluded from the
mainstream economy by the global forces of macroeconomic developments.
“The classic ghetto as the result of the involuntary spatial segregation of

102
a group that stands in a subordinate political and social relationship to its
surrounding society, the enclave as a voluntarily developed spatial concen-
tration of a group for purposes of promoting the welfare of its members,
and the citadel as created by a dominant group to protect or enhance its
superior position. (Marcuse, 1997)
The grouping or clustering results in the separation of different communities may

KDSSHQDUJXDEO\IRUDQXPEHURILQÀQLWHUHDVRQV50, such as religion, culture or
ethnic origin reasons. It is important to note that Marcuse does not consider the
dynamics of differentiation as something negative per se, as he tends to consider
them an inherent part of urbanization processes. In this respect he differentiates
between acceptable voluntary clustering and unacceptable and often involuntary
segregation.
These dynamics of segregation as implemented through the deployment of

urbanistic and architectonic apparatuses has been largely addressed in recent
years, with the notable case of the theories of the militarization of urban space
ZLWK WKH FRPSOLFLW\ RI XUEDQ GHVLJQ E\ 0LNH 'DYLV (PEUDFLQJ
49 . Marcuse has addressed an extended discussion of historical patterns of clustering in (Marcuse,

2002)
50 . Other scholars have proposed similar categories . Archer (1995) enunciates “collective identity,
function, and distinction of elite from non-elite” (pp. 5-6)
a different theoretical framing for the notion of enclaves,51 Grahame Shane
(Grahame Shane, 2000) proposes that “(e)nclaves are areas of control and order
in relation to the rest of the city” in a way that is functional to certain local
or global stakeholders. For Grahame Shane, the territorial nature of enclaves
is measured also upon their role as deforming mirrors of their underlying
social logic. In oder words, he considers them under the theoretical framing of
)RXFDXOGLDQ )RXFDXOW KHWHURSLFVSDFHV52$VVXFKHQFODYHVDUHGHÀQHG
by both conceptual and material (physical) parameters, as boundaries of control
WKDWYDU\IURPLQYLVLEOHDQGSK\VLFDOO\SRURXVWRYLVLEOHIRUWLÀHGDQGJDWHG
Thresholds
Facing the urge to think, propose, and maybe even build alternatives to the city
RI JKHWWRV DQG FLWDGHOV WKDW 0DUFXVH KDV GHÀQHG DQG FULWLFL]HG
6WDYULGHV KDV UHFHQWO\ GHFDQWHG KLV UHÁHFWLRQ RQ WKUHVKROG VSDFHV WRZDUGV D
more prescriptive set of concrete examples, perhaps also risking to lose part of
its theoretical force. He poses that common spaces are “Shared spaces, open to
QHZFRPHUV VSDFHVGHÀQHGQHLWKHUE\DSUHYDLOLQJDXWKRULW\WKDWVXSHUYLVHV
their use, nor by a closed community that controls them by excluding all “outsiders”.
Common spaces are thus dependent upon their power to communicate and
connect rather than separate. Common spaces are threshold spaces, connecting
and comparing adjacent areas at the same time.” Interestingly, he links the fact
of these spaces being open to their capacity to perform as threshold spaces. Thus,
103
a certain liminality is achieved through the act of embracing alterity as an act of
commoning. He operates the logics of the threshold as transitional and unstable
state of these spaces “Rules of use are also of a threshold character, constantly in
the making. Likewise, subjects of use are threshold subjects: for commoning to
remain open and ever expanding, commoners have to consider themselves open
to transformative negotiations with newcomers”. We can detect here an appeal
to Benjamin’s mimesis, as an act of yielding into the Other (Taussig, 1993).
Stavrides (2006, 2007, 2010) elaborates on the performance of alterity through

the notion of threshold applied to urban tissue. For Stavrides, these thresholds
do not simply constitute spatial connections between locations in the city, but
are in fact performative at various levels. By making connections, porosity makes
it possible for several types of uses (activities in the city) and people(varying
JURXSVDQGLQGLYLGXDOSURÀOHV WREHDFFHVVLEOH,QRWKHUZRUGVLWUHQGHUVGLYHUVLW\
DFFHVVLEOH7KLVÀUVWOHYHORISHUIRUPDWLYLW\FDUULHVDORQJFRQVHTXHQFHVIRUWKH
cognition of the urban space by those who practice it and consequently, for their
own identity.
The mechanism or principle by which these thresholds actively perform a change
51 . Graham Shane (2011) proposes enclaves together with armatures( e.g.: streets, internal corri-
dors like passages and skyscrapers) and heterotopias (in the Foucaldian sense e.g.: hospital, prison,
and extended to include shopping malls or theme parks) as three basic constitutive elements of
urban form.
2ULJLQDOO\FRLQHGE\0LFKHO)RXFDXOWDQKHWHURWRSLDLVGHÀQHGDV´DSODFHWKDWPL[HVWKHVWDVLV
RIWKHHQFODYHZLWKWKHÁRZRIDQDUPDWXUHDQGLQZKLFKWKHEDODQFHEHWZHHQWKHVHWZRV\VWHPVLV
constantly changing.”
in people’s perception of their space and of themselves is borrowed for the concept
of liminality53 originally developed by Van Gennep (1960/1909) and further
developed by Viktor Turner (2011/1969). Applied to the study of ritual processes,
WKHOLPLQDOSKDVHLVWKHVHFRQGSKDVHRIDWKUHHVWDJHULWXDOSURFHVVLQYROYLQJÀUVW
DVHSDUDWLRQDQGDQDJJUHJDWLRQDIWHUZDUGV7KHÀUVWSKDVHVHSDUDWLRQKDSSHQV
when the subject is separated from structural condition, meaning ‘a more or less
distinctive arrangement of specialized mutually dependent institutions and the
institutional organization of positions and/or of actors which they imply’’ (Turner,
1969, pp.166–167). Although Turner developed Gennep’s concept in the study
of preindustrial societies, he clearly implied that such process happens general
social processes, also in western contemporary societies. The liminal phase
LQYROYHVDUHGHÀQLWLRQRIWKHLGHQWLW\RIWKHVXEMHFWWKURXJKKHUGHWDFKPHQWDQG
repositioning with regards of the accepted social order (structure). During that
phase, the subject undergoes three simultaneous kinds of separations, spatial,
temporal, and social/moral. In that moment of separation, subjects are detached
from their usual space, social ties as she knew them, moral obligations as well
as the routine temporal order enter a transitional space/time. This constitutes of
‘’an instant of pure potentiality’’ (Turner 1979, p.41). In this moment the subject
is liberated from social structure and everything becomes possible.
The consequences of this theory for the study of certain kinds of spatial practices
is evident. Entailing spatial, temporal, and social/moral separation, Turner
104 considers the pilgrimage to be an archetype of the liminal, as these separations
are performed simultaneously through such a ritual. Finally, he has differentiated
between the application of liminal, which applies to small scale tribal societies,
from liminoid, applied to certain eventful features54 in contemporary societies
like theatre or shopping.Also we must note that the concept of liminal phase
suffers from a general positive bias as ways of renewal55.
Beside its use by Stavrides, the concept of liminal phase or liminality has been
applied to the analysis of social movements (Guobin Yang, 2000), career changes,
disease and life changing situations, and in general events that can induce
personal or group identity transitions. Despite the yet unknown disclosure of
the inherent multiplicity and dynamism of identity that identity processes have
multiplied (e.g. Albert, Ashforth, & Dutton, 2000) Liminality has proved a
useful concept in helping to unveil such processes in relation to both social and
spatial anchorings, and in relation to the perception of normative environments
and its temporary exceptions. Or, as it emerges from empirical studies, people
undergoing this phase describe it as feeling “in a vacuum,” “in midair,” “neither
KHUHQRUWKHUHµDQG´DWORRVHHQGVµ %ULGJHV(EDXJK,EDUUD
2VKHUWRQ
53 . Derived form the Latin form limen, meaning threshold. Source: (Morwood, 2012)
54 . Agnes Horvath (2013) argues that the term can be applied to concrete historical events, and
should be applied, as offering a vital means for historical and sociological understanding
55 . However, liminal situations can be in our modern era, rather quite different: periods of uncer-
tainly, anguish, even existential fear: a facing of the abyss in void. The most acute phases of the a
still ongoing crisis is a good example.
'HÀQHG E\ 6WDYULGHV DV ´WR LQKDELW PRPHQWDULO\ DQ LQWHUPHGLDWH WHUULWRU\µ
liminality seems, when applied to the spatial practices of urban social movements,
to offer the alternative vision of an emancipatory spatiality (Stavrides, 2010, p.
*RLQJEDFNWR7XUQHUKHGHÀQHVWKDWZKDWHPHUJHVLQWKHOLPLQDOSHULRG
is ‘’an unstructured or rudimentarily structured and relatively undifferentiated
comitatus, community’’ (1969, p. 96), seemingly resetting equality among
members, and potentially facilitating the mutual recognition that appears
necessary for a particular embracing of alterity, as Netto (2015) would put it.
Furthermore, in this approach to practices of transition and commoning,

Stavrides further links common space to what Martinez (2015)has proposed
as “self-management attitude to space”: “In practices of common space
creation, commoners create areas of encounter and collective self-management”
(Stavrides, 2015). We can conclude from this that active engagement is key to
WKHLQVWDQWLDWLRQRIXUEDQSRURVLW\DVLWZRXOGQRWVXIÀFHWKDWWKRVHSRWHQWLDOV
for connection and transition are not seized.
Porosity
105
I this section I review the notion of porosity as it has been used in sciences
and urban studies. It has been used to convey a particular quality of certain
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WKH UHOHYDQFH RI WKLV FRQFHSW UHVLGHV PRUH VSHFLÀFDOO\ LQ LWV SRWHQWLDO WR OLQN
both aspects of composition of the urban space, that is to say what concerns the
particular contents of its tissue. It seems to combine both through a contextualized
DQG VLWXDWHG QRWLRQ RI DFFHVVLELOLW\ SHUKDSV PRUH WHOOLQJ RI WKH VSHFLÀFLWLHV RI
spatial conditions than the more abstract and general concept of accessibility as
it is commonly used in mobility studies or even in urban network analyses.
3RURVLW\IURPWKHSK\VLFDOVFLHQFHV)UDFWDOLW\!/DFXQDULW\
Porosity as a descriptive notion developed beyond natural language originates in
WKHQDWXUDOVFLHQFHVWDNLQJDGHVFULSWLYHVWDQGWRZDUGVDSK\VLFDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQ
of matter. It is used for describing certain properties such as the ratio of the pore
volume to the total volume of a representative sample of the medium (Adolphe,
2001)
Such accommodation of heterogenous realities in urban space is also behind the

GHVFULSWLRQRIWKHFRQÀJXUDWLRQDOSURSHUWLHVRILWVSK\VLFDOVWUXFWXUHV´LWVHHPV
worthwhile to assimilate urban fabric into a porous medium with a rigid solid
skeleton, subject to various climatic considerations, and to study its macroscopic
FKDUDFWHULVWLFV WKURXJK D VHW RI VLPSOLÀHG SDUDPHWHUV LQ WKH VDPH ZD\ DV WKH
physical analyses performed on these porous media a few decades ago” (Zwikker
& Kosten, 1949).
/DFXQDULW\ZDVÀUVWLQWURGXFHGE\0DQGHOEURW WRGHVFULEHFRPSOHPHQWDU\
characteristics of fractals. The term was drawn from the word ‘lacuna’, which
means gaps or holes and was originally used to differentiate fractals with the
VDPHIUDFWDOGLPHQVLRQVEXWZLWKGLIIHUHQWWH[WXUHDSSHDUDQFHV 9RVV ,Q
its original sense, Lacunarity can be seen as a counterpart measurement of fractal
dimension. In a broader sense, Lacunarity is related to the distribution of empty
spaces or gaps in a spatial structure. Despite its original use for the description
of fractal structures, lacunarity has been evaluated and extended to describe
spatial patterns that are not necessarily fractals (Plotnick, Gardner, Hargrove,
Prestegaard, & Perlmutter, 1996). In this regard, Lacunarity can be understood
more generally as a multi-scale measure that describes the texture of a spatial
pattern. Lacunarity in this respect, bears the potential to be related to what
Jacobs (1961)called granularity.(developed in the following paragraphs)
Applied to the urban

Applied to the study of the urban, porosity has come to evolve in its encompassing
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term “which some authors56 feel that it adequately summarizes an essential
quality of the city life” (Dehaene, 2009), “perhaps fuelled by the intersection of
disciplines like literary, cultural and urban studies”. This author states that one
RIWKHREMHFWLYHVEHKLQGWKHDGRSWLRQRIVXFKWHUPLVWRÀQGDQRWLRQFDSDEOHRI
106 designating “the capacity of the city to accommodate incongruent heterogenous
realities” (Dehaene, 2009)
For that purpose, porosity is mobilized as “a category which not simply describes
WKHFLW\EXWGHÀQHVLWµ 'HKDHQH ,WSDUWLFLSDWHVZLWKLQDQXQGHUVWDQGLQJ
of the city as that milieu which accommodates the cohabitation of radically
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LQDXJXUDWHWKHÀHOGRIXUEDQVRFLRORJ\DVWKDWÀHOGZKLFKWULHVWRWKLQNWKHZD\
in which social order is possible within what is essentially a world of strangers
/RÁDQGD
Porosity of urban fabric is furthermore equalled by Dehaene to the provision of

conditions for co-presence. “Co-presence is a sociological concept that describes
the conditions in which human individuals interact with one another face to
IDFHIURPERG\WRERG\ 0HDG&RROH\*RIIPDQ µ 'HKDHQH
2009).
&RQWLQXLQJZLWKLQWKHXVHRIWKHREVHUYHGTXDOLWLHVRIXUEDQSRURVLW\WRGHÀQH
characteristic of the city, Bernardo Secchi and Paola Viganò (2009), contrast the
QRWLRQRISRURVLW\ZKLFKVWDQGVIRUWKHUDWLREHWZHHQYRLGVDQGÀOOHGLQVSDFHV
(or built structures), to that of permeability, which adds to porosity the notion
56 . see, for instance, Viganò (2006), Amin & Thrift (2002), Ellin (2006), Sassen (2006) and Secchi
et al. (2009).
of connectivity.57 My own interpretation of porosity, as I will be presenting in
WKHIROORZLQJVHFWLRQGRHVHQFRPSDVVWKLVUHXQLRQRIWKHSK\VLFDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQ
and its connectivity capacity as a necessary and almost self-evident fact. In fact,
porosity if anything, denotes the capacity for connecting spaces, that is rendering
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The relation of a porous tissue to the overall capacities of the resulting city is
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at various levels one of which establishes that granularity -- Small blocks --
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economic activity, civility, mobility, walkability and safety in cities. Porosity is
again rendered by Jacobs in direct connection to allowing for urban vitality.
Within these efforts, diversity emerges as the notion that champions all other
candidates. Jacobs (1961)has argued that diversity fosters self-generative webs
RI VRFLDO DQG HFRQRPLF DFWLYLW\ 0RUHRYHU VKH DOVR LGHQWLÀHV WKLV IDFW DV ERWK
the cause and consequence of the agglomeration of people in cities. These webs
facilitate a co-evolutionary emergence of increasingly varied and complicated
inter-relationships, hence allowing the ongoing development and adaptation of
XUEDQV\VWHPV-DFREVDUJXHVWKDWFLWLHVPXVWEHVXIÀFLHQWO\KHWHURJHQHRXVDQG
granular for these processes to unfold without hindrance. For this purpose, she
SURSRVHVIRXU´JHQHUDWRUVRIGLYHUVLW\µEULHÁ\FRQVLVWLQJRIPL[HGXVHVVKRUW
EORFNV EXLOGLQJV RI YDULHG DJH DQG FRQGLWLRQ DQG D GHQVH FRQFHQWUDWLRQ RI
107
people.
Porosity stands as a notion that directly addresses the structural capacity of

an urban fabric to host and foster variety. As such it is a notion that has come
to be associated with certain social uses of space in which appropriation and
spontaneity DUHSRVVLEOH7KHVHTXDOLWLHVRWKHUZLVHLGHQWLÀHGDQGFHOHEUDWHG
by Jacobs among many others, are however, recognized to be threatened by over-
GHWHUPLQHGEXLOWIRUPVDQGFRQWUROOHGHQYLURQPHQWV (DVWHUOLQJ5LHQLHWV
6LJOHU ,$%5 ,QWHUQDWLRQDO $UFKLWHFWXUH %LHQQDOH 5RWWHUGDP 6HQQHWW
6KDIWRH :LWK UHJDUGV WR SRURVLW\·V UHODWLRQ ZLWK DSSURSULDWLRQ
and spontaneous social uses of urban space59 at the smaller scale other concepts
deserve due attention are those of “openness” (Sennet), in relation to Sennet’s
theories on urbanity as living with otherness and uncertainty,60 and “looseness”
(Franck & Stevens, 2006). In their research on public space (2006), Frank and
6WHYHQV GHÀQH ORRVH VSDFH DV D VSDFH WKDW ´ DOORZV IRU FKDQFH HQFRXQWHU WKH
57 . “la perméabilité mesure non seulement le niveau de porosité d’un tissu urbain, mais aussi son
degré de connectivité. Certaines fractures sont en effet plus perméables, notamment celles con-
VWLWXpHVSDUOHYLGHµ %HUQDUGR6HFFKL 3DROD9LJDQR S
2UHYHQWKHFRQFHSWRIVHUHQGLSLW\GHÀQHGE\-DFTXHV/pY\DVRQHRIWKHFRQGLWLRQVDQGRXW-
comes of urban areas of a high urbanity. (Acebillo, Lévy, & Schmid, 2013)
59 . Contributions to this discourse on design and its relationship with urban social sustainability
come from a range of disciplines: architecture, urban design, urban geography, urban sociology and
VRFLDODQGHQYLURQPHQWDOSV\FKRORJ\ 'DYLG/HDWKHUEDUURZ(OOLQ)UDQFN 6WHYHQV
*HKO6HQQHWW 7KHHPSKDVLVSODFHGRQGHVLJQDQGLWVUROHLQWKHFUHDWLRQRI
conditions for sustainable social practices, however, varies in this discourse across the different
GLVFLSOLQHV .HHV&KULVWLDDQVH .HUVWLQ+RHJHU7RQNLVV
60 . See Section Elusive Urbanity
spontaneous event, the enjoyment diversity and the discovery of the unexpected”
(2006, p4). Frank and Sieverts undoubtedly cast an undisguised optimism in
the projective qualities of loose space, implying that chance and the unexpected
can only bring about positive outcomes. In example, they write that in loose
space “the urban resident, with creativity and determination” can “appropriate
public space to meet their own needs and desires”(p.4). It must also be noted
that their highly normative concept of loose space is developed in combination
with their interpretation of the public realm, resulting in a project for public
space in close kinship with those carefully analysed and criticised by Delgado
(2011). According to the Frank and Sieverts (2006), the two main characteristics
GHÀQLQJ ORRVHQHVV LQ XUEDQ HQYLURQPHQWV DUH ULQJ\ VSDFHV ZKHUH ´GLIIHUHQW
densely interconnected and overlapping circulation loops” (p.6) occur, and
DSSURSULDWLRQDVIRVWHUHGE\À[HGRUVHPLÀ[HGHOHPHQWVDQGFRUQHUVIRXQGLQ
public space.
The authors stress that ringy spaces allow change of direction and facilitate
urban elements to be experienced in different sequence, adding to their claimed
qualities generative of sociality and appropriation.
Another feature of urban space in relation to porosity as could be enunciated by

-DFREV XUEDQ FRUQHUV KDYH EHHQ LGHQWLÀHG E\ VFKRODUV VXFK DV :K\WH
or Solà-Morales (2003) as places that encourage appropriation61 and social
108 LQWHUDFWLRQ ,Q D VLPLODU IDVKLRQ À[HG DQG VHPLÀ[HG XUEDQ HOHPHQWV FDQ EH
´PDGHXVHRILQDYDULHW\RIVRFLDODFWVµ,QVXPWKHLGHQWLÀFDWLRQDQGGHVFULSWLRQ
of these features respond to a generalized concern among urban scientist and
designers “for the public realm to develop and extend” (Greaney, 2015)
Researchers also signal that appropriation of space bears a certain reciprocal

character, nicely expressed by Tom Fisher’s (2004) phrase “What we touch,
WRXFKHVXVµ$FFRUGLQJWR0RGK LQWKHDFWRIDSSURSULDWLQJVSDFHDWZR
way communication takes place between a person and the surrounding: “The
term appropriation implies to gain something, but also to give something from
yourself to the environment.” (p. 4). It is an exchange, a mutually transformative
process.
3RURVLW\DQG/LPLQDOLW\
([SDQGLQJWKHVFRSHRIWKHUHÁHFWLRQRQSRURVLW\6WDYURV6WDYULGHV
2015) develops his interpretation of the concept in connection to the ways of
practicing and producing the city by movements in urban struggles: “Because
this particular urban struggle is implicitly inspired by memories of urban porosity
%HQMDPLQ LWVDFWLRQDQGGHPDQGVSUHVHQWWKHFLW\QHLWKHUDVDQHWZRUN
of services nor as an agglomerate of enclaves. Urban porosity as a new way to
experience and understand the city, poses the question of otherness within the
SUREOHPDWLFRIXUEDQTXDOLW\8UEDQSRURVLW\FDQUHGHÀQHWKHFLW\DVDQHWZRUN
61 . Feldman and Stall (2004) have described appropriation of space as “individuals’ and groups’
creation, choice, possession, PRGLÀFDWLRQenhancement of, care for, and /or simply intentional use
of a space to make it one’s own” (p.
of thresholds to be crossed, thresholds that potentially mediate between differing
urban cultures as mutually recognized. Urban porosity can thus be the spatio-
temporal form that an emancipating urban culture may take.” (Stavrides, 2007)
109
2.1.6 Conclusions Chapter 2.1
From the analysis of the above reviewed theories and approaches results a series
of conclusions that will inform my research questions. In this section, I lay
these following summarised conclusions structured around the following axis of
enquiry:
Urbanity
While urbanity is an elusive concept that both challenges and captures the
synthetic experience of the urban condition, there is a consistent convergence
among authors in considering urbanity as related to a certain experience of
intense diversity in spatial and social terms. Furthermore, such conditions seem
to imply the need for an approach of urbanity that is centred around not only a
passive “cognitivist” evaluation based on perceptions of the urban form and of
the regimes of social interaction from a rational and disembodied perspective,
EXW WKH DFWLYH HPRWLQJ RI WKH XUEDQ GZHOOHU ZKLFK LQÁXHQFHV DOVR KHU VSDWLDO
proactive attitudes. Such experience.
&RSUHVHQFHDQGVSDWLDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQ
Co-presence is derived as a most necessary component rendering social diversity
apprehensible, or at least amounting to the frictions and bodily presence of
110
alterity, which is indispensable for the experience of urbanity. Such material and
bodily manifestation of social diversity and alterity in its broad terms requires
RIWKHVSHFLÀFVSDWLDOFRQGLWLRQVWKDWDOORZIRULWVDUWLFXODWLRQLQYDULRXVIRUPV
in urban contexts. For co-presence needs to be articulated in a non-homogenous
way for the variety of conditions that add up to the urban qualities of contrast
and variety to happen. The topological properties of the urban space, enunciated
DVVSDWLDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQE\+LOOLHUSOD\DFUXFLDOUROHSUHFLVHO\LQSURYLGLQJIRUWKH
necessary condition for an ecology of encounter and avoidance.
Patterns of co-presence and co-awareness can enact the formation of virtual

communities (Hillier 2007) as a form of collective agency. On the other hand,
spatial fragmentation and its correlated social segregation in cities are behind
the enaction of social protests .
After having ruled out the possibility of a non-spatialized urbanity (Netto, 2016),
I am invited to consider how such spatial conditions allowing for encounter an
absence, also accompany and regulate the necessary recognition of alterity and
unrestricted communication.
Spaces that fail to express and support copresence, recognition and com-
munication will hinder the emergence of urbanity. We tend not to find ur-
banity in rarefied spatialities, quasi-urban, antiurban or labyrinthine spaces
– spaces that leave us disorientated or impede access and interactivity. As
aspects of urbanity, the recognition of the Other and unrestricted commu-
nication tend not to emerge intensively in dispersed or intricate spaces:
they usually become diluted in dilute spaces, break down in fragmented
spaces, and avoid guarded spaces.(Vinicius M. Netto, 2015 p. 17)
Porosity
The conditions of urban form can also be described and approached from a
complementary qualitative concept, that of porosity. Porosity is a concept that
has even been argued to summon the qualities of urbanity and which has seen
many declinations in its application to the domain of urban studies and urban
sciences. Notably, some of these application cover from the livelihood of certain
urban atmospheres, the providing capacity of cities for social alternative life and
connectivity against urban segregation tendencies. Moreover, porosity is a quality
WKDWKROGVWKHSRWHQWLDOWREHDQDO\WLFDOO\FRPELQHGZLWKVSDWLDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQWR
provide a comprehensive and transversal account of urbanity, but still requires to
EHSURSHUO\GHÀQHGDQGERXQGLQUHODWLRQWRWKHSURSHUWLHVRIXUEDQLW\
Agency
In that sense, even when we talk about the individual as a capable or sovereign
DJHQWDVLJQLÀFDQWO\VWUDWHJLFJLYHQGHJUHHRIFRQQHFWLYLW\DQGVRFLDOHPEHGHGQHVV
is presupposed as with regards to the enactment of agency. This idea resonates
ZLWKDQLQWHUHQDFWLYHDSSURDFKH[HPSOLÀHGE\.UXHJHU·VDUJXPHQW WKDW
agency does not emerge atomistically from a single source (the individual acting
111
agent) but is instead distributed across the temporally extended dynamics of co-
UHJXODWHGLQWHUDFWLRQVXFKDVIRULQVWDQFHWKHFRRUGLQDWLYHHQVHPEOHRIVRFLDO
behaviours.
Therefore, agency needs to be addressed in its spatial dimension. Jiménez (2003)

argues against a still pervasive Durkheimian notion of space as location and calls
for reconsideration of space as capacity, linking it ontologically to the notion of
agency “(...) space is no longer ‘out there’, but a condition or faculty- a capacity-
of social relationships. It is what people do and not where they are” (Jiménez,
2003, p. 140) .
112
2.2 Emotion to Space. 113
because we give a damn

ߊSlan Jaby (2014)
2.2.1 Chapter Overview
The inner feelings and states of humans have widely been thought to provoke,
induce or cause particular actions. It is no surprise that the experiencing of rage
by a person might be seen as prompting her to speak out , or that the gratitude of
another can be said to be linked to her following magnanimous actions.62 Thus,
it is no surprise that one of the structuring vectors of this enquiry precisely pays
conscious attention to this relationship. Within this long-dating acknowledgement,
however, there is an element more puzzling that the more or less direct relation
between affective states and consequent or preceding actions:the relationship
between different emotions, feelings, and moods with space. One can argue that
having accepted the link between emotions and actions we must then include
VSDFHIRUDOODFWLRQVWDNHSODFHLQFUHDWHDQGGHÀQHWKHVSDWLDOGLPHQVLRQ
This relationship can be approached from different perspectives, but this

chapter reviews the implications a series of transitions in emotion theories for a
problematised consideration of human spatialized agency, paying close attention
to the following aspects that prove relevant to the present enquiry:
Emotion as cognition - appraisals of the environment.

114 Interaction between emotion and environment as dynamic and co-
constitutive.
Affective phenomena (Emotions) as affecting our perception of the
environment, including physical and social space.
Emotions as prompting us to particular spatialized action tendencies
7KLVFKDSWHULVVWUXFWXUHGDVIROORZVWKHÀUVWVHFWLRQµ7KHRULHVRI(PRWLRQV
The Role of Space and Agency” begins by reviewing critically the problematic
behind studying emotions and affective phenomena through space when
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research community. Afterwards, in the second section “2.2.3 Emotions as Action
Tendencies” I continue by summarising critically the postulates that associate
emotions with action-tendencies, developed primarily by Dutch psychologist
Nico Frijda, and which constitutes one of the key elements for this thesis.
Following, in the third section “2.2.4 Emotions: Physiological or social? Universal
or cultural?” section, I introduce the problem of the social, under the open
confrontation between two opposed schools of though that regard emotion either
as primarily homeostatic physiological processes or aimed at social interaction
and communication. In this section, I furthermore consider more radical views,
proposing that emotions are socially constituted and cannot be said to be
universal. The following section “2.2.5 Emotion in Social Interactions” sees the
expansion of the discussion into the role of emotions in the modes we interact
with other. In the next section “2.2.6 Enactive Emotions”, I include a review on
(YHQWKRXJK:LOOLDP-DPHV :LOOLDP-DPHVS DUJXHGWKHRSSRVLWH´ ZHDUH

sad because we cry..happy because we smile..”
the enactive approach to affective phenomena, debating whether it can be said
to allow not only for a reconciliation of both positions, but to project emotional
research further into new disciplines that have so far neglected their rigorous
study. Finally, in section “2.2.7 Conclusions 2.2”, I conclude by summarising the
main elements and problems that are derived from this review and which will be
taken forward to inform the empirical research on the case study.
;OLVYPLZ VM ,TV[PVUZ ;OL 9VSL VM

Space and Agency
Emotion is a word that resonates profoundly in many cultures and languages,

and as a concept , is present in a big part of our daily conversations. It is said
that the world is moved by them, and yet, our knowledge about this dimension
of our lives is far from being settled and free of contrasting opinions. The
modes and manners by which we we refer to emotions in informal language
originates in subjective descriptions of our states and relies to a great extent in
shared references and descriptions of emotions usually shaped by culture, Yet,
our vocabulary usually lacks in precision, is often confusing and gives way to 115
countless misinterpretations. We all seem to consider important and grasp the
basics of its meaning, but do we really know what we are all talking about? What
is an emotion?
Vast is the literature covering the topic of emotions and its theorisation63. Since
Aristotle, and through William James foundational rhetorical question: What is
an emotion?, a century after this question one thing seems to emerge clearly:
the tentative answers seem to have surpassed the answers provided (Colombetti,
2003) . Additionally, what truly wonders researchers working on emotions
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of what an emotion is, what it is composed of, and what is its purpose and
its connection to other physiological and psychological phenomena. Already
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and theories respond to the fact that many researchers face the question without
a clear understanding of how to get the right answer (Scarantino, 2005),
while others extend their criticism to the fact that many researchers use the
term emotions without rigour, confusing emotions and a wide range of other
different affective phenomena or even consequences of such emotional episodes
(K. Scherer, 2000)
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in itself, which could only be a measure of a very vivid and critically imbued
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reproduce the underlying conceptual uncertainties around such complex and
perennial question. Already in 1970 Magda Arnold stated it this way:
There are some perennial problems, apparently, that still require solution:
first, the question of how emotion is related to action. Does it have a dy-
namic component, is it inevitably connected with an instinctive impulse
that provides the dynamics, or is it separable from any kind of activity,
remaining either purely a mental state .... or purely a physiological upset?
Secondly, how is emotion aroused; directly, by way of perception which
produces “connate adaptation of the nervous system” resulting in activity,
including physiological changes which are then sensed; or is it the personal
reaction to a particular situation .... ; or, finally, is it the matrix of all expe-
rience and action .... ? Thirdly, what is the difference between an emotion
that accompanies goal-directed striving, and an emotion that interferes
with it? And, finally, how are the physiological changes that go with emo-
tion really produced? (Arnold, 1970, pp. 172–173)
116
Different enduring traditions have been named in the course of the long intellectual
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as perceptions of bodily changes, while the ‘cognitivist tradition’ has postulated
emotions as evaluations or judgments. Furthermore, the ‘behaviourist tradition’
has posited emotions as behavioural predispositions , and ‘evolutionary tradition’
has seen them primarily as biologically based solutions to fundamental life tasks.
Finally the social constructionist tradition, has posed emotions as constituting
FXOWXUDOO\VSHFLÀFVRFLDODUWHIDFWVDQGWKHUHIRUHFRQWLQJHQWWRKLVWRULFDOFXOWXUDO
evolution and not necessarily universal in their full development.
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of thought that directly links emotion not to the passive actualisation of certain
inner potential states as in the manner of the Aristotelian pathe, but rather this
other alternative lineage that grants an active role to the subject experiencing
emotions. In other words, and in order to let this point be very clear : the subject
of an emotion is not a passive subjects that “suffers” the emotions, but rather
the subject who emotes in the reunion of stimuli with his own situated bodily
physicality. In consequence, the purpose of this subchapter is not to provide a
comprehensive critical review of theories and models of emotions in a wide
range of disciplines, as this out widths the scope off this research, but to direct
the attention to those models that can effectively add critical and fundamental
My mobilisation of concepts and tools from cognitive approaches, philosophy
of mind, urban sociology and geography, as well as the review the relevance
of emotion and affectivity for addressing spatial and social urban questions,
responds to the current conditions for research in our present time, when it
is increasingly recognized that affective and emotional phenomena need to be
addressed in a genuinely interdisciplinary fashion64.
From Psychology.
While psychology once neglected emotions, disregarded as an irrelevant

phenomenon (e.g. Skinner, 1953), nowadays enjoys one of the most lively
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foundational and enduring theories in the psychology of emotions. This theory,
known as James-Lange theory65, asserts the somewhat counterintuitive idea that
that an emotion is the feeling of bodily changes. Since then, theory has much
evolved and diverged from a unitary path. However, certain advances present
themselves relevant for this thesis:
117
Episodic
:KLOHLQRWKHUÀHOGVRIUHVHDUFKWKHUHDUHWKHRULHVSRVLWLQJWKDWWKHSUHVHQFHRI
emotions in individuals (just as, for instance, Interaction Ritual Chains theory in
sociology by Randall Collins (2005)) and therefore can be said to are constantly
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I that it is therefore possible to locate a triggering effect, whether of interior
origin, such as... or produced by an external source, like a social event or a
QDWXUDOSKHQRPHQRQ$OVRWKLVSRVWXODWHDVVXPHVDJLYHQÀQLWHGXUDWLRQWRWKH
emotional episode, a thus, also a particular landscape of its evolution in terms
of duration, making then possible to achieve comparative studies. However, as
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the offset of the changed state. The abruptness of both onset and offset of the
episodes are expected to systematically vary for different kinds of emotion”
There have been attempts from researchers to measure emotional or affective

responses to environmental stimuli. In general these studies seem to clash with
the psychological postulate about the eventful nature of emotions and locate
64 . see (Davidson, Scherer, & Goldsmith, 2009)

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either explicitly or implicitly, the source or trigger in a environmental, spatial
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claimed for those who have essayed to measure emotional responses to weather
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those studies approaching emotional responses to the built environment and
other immobile physical features.
Another relevant and fundamental question revolves around what elements

can be said to participate in an emotional episode and which ones can be said
to be necessary and irreplaceable. While many researchers might restrict the
modalities of change in an emotional episode to conscious feelings of changed
states (Clore & Parrott, 1994), most researchers have stressed the need to
englobe many different elements as partaking to emotional episodes, thus giving
ULVHWRPXOWLFRPSHWHQWGHÀQLWLRQVRUWKHRULHVRIHPRWLRQV7KHFRPSRQHQWVDUH
usually arranged around what is called the “reaction triad” namely, physiological
arousal, motor expression, and subjective feeling.
Researchers also add to the list of components judged necessary motivational
factors like action tendencies as well as cognitive processes involved in evaluating
the eliciting events and the regulation of ongoing emotional processes (Buck,
(OOVZRUWK)ULMGD6FKHUHU
118
Emotions as relevance detectors
Humans are assumed to exist in a world providing full amount of stimuli, and
environmental stimulation. It is assumed that our brain needs to select stimuli
that require in-depth processing (Desimone & Duncan, 1995) , and it is also
assumed that emotion plays a key role as selection criterion through what it has
been termed as emotional relevance (Vuilleumier, 2005) . This derives into one
of the most important postulates in emotion research from which this current
research emerges is the general acceptance that affective phenomena, and
emotion in particular are in fact relevance detectors:
Another point of definitional convergence is the assumption that emotions

are normally triggered by internal or external stimuli or events that are of
major significance to an organism. Thus, emotions have been called rele-
vance detectors (Frijda, 1986). Relevance detectors require, of course, an
evaluation of stimuli and events with respect to their meaning for the or-
ganism. Many theorists agree that the nature of this evaluation determines
both the functional response of the organism- whether it is directed toward
adaptation to or mastery of the event or situation-and the nature of the or-
ganismic and mental changes that will occur during the emotional episode.
Such postulates are additionally supported from evidence from both real life
experiences and laboratory experiments showing that people hold better, more
accurate and longer lasting memories of strongly charged emotional events or
stimuli that of those with a more neutral affective tonality. This has been shown
to be true for both natural related events, like natural disasters (Sotgiu & Galati,
2007), and for social traumatic events (Alexander et al., 2005) (Christianson &
/RIWXV 7KLVLVDOVRWKHFDVHQRWRQO\RIPHPRU\EXWRIUHDOWLPHDWWHQWLRQ
as well. Evidence suggests that attention is involuntarily orientated toward
emotional stimuli (Yiend, 2010). However, this can potentially be said to prove
the point in reverse, showing that stimuli that appeal to emotional responses
get granted more attention, without that showing whether they might or not
be more relevant that other events. In fact up until now, there has been little
agreement on which properties allow emotional stimuli to have this privileged
attentional status (Brosch, Pourtois, & Sander, 2010).
Researchers have found that when “we concentrate on a task, we are still
able to process information appearing outside our voluntary attentional focus
and in turn, certain of these stimuli can involuntary orient our attentional
resources(...).Two reasons are candidates to explain this phenomenon. Either
this kind of stimuli they have emotional content (e.g. Vuilleumier, 2005), or have
low-level perceptual properties that are salient (e.g. Theeuwes, 1991)” (Pool,
Brosch, Delplanque, & Sander, 2014).
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119
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addition, fear has been shown to provoke an automatic spatial orienting with
the function of properly locating the origin of a potentially threatening stimulus.
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instead, that general relevance, postulated as biological relevance, and not
exclusively valence related such as fear, produces an automatic spatial orienting
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Another view from philosophy on the role of emotions as fundamentally linked

to what provides a meaningful agentiality, comes from neo-existencialist views
SXWIRUZDUGE\-DQ6ODE\ 7KLVYLHZFRQVLGHUVWKDWÍHHOLQJDQHPRWLRQ
amounts to feeling oneself in a certain relation to something (usually an event,
object or situation)--an evaluative awareness of which goes hand in hand with
a registering of one’s existential situation.”66 6ODE\ 6WHSKDQ 6ODE\
notes that posed with the question on why human intelligence does not seem to
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emotions endow our lives with existential value in a fundamental manner: “they
are both the ultimate sources and the situational manifestation of existential
66 . With Existential Situation, also referred to as ‘’current standing in the world” Slaby and Stephan
attempt to capture “the circumstances relevant to a person’s life at a given time, in so far as they
are knowable by the person, at least in principle” This is preferred to the problematic notion of self”
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life”. (Jan Slaby, 2014) Having (the capacity for) emotion is having something
matter to one in this quite basic, value-constituting sense. Such neo-existencialist
postulates clearly go beyond simple considerations of emotions as relevance
detectors as in appraisalist theories, as they consider that “(e)motionality consists
in a fundamental, inseparable unity of evaluation, intentionality, agency, and
self-involvement.” (Jan Slaby, 2014) page 34.
From state to process
Following the above postulate of emotion as episodic or eventful, there is a closely

related consideration of making our views on emotions evolve frm considering
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Such processual emphasis implies changes over time , although most current
theories still preferentially refer, even in implicit manner, to emotional states,
which implies, on the contrary to process, relative stability over time (K. Scherer,
2000). Potentially one of the reasons for this resides in the fcat that not many
theorists have actually attempted at addressing directly the nature of the changes
occurring in the reaction modalities or in the emotion components during an
emotional episode. (Scherer, 2000)
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120 emotional episode, suggests that “interdependent and synchronized changes in
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emotion”. As a result, Frijda and Scherer (2009) have attempted at summarising
the constitutive features of an emotion. Their list includes those elements shared
by most theorist and researchers of emotion, coming from different disciplines
and which seem to be shared by a majority of emotion theorists and researchers
in different disciplines. The list of these elements includes:
I) Emotions are elicited when something relevant happens to the organism,

having a direct bearing on its needs, goals, values, and general well-being.
Relevance is determined by the appraisal of events on a number of crite-
ria, in particular the novelty or unexpectedness of a stimulus or event, its
intrinsic pleasantness or unpleasantness, and its motivational consistency,
that is, its conduciveness to satisfy a need, reach a goal, or uphold a value,
or its “obstructiveness” to achieving any of those (Scherer & Ellsworth,
2009; Scherer, 2001).
2) Emotions prepare the organism to deal with important events in their
lives and thus have a strong motivational force, producing states of action
readiness (Frijda, 2007a).
3) Emotions engage the entire person, urging action and/or imposing ac-
tion suspension, and are consequently accompanied by preparatory tun-
ing of the somatovisceral, and motor systems. This means that emotions
involve several components, subsystems of the organism that become
synchronized to different degrees during the emotion episodes, maximiz-
ing the organism’s capacity to adapt to the contingencies of the situation
(Scherer, 2001, 2005a).
4) Emotions bestow control precedence (Frijda, 2007a) on those states of
action readiness, in the sense of claiming (not always successfully) priority
in the control of behavior and experience. (Frijda and Scherer, 2009)
More recently, with the intention of incorporating aspects from psychology and
philosophy, Mulligan and Scherer (2012) have put forward an argued list of
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X is an emotion only if X is an affective episode, which has the property

of intentionality (i.e., of being directed), AND contains bodily changes
(arousal, expression, etc.) that are felt, AND contains a perceptual or intel-
lectual episode, Y, which has the property of intentionality (the intention-
ality of X being inherited from the intentionality of Y), AND is triggered
by at least one appraisal, AND is guided by at least one appraisal (Scherer,
2005)
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separated between biological emotions and social sentiments. While his
biological emotions refer in general terms o the physiological understanding of
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“a socially constructed pattern of sensations, expressive gestures, and cultural
meanings organized around a relationship to a social object, usually another
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emotions puts an increasing emphasis on the transactional, processual and
dynamic aspect of emotionality in general terms and even though some of these
theories may still refer to emotions as particular states, they are inscribed within
a larger continuum of exchange ad interaction in a social environment. In fact,
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relatively enduring social relationships as that function as elicitors of affect. Such
is also the case of the concept of emotional energy coined by Collins (see section
“Emotions in Social Interaction”). Social sentiments are again an example,
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a stimulus given by a situation, together with bodily sensations, displays of
expressive gestures, and cultural meanings. This view re-elaborates on the theory
of emotion as appraisal, covered in the next point, but with an emphasis on the
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other tree components.
Emotions as cognition. Emotions as appraisal.
The root of appraisal theories of emotions seems to reside in the basic assumption
that emotions are in fact ways of interaction with our environment that involve
a certain assessment of that environmental conditions. Originated in the
foundational work of Arnold (1960) and Lazarus (1966), this view has been
argued to be in fact a renewed emphasis and systematization of previous ideas
, dating back to Aristotle and passing by Hume (1739) (1739–1740/1969),
6SLQR]D DQG6DUWUH
Lazarus further distinguished between two major types of appraisal methods

which sit at the crux of the appraisal method: 1) primary appraisal, directed at
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and 2) secondary appraisal, directed at the assessment of the ability of the
organism to cope with the consequences of the event. These two types go hand in
hand as one establishes the importance of the event while the following assesses
the coping mechanisms which Lazarus divided up into two parts: direct actions
and cognitive reappraisal processes.
Theories of appraisal, even though they are criticised for embracing the
information processing or classical cognitivist approach (Colombetti, 2007b),
develop their theories in a careful unfolding of these appraisals or evaluations
122
of the environment through sensory perception mechanisms, in such a way that
defy clear cut characterization. For instance, Frijda’s (1993b) consideration that
a big deal of the appraisal process does not necessarily need to equate conscious
appraisal, let alone feeling states can also be said to respond to what embodied
cognitive postulates would propose:
Appraisal implies these evaluative and cognitive processes and not neces-
sarily their conscious results. Conscious appraisal may, in some cases, be
at variance with the appraisal process that elicited the emotional response
(Frijda, 1993b). Nevertheless, appraisal processes and the particular ap-
praisal involved in particular emotions are usually inferred from subjective
reports of how the encounter is experienced. However, another source of
hypotheses concerning appraisals is the way in which a particular event is
treated by the individual (e.g., as a source of threat to be avoided, as the
cause of harm to be opposed, and so on). (Frijda & Mesquita, 1994)
“Nevertheless, appraisal is generally understood as separate from the body,

which prevents a thorough embodiment of the mind (what exactly “ separate”
means depends on individual theories and will become clearer as the arguments
proceed).” (Colombetti, 2007a) (For a more detailed account of an enactive
embodied theory of appraisal in emotion, see subchapter 2.3 Overcoming the
divide). Also, appraisal theories have been criticized for heavily relying on
representations as ways of rendering possible how bodily processes constitute
meaningful evaluations of environmental conditions and or organismic states
(Prinz, 2004). Recently, new elaborations of appraisal not requiring such are
being proposed from new angles, such as enactive theory (Colombetti, 2007b)
Agential properties of emotion
The problem of emotion and action-tendencies directly points at a controversial

aspect in the problem of agency.
Returning again to William James foundational paper “What is an emotion?”, it
LVQRWLFHDEOHWKDW-DPHV·ÀUVWDQGIRUHPRVWDLPLQKLVWKHRU\RIHPRWLRQVUHVLGHV
in his intention, well laid out at the beginning of the article, to contradict what
common sense holds as the right sequence of elements that structure the relation
between emotion and action.
Our natural way of thinking about these standard emotions is that the
mental perception of some fact excites the mental affection called the
emotion, and that this latter state of mind gives rise to the bodily expres-
sion. My thesis on the contrary is that the bodily changes follow directly
the PERCEPTION of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same
changes as they occur IS the emotion. Common sense says, we lose our
fortune, are sorry and weep; we meet a bear, are frightened and run; we are
insulted by a rival, are angry and strike. The hypothesis here to be defended
says that this order of sequence is incorrect, that the one mental state is not
123
immediately induced by the other, that the bodily manifestations must
first be interposed between, and that the more rational statement is that
we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we
tremble, and not that we cry, strike, or tremble, because we are sorry, angry,
or fearful, as the case may be. Without the bodily states following on the
perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form, pale, colourless,
destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it
best to run, receive the insult and deem it right to strike, but we could not
actually feel afraid or angry. (William James, 1884, p.190)
This proposal by James seems to point in clear manner, towards the problematic
that links directly emotions to a meaningful situated engagement. What and in
that sense it may seem that it renders emotion in clear connection to agency.
Slaby and Wünscher (Jan Slaby & Philipp Wüschner, 2014) contend that while
agency has been widely neglected in the philosophy of emotion, it has, on the
contrary, been addressed more prominently in the psychological67 research
literature of emotion. As part of this tradition, Frijda has been the most
prominent researcher to explicitly propose a direct agential account of emotions
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Slaby arguments that “Giving a damn, having something matter, genuine
67 . see Lambie & Marcel (2002) for a thorough account of emotional experience from a psycholog-
ical perspective.
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caring for something or someone--(...) is an excellent attempt at capturing, in
a nutshell, something like the ‘essence’ of emotion, or rather: of emotionality
as the general capacity for experiencing distinct emotional states or processes.”
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in a vindication of the importance of emotions for the constitution of intelligence
through their basic and non-substitutable value-constituting sense: “In a
fundamental way, emotions endow our lives with existential value--they are both
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the very dimension of meaning that is inextricable from a human life.”
This neo-existencialist account of emotions that fuels Slaby’s argumentation for

the importance and irreplaceability of affectivity as part of that extended mind
This is also why emotions are not just contingently but constitutively in-
volved with agency, insofar as an agent to whom things genuinely matter
is ipso facto, barring contravening circumstances, motivated to act ac-
cordingly. Emotions either directly phase over into action or come with
a strong inclination to act in line with their evaluative disclosure of the
situation at hand. (Von Scheve & Salmela, 2014, p 34)
Emotions as motivation
124 Emotions has, additionally, be claimed to be “organising” , thus informing
the process of motivation in both humans and higher animals: “Logic leads
to the conclusion that emotional processes of all sorts “are organizing in their
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the explanation, then, is sought ‘within’ the subject.
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More over, this very nature of emotions as motivational states leads Frijda to
ground the direct relation between emotion and action (Frijda,2004, p.159). In
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(1946), Young (1943) and Hebb (1949).
From a macro-sociological perspective dealing with larger aggregates of people,

several theories have clearly situated emotions as constitutive of particular
modes of interaction such as, for instance, ( for a more through review on
relevant aspects of emotions at a social scale and in social interaction, see section
“Emotions in Social Interactions).
On a related but different angle, we must consider, when elaborating in detail

about affect and emotion, what we mean with certain acceptable precision.
Scherer warns us of the risks that entail the treatment of different affective
phenomena as synonyms with emotions, as well as mistaking particular reactions
for whole emotional episode phenomena:
Many of the controversies in emotion psychology can be traced to a failure

to clearly distinguish between the different classes of phenomena. General
affective valence or preference should not be treated in the same manner as
emotional episodes, nor should more enduring affective states such as atti-
tudes. For example, it is hardly helpful to use the study of simple preferenc-
es, such as liking for certain types of stimuli, to address theoretical issues
with respect to the emotion construct as defined above.1 The confusion
between different types of affective phenomena, rampant in discussions of
the psychology of emotion, has unfortunately spilled over into other areas
sѥch. as neuropsychological approaches where the label emotion is often
used for positive/negative valence of different types of stimulation. Clearly,
one cannot hope to discover the underlying mechanisms unless one has
first clearly delimited the phenomena one is trying to explain. Another
frequently encountered source of confusion relates to the tendency, based
on popular usage of the terms, to treat emotion and feeling as synonyms.
Although this is standard philosophical practice, it becomes extremely
dangerous once one attempts to dissect the nature of the components of
emotion. In such attempts it is helpful to define the subjective experiential
component of the emotional reaction as “feeling” or “sentiment.” (Borod,
2000, p. 139) 125
Furthermore, he provides the controversy and polemics around

classic James-Lange theory as an example of the risks of confusing
these elements. For Scherer, James mistook the phenomenon of
emotion, which is comprised of differentiated elements, with
conscious subjective feeling. What James meant, according to
Scherer was not exactly to identify emotions, but feelings (K. R.
Scherer, 2005).
2.2.3 Emotions as Action Tendencies
Perhaps one of the most direct and potent ways of directly relating emotions and
other affective phenomena to questions of agency comes from the work of Nico
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relational action readiness, either in the from of tendencies to establish, maintain
or disrupt a relationship with the environment or in the form mode of relational
UHDGLQHVVDVVXFKµ S
Emotions signal the relevance of events for favoring or harming one or

several of one’s concerns. They signal such relevance to the cognitive ap-
paratus and the action system. What is usually referred to as emotions are,
primarily, processes of appraisal of events as relevant, leading to processes
of changes in action readiness and eventually to behavior (often, to phys-
iological arousal as the logistic support of such readiness and behavior).
(Frijda & Mesquita,1994 p. 56)
What if we consider action readiness, what is the action readiness

responding to? Directed then by which knowledge of the sensed
environment? A response to this question necessarily involves a
126
SUHFLVHVSHFLÀFDWLRQRIDSSUDLVDO
Appraisal, as used in this chapter, refers to the appraisal of an event as

positively or negatively relevant (primary appraisal), as well as to the as-
sessment of further aspects of the event that are relevant for dealing with
it (secondary appraisal). Action readiness means the state of readiness (or
unreadiness) for achieving a particular change in the subject-object inter-
action or for interacting with the environment in general.
Fourth, and implied in the foregoing, emotions always have to do with a

call for action. They are processes .’l<!s that lend to cnnlml behaviour and
thought.
They involve what we call “control precedent.” They tend to interfere with
other activities including thought, interrupt ongoing behaviour, and they
block the Influence of stimuli having to do with other goals. When angry,
anwy goals (e.g., gelling even with the antagonist) seek lo take precedence
over other concerns; that is, angry impulse, angry behaviour, and/ or angry
thoughts seek to take precedence over other activities. Emotions, in other
words, represent a goal •hi ft of the individual, or a dinging lo the current
goal in the face of obstacles and distractions.
Emotions are sometimes viewed as cognitive slates, as representations elf
the world or the self, or of desirable goals. This view misses the major
point of control over action. Emotions are, first of all, action dispositions,
regardless of whether actual action follows and whether, on occasion, the
disposition is for inaction. (Frijda & Mesquita,1994 p. 52)
Frijda (2010) has criticised some views (Kagan, 2007) that, according to him,
mistake the emphasis on action readiness in emotions for emphasis on action.
He moreover neglects the appraisal processes that form the origins of emotional feeling
and other responses.
2.2.4 Emotions: Physiological or social?

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Descartes (1596-1650). in his 1649 treatise on the passions, composed for
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would have profound impact on the evolution of modern and contemporary
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“The ultimate and most proximate cause of the passions of the soul is none
other than the agitation with which the spirits move the little (pineal)
gland which is in the middle of the brain” . (Descartes, 1997/1911, p. 357) 127
In addition, Descartes continues in his explanation of emotions to appeal to

what seems to be two differentiated elements: (1) a bodily, physical, corporeal
irritation caused by an object, and (2) the evaluation that our will, or soul,
is to make of such object. These two elements, conceived by Descartes as two
subsequent phases make up to the emotion, in a way that his corporeal activity
can act as an incentive for the activity of the will-as an activity of the soul -to be
separated from those objects that appear harmful to the soul. Let’s see here his
description of anger, which pertains to the same nature as hate:
La colere est aussie une espece de Haine ou d’aversion, que nous avons
contre ceux qui ont fait quelque mal, ou qui ont tasche de nuire, non pas
indifferemment à qui que ce soit, mais particulierement à nous. (Descartes
1649 : 477, art. CXCIX.)
Apart from the fascinatingly mysterious appeal to the movement of spirits (esprits),
this view inaugurates a dichotomous separation between the physiological
component of emotion, composed of the bodily sensations and directly the
response to such “irritation” he names, and the mental, rational, conscious and
evaluative component. Such separation has come to pervade insistingly a large
share of our Western cultural understanding of emotions, embedded around
a series of rhetorical dichotomous oppositions (DePaula & Dourish, 2005).
Cognition would the be taken to be something conscious and controlled by our
will, whereas emotions are largely automatic and uncontrollable, making us their
subject. Equally, cognition is considered to be precise, rational and objective,
while emotions are vague, irrational and subjective. Consequently, cognition is
presupposed to reside in our heads or brains, and to be cold and detached. On
the other hand, emotions are presupposed to come from our heart or our guts,
and to be hot, burning and pressing. Finally, cognition has for a long time been
associated with a masculine virtue, indicating both strength and righteousness,
while emotions were largely considered feminine defect, signalling weakness
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2004).
Moreover, complementing such enduring view on the differences between

cognition and emotion, there has been another kind of pervasive assumption.
Both aspects, if perhaps yet to different degrees and with different connotations,
have been largely assumed to be individual processes happening inside the space
of our individual bodies. ( I shall elaborate in more detail on theories that have
challenged this postulate in section 2.3 Overcoming the Divide.)
According to Gross (2006c), most current takes on emotion suffer from

a reductionist view of emotions as a phenomenon that is purely psycho-
physiological. Such criticism of Gross understands this particular proposition as
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128 Damasio an his theories of the homeostatic origins of emotions and the emotional
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& Brown, 2017) a positivist and universalist approach to emotions which is
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hand, relativist, interpretive approaches are concerned with social and cultural
construction of emotion, drawing on a variety of traditions, including the ethno-
psychological, the social structural, the linguistic, and the developmental. (Lutz
:KLWHD
Later on, Lutz has approached emotion as a western cultural category, thorugh an
analysis of the unspoken assumptions guiding the “cultural schema with which
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as translating between two cultural systems requires explication of the relevant
meaning systems on both sides of the cultural divide. The cultural meaning
system that constitutes the concept of emotion has been invisible because we
have assumed that it is possible to identify the essence of emotion, that the
emotions are universal, and that they are separable from both their personal and
social contexts.” One of the main relevant points in Lutz and Whyte’s review
concerns how emotions are often treated as evaluative judgements and what
this indicates on the bias favouring volitional and cognitive over another bodily
relational dimensions, which are “often ignored or treated as a metaphorical
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attitude of other line of reasoning, which: “For many who focus on emotion as
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virtue of the fact that emotional judgments are seen to require social validation
or negotiation for their realization, thereby linking emotion with power and
social structure. Emotions are thus seen as ideological in at least one of the
term’s marxist senses, that is, as aspects of consciousness linked to class and to
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What we encounter is not only a opposition between the While the physiological
approach seems to imply, as suggested by countless theories, a certain
physiological automatism of motions as evolutionary mechanism rooted in the
origins of human evolution, a more rather “relativistic” cultural approach, poses
the importance of language and communication. Following the above quoted,
Daniel Gross (2005) argues is an even more dramatic difference, namely
the consideration of the other, of the social, as constitutive of the emotional
experience.
If we travel back to ancient ideas of emotions, we encounter a drastically different

approach with Aristotle, as he elaborated on the primary source o emotions in
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as “desire, accompanied by... distress, for conspicuous retaliation because of a
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those near to one” (book 2, chapter 2), differs fundamentally from previously
129
physiological accounts in the manner in which he stresses an irreducible relational
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are not only mediated by culture, but have in fact social origins: “Emotions are
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this linkage through a relevant argument: “the constitutive power of emotions
depends not on how the social passions originate in a moral sense equally
shared by all, but rather on the “uneven distribution” of these passions in our
social and political lives” (Gross, 2006b, p. 4) (p. 4). How exactly this uneven
distribution is constituted is described through examples but without any general
rule that might help us in the comprehension of any of its functioning principles.
Interestingly enough, however, at the root of emergence of this “contoured
world of emotional investments” ( p. 3), Gross mentions technologies of social
recognition and blindness, in the sense of culturally constructed devices that
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“The contours of our emotional world have been shaped by institutions

such as slavery and poverty that simply afford some people greater emo-
tional range than others, as they are shaped by publicity that has nothing
to do with the inherent values of each human life and everything to do
with technologies of social recognition and blindness” (Gross, 2006b, p.
4).
Notwithstanding the clear differences between these approaches, they both
might seem to easily support the embodied thesis, or at least being capable of
adapting some of their tenets to accommodate it.
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In theories of emotions there are as many contrasts as there are theories, but
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and study of emotions in strikingly different ways, but both ascribe social functions
to emotion. Two large prominent families emerge in research and theory of
emotions. Namely social constructivists, for whom emotions are “socially learned
responses constructed in the process of social discourse according to culturally
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are universal, hard-wired affect programs that solve ancient, recurrent threats
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A functional analytical approach to emotions has pervaded much emotions

research, specially in those approaches which seek to develop an evolutionary
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130 ,]DUG3OXWFKLN 6RPHRIWKHVHYLHZVXVXDOO\SUHGLFDWHQRW
only but a strong social function: “The primary function of emotion is to mobilize
the organism to deal quickly with important interpersonal encounters” (Ekman,
1992, p.171).
Among the many advances in this respect, Haidt locates that ethology and
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by living in groups (Davies & Krebs, 2009) Very different kinds of traditions and
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Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth, 1992), game theoretical characterizations of
altruism, cooperation, competition, and interpersonal commitment (e.g. Frank,
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.HOWQHU %XVZHOOgKPDQ
Kilter & Haidt (2001) claim that a social functional account of emotions
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responses to predation, and raising of offspring. However, living in a group
comes along with other related problems that demand the coordination of group
members.
To meet these problems and opportunities, humans have evolved a variety

of complex systems. Each system is organized according to a specific goal
(e.g., to protect offspring or maintain cooperative alliances) that is served
by multiple subsystems. These include specific perceptual processes, high-
er order cognition, central and autonomic nervous system activity, as well
behavioral responses, both intentional and reflex-like. For example, theo-
rists have observed that humans form reproductive relationships with the
help of an attachment system (e.g., Bowlby, 1969; Kunce & Shaver, 1987).
The attachment system involves perceptual sensitivities to potential mates,
representations of relationships, autonomic and hormonal activity related
to affiliative, sexual, and intimate behavior, behavioral routines such as flir-
tation, courtship, and soothing, and specific emotions ...(Dacher Keltner
& Haidt, 2001).
In their 2001 paper “Social functions of emotions” Dacher Keltner and Jonathan
Haidt put forward an approach which they term social-functional, attempting
to bridge the divide that separates both accounts of emotions by incorporating
relevant insights from both of them (2001)
Our account can be summarized in three statements: 1) Social living pres-

ents social animals, including humans, with problems whose solutions
are critical for individual survival; 2) Emotions have been designed in the
course of evolution to solve these problems; 3) In humans, culture loosens
the linkages between emotions and problems so that cultures find new
131
ways to solve the problems for which emotions evolved, and cultures find
new ways of using emotions. (Dacher Keltner & Haidt, 2001)
&RPSOHPHQWDULO\ DOEHLW ZLWK GLIIHUHQFHV LQ RULJLQ DQG VFRSH *ULIÀWKV DQG
Scarantino (2009) have proposed a situated approach to emotions. With this
theory, they argue, that emotions are social signals designed to change the
behavior of other organisms, against the widespread point of view according
to which emotions are internal states of the organism with the function of
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and Scarantino point that emotions are, as well, culturally scaffolded69 at two
different level in terms of time dimension. Emotion are, accordingly, aided and
enhanced diachronically by sociocultural norms, and also synchronically by the
concrete and tangible material dimension of the surrounding context.
69 . See section Extended Cognition, Extending Emotions in next chapter 2.3 Overcoming the Di-
vide for a review of theories of extended and scaffolded mind.
2.2.5 Emotion in Social Interactions
Here again, the breadth and volume of the literature reviewing the role of
emotions with regards to social life clearly surpasses the aims and scope of
this thesis. While the treatment given to this particular issue varies greatly
depending on which discipline of reference we decide to approach it from, two
main transversal issues emerge as a problematic of priority. On the one hand, the
problem around the origin and evolution of affective phenomena and emotions,
whether innate universal and of biological evolutionary base, or as primarily a
means for social communication, and thus more open to consideration of cultural
dependency and historical evolutionary contingency.
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through various ways and diverse kinds of mechanisms.
In this review I will leave aside many approaches, among which Psychoanalytic
Sociological Theories and Emotion.The main reasons for doing so reside in my
emphasis on considering theories of emotions from the angle of spatial agency
and in coherence with the enactive underlying approach.
Emotions make us aware of ourselves70 and others (Damasio, 1999), usually

prompting us to search for a reason (a cause) to that experience. In social contexts,
132 and particularly in dense urban environments where there is accentuated levels
of co-presence, individuals turn to others searching to make sense of a surge in
emotional arousal71.
Jumping scale of analysis from bodily processes to social interaction proper, the
social sciences have considered emotions in a variety of theories. Collins (2005)
has even argued that emotion stands as a key position in social theory, for
example, in the form of an explicitly mentioned or implicitly implied emotional
basis to social order. Collins has suggested that Durkheim’s mechanisms produce
social solidarity, hold society together by producing emotions. Talcott Parsons
(1979) argued that society is held together by values, but these themselves may
be seen as cognitions fused with emotion. Weber’s consideration of legitimacy,
status groups and religious world views were permeated by particular kinds of
HPRWLRQV:KHUHDV0DU[DQDO\VLVRIFODVVFRQÁLFWDQGDOLHQDWLRQEHDUVLPSOLFLW
affective and emotional dimension.
70 . While Damasio has linked emotions, understood as clustering of certain homeostatic assess-
ments, to the emergence of consciousness and identity or self, recognition, Varela and colleagues
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that make us a living organism, and ultimately constitute a cognition of the self and of the environ-
ments. Varela went on with this line of reasoning in his work on the immune system. On the other
hand Hutchins (1995) considers the cognitive processes undertaken by our nervous system already
DVGLVWULEXWHGFRJQLWLRQDVGLIIHUHQWHQWLWLHVRIWKHERG\SDUWDNHLQWKLVSURFHVV6XFKYLHZVFRQÀUP
the interest and relevance of understanding in-body cognitive and affective processes as already
bearing sociality.
71 see, for instance, Schachter and Singer’s (1962)two-factor theory of emotion
In contrast, Stets and Turner (2005) have argued that many contemporary
microsociological approaches, such as symbolic interactionism, exchange theory
or some phenomenologically inspired social theory, do not consider emotional
processes central to their theories and suffer from a overly emphasized cognitivist
approach. Accordingly, they mostly emphasize process, emergence, routine or
behaviours and pay-offs, but mostly only through cognition.
However, the line of scholarly and research work that begins with Durkheim and
which continues at a different scale with Goffman and Collins considers that
apart from there long-lasting, undramatic tones or moods that permeate group
life. As such, they constitute a a reconsideration of the conception of emotions in
social interaction and social life that usually emerges from the more physiological
and micro-scale approaches. For Durkheim and Goffman after him, these include
diverse feelings of solidarity, membership of a community, and feelings about
self. These are considered persistent and long lasting emotional tones or moods
WKDWDUHEHVWVLJQDOOHGDQGLGHQWLÀHGLQWKHLUDEVHQFHRULQWKHLUFRQWUDVWZLWK
general tone such as in the case of enthusiasm, alienation or embarrassment.
“These are the backdrop, or baseline, against which the more dramatic emotions
shine” (Kenney).
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elaborated by Randall Collins (2005), that shared emotional arousal generated
133
from rituals gets attributed, mostly automatically in a wrong fashion to whatsoever
salient and tangible source available to the senses, therefore facilitating the
creation of collective symbols that are evocative of attachment. This has been
said to work in religious rituals as well as in other emotionally intense social
events.
Furthermore, Collins developed the theory of emotional energy, again upon an

original insight of Durkheim developed to account for the drive, need and results
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emotions: (1)transient emotions such as joy, embarrassment, fear, and anger,
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energy, which is a long-term emotional tone that is durable from situation to
situation. Emotional energy is a long-term level of enthusiasm, personal strength,
a sense of social connectedness, and / or willingness to initiate interaction (1990)
An Important aspect of ritual interaction is that it shapes cognitions. As the focus

of attention of rituals become loaded with emotion, it becomes a symbol of group
membership. This signals a social population of the individual mind and provides
individuals , in the form of symbols, a cognitive capital of emotions capable
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of social solidarity by thinking about certain concepts or constructs that have
become symbolic.
Power and status theory holds that when human actors interact, the unfolding
of this interaction responds to two fundamental dimensions, namely power and
status. (Kemper, 2006). As a theory, “(...)It takes seriously the claim that social
relational behavior can be described and elaborated in two dimensions and
derives from it a theory of how emotions result from outcomes of interaction in
terms of those dimension. In sum, status and power embody Empedocles’ love
and strife, respectively. Heuristically, they constitute what actors do with, to, for,
and against each other in social relationships. Enacting power and status and the
activities related to them--such as status-claiming and power-building, as will
be discussed below--comprise, along with technical activity, an asymptotically
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Kemper argues that while power and status theory does only consider these
two dimensions, which have strong empirical support, it is possible to generate
quite complex examinations of emotions across a very broad spectrum of social
situations: “large class of emotions results from real, imagined or anticipated
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relational factor in regulating social interactions,. It articulates that “(w)hen
power and status actions and outcomes stabilize into a continuing structure, we
can assign what we call structural emotions, which are based on actors’ power
and status positions vis-a-vis each other in the structure”(Kemper, 2006, p. 91).
134 Actors furthermore “look ahead to the outcomes of future interactions and
develop expectations” ( p.91), called in the theory anticipatory emotions, which
are based on past outcomes and future contingencies. Finally, framed within this
context provided by structural emotions and anticipatory emotions, consequent
emotions develop n the base of the outcomes of the social interaction. “These
are the emotions instigated by immediate interaction outcomes in power and
status terms” (p.92). Together, structural, anticipatory, and consequent emotions
provide a comprehensive account of emotions in social life when looked at from
a relational perspective.
While power and status theory seems a relevant, It still practically ignores
a spatial dimension. However, it bears potential for understanding social
“emotional dynamics” in situations of urban struggles and dynamics of urban
social movements.
Culture.
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by culture72 *RIIPDQ &XOWXUHLVDOVREHHQGHÀQHGDVDFULWLFDOGHÀQLQJ
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competent actors who have been socialized must still work at managing their
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72 . See Turner and Stets (2005) and Peterson (2006) for a through treatment of the theories deal-
ing with the culturally dependent aspects of emotions in social interaction.
The work of Goffman has analysed social encounters through the perspective
of dramatic performances. In Goffman’s view, people pay attention to the
appearance and behaviour of others in order to guide adjust their behaviour
for interaction. And emotional display is a fundamental part of those apparent
behavioural appearances.
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(1) a single visual and cognitive focus of attention; (2) a mutual and pref-
erential openness to verbal communication; (3) a heightened mutual rel-
evance of acts; (4) an eye-to-eye ecological huddle that maximizes each
participant’s opportunity to perceive the other participants monitoring of
him; (5) participants’ presence tends to be acknowledged through expres-
sive signs and a ‘we rationale’ is likely to emerge; (6) ceremonies of en-
trance and departure are likely to be employed; (7) a ritual and ceremonial
punctuation of openings, closings, entrances, and exits; (8) a circular flow
of feeling; and (9) procedures for corrective compensation of deviant acts
(p.18).
In later work Goffman’s (1963) considered how this focused encounters are
framed within larger cultural settings, like gatherings (assemblies of individuals
within a space), which are themselves embedded within social occasions. For 135
each level of interaction, there are different cultural scripts, which are operative
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cultural scripts utilized in interaction include proscribed emotions appropriate
to the interaction. Peterson (Peterson, 2006) argues that “Goffman’s inclusion
of expressiveness among the dimensions of cultural scripts clearly demonstrates
this connection between emotion and cultural scripts”.
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feelings. This is achieved through the vocabularies of emotions, emotion beliefs
and the norms regulating feeling and expression of each society. Hochschild
(1979) has described emotion culture to be composed of feeling rules and display
rules. Feeling rules, described as the normative indicators of what is appropriate,
govern the intensity (strong versus weak), direction (positive versus negative),
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also called expression rules consist of the normative frame in terms of how an
emotion or feeling is to be expressed. Additional to these rules, framing rules,
for Hochschild, dictate the meanings that individuals are to ascribe to given
situations. (Peterson, 2006)
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analyzed social conditions regulating the experience and expression of feelings
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and display rules and the experiential components that socially construct our
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as help, roles, and other aiding aspects made available to us through a wide
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of attachment. These threads of connectedness, like the actions of others in our
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terms of space and time availability, level of required involvement in collective
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only but also the very way in which certain emotions get the required conditions
for their unfolding. On the other hand, Clark (1997), has studied sympathy as
an exchange process that sustains a particular socioemotional economy. In his
theory, while one actor does not know the outcome of the exchange, she acts
on the assumption of reciprocity. Actors entertain certain margins of sympathy
with one another that need to be maintained by respecting certain rules of the
exchange, aiming at sustaining future exchanges. Such interactive economical
view remains of utmost utility for unveiling or revealing expectations and identity
framings at the heart of emotional labour. Such elements have an undeniable
role in the social dimension of emotions, arguably entitling them as political at
the very same time as social.
136
2.2.6 Enactive Emotions
Nowadays, it has already been 26 years since the deeply renovate and innovative
approach proposed by Francisco Varela and Ewan Thompson in their renown
book “The feeling body “. This foundational work paved the grounds for a whole
and fertile research agenda
Colombetti (2007b), has pointed at the disembodied condition of most emotion

research by identifying and stressing the separation between “appraisal” and
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other action processes are considered to be only bodily. This view of appraisal as
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the characterisation as centralised and deliberative, to the distributed and non-
conscious. However, Colombetti argues, it is decisively separate from the body
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Furthermore, dwelling on a phenomenological approach, such separation

between appraisal and bodily processes has produced theories that incur in
implausible accounts of emotion elicitation such as corporeal impersonalism,
namely the tendency to see bodily events as an objective index of emotion, rather
than as the processes of a lived body (Colombetti, 2007b). 137
As I have mentioned earlier, the general cognitivist view underlying many theories
of emotions regard emotions as contentful cognitive processes, like evaluative
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1976). Prinz (2004)notes that “ at their core, emotions are more like judgments
or thoughts, than perceptions. They evaluate,assess, or appraise. Emotions
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how we are faring in the world” (p.1). Hutto (Hutto, 2012), in return, has
commented that in general terms, there is no universal agreement on what
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has pointed out that in “describing emotions as cognitive, [these] philosophers
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20). Finally, Prinz argues that such cognitivist account of emotions is attractive
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inform us about our relationship to the world, they embody our convictions, and
they factor intelligibly into our decisions in life” (Prinz, 2004, p. 16).
Considerations of this kind can make the somatic feeling theory of emo-
tions appear attractive. According to that theory,emotions just are feelings
of bodily changes as they occur (James, 1884), updated by Damasio in the
somatic perception theory (1994). Accordingly, James’ original account
is revised to allow for emotions to occur even without the relevant bodily
changes, just in case the relevant brain activity that monitors the bodily
changes is present. Hence, “as if ” feelings triggered by central processes in
the brain suffice for having certain emotional experiences.
Such theories are problematic in that they “have little to say about the
processes by which external stimuli are evaluated for ecological and social
significance” (Hill, 2009, p. 199).
Basically, in reducing emotions to bodily feelings or perceptual states ex-
clusively targeting such, “somatic theories have trouble explaining what it
is for an emotion to have an intentional object or target” (Hill, 2009, p.
200). They lack appropriate reach. (Prinz, 2004, p. 16).
Following, Prinz (2004) has offered an Embodied Appraisal Theory of emotions,

by which he tries to avoid representation. In this view, Emotions are embodied,
and they are perceptions of changes in our somatic condition, while, at the same
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but as any representation of an organism environment relation the bears on well-
being. (Prinz, 2004) page 11
On the enactive view, we need to conceive of the mind or brain, not as the
place where all the mental processing and representing happens, but as part
of a larger, embodied and enactive system.
Cognition is not about content (whether non-derived or derived) being
carried by vehicles (whether neural or extra-neural); cognition is an enac-
tive and emotionally embedded engagement with the world by which we
138 are able to solve problems, control behavior, understand, judge, explain,
and generally do certain kinds of things – much of that constitutionally
shaped by tools, environmental factors, social practices, etc. On this con-
ception, the mind is constituted primarily by just such activities , whereas
the concepts of propositional attitudes, mental states, representations, ve-
hicles and even non-derived contents are derivative and are inexplicable
except in reference to such activities. (Gallagher, 2013)
As a concluding note, I want join Prinz’s (Prinz, 2005) remark that in emotion
theory, as opposed to folk concepts and understanding of emotions, there has been
a long tradition of positions against the idea that feelings constitute emotions.
Prinz notes Errol Bedford (1956), George Pitcher (1965) (1965), Robert Solomon
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prominent authors that have argued against the feeling theory. Prinz argues for
the consideration that feelings are indeed conscious states. In his view, emotions
are indeed “perceptions of bodily changes, and when those perceptions are
conscious, emotions are feelings. Unconscious emotions are also possible, so not
all emotions are feelings. Some emotions aren’t felt.” (Prinz, 2005) page
Emotions as spatialized cognitions.
From the pioneering work of Frijda and others, we can conclude that emotions
constitute germs of action. The relevance of this is not trivial. If emotions constitute
at their core not only evaluations of oneself and of the environment in terms of
passive assessment, but also contain an irreducible physical action component in
the form of action tendency, we are speaking then about a spatialized cognition.
This is moreover in coherence with an enactive approach of emotions and
cognition. Moreover, such a spatial component seems to reinforce the role of
emotions as relevance detectors.
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Emotions can be said to be evaluations of the changing conditions of the
environment through assessment of bodily changes. As such they constitute
knowledge on the environmental condition with respect to the experiencing
VXEMHFW+RZHYHUIURPDQHQDFWLYHSHUVSHFWLYHWKLVUHTXLUHVÀUVWWREHIUDPHG
within a fundamental interactive situatedness of the feeling cognizing subject,
and second that such assessment or evaluation does not require from the use of
representations. Such postulate bears important consequences for an analysis
of what emotions and other affective phenomena in an urban context can tell us
about . I contend that we can talk about urban environmental appraisals from an 139
embodied enactive and non-representationalist perspective.
Moreover, as mentioned before emotions are also considered to comprise a very
important action-tendency component.
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From the above reviewed social sciences theories and studies on emotion in
social contexts and in social interaction I derive the conclusion that affective
phenomena do not only occur as a response to a social context which a part
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social interactions, but can also be said to be socially constituted. In that sense,
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collective effervescence by Durkheim can indeed also be considered to permeate
social life in the form of latent emotional tone as explored by Collins.
Moreover, emotions can be considered to be socially constituted through devices

of publicity, social recognition, communion or effervescence and avoidance
or blindness. This directs my research in a double but seemingly converging
direction, Firstly, Gross directly links his postulate of emotions as constituted by
the social to the work of Judith Butler and her notion of performativity, already
emphasizing the role of practice in shaping the cognitive domain of experience.
Secondly, If I were to address the role of space as one of such devices, the
structure of the city in particular seems to stand out as of salient relevance, for
the very structure of urban space can, according to Hillier, fundamentally shape
the ecology of encounter and avoidance. Whether this precise ecology of Hillier
can be said to directly equate such social recognition and blindness mentioned
by Gross is perhaps out of the question, but to hold the hypothesis of a strong
relation seems to me reasonable. To these questions, the study of the case of
Madrid shall provide answers.
Feelings as conscious emotions

In arguing against a disembodied theory of emotions as appraisals, both Giovanna
Colombetti and Jesse Prinz have elaborated and postulated non representational
embodied appraisals. Prinz has moreover proposed a theory of AIR, in which
feelings are proposed as emotions, as conscious emotions to be more precise. If
indeed the theory is right, it can prove very useful for studying emotions in terms
of social and spatial environments, like dense urban contexts, where appraisal
theories have a hard time elaborating on the “what” that emotions are actually
appraising, if we consider an evaluative judgement of the eliciting situation. If
we agree on the non-representational but still evaluative equating of feelings
as conscious emotions, we open the door to a potentially different and more
productive manner of approaching urbanity through emotions and affectivity.
140
141
142
2.3 Overcoming the Divide.
Embodiment, Affordances,
Dynamic Interaction and
Extension
143
las cosas
tienen raros aspectos, miradas misteriosas;
toda forma es un gesto, una cifra, un enigma
ߊR. Darío, «Coloquio de los centauros», Prosas profanas, 2000.
The main thread of this chapter tackles the connected evolution of the theoretical
frameworks and theories from cognitive approaches and theories of the Mind.
With regards to the mutually constitutive interaction between humans themselves
and with their environment. In the preceding chapters so far, I have covered
research approaches and theories that depart from either space, understood in
broad terms as the environment, or emotion and seek to establish the principles
E\ZKLFKWKH\PLJKWH[HUWLQÁXHQFHRQHDFKRWKHU7KLVLQVXPPDU\SURYLGHV
only for one sided univocal and binary accounts of the relation between space
and agency. In this chapter, however, I concentrate my review on the transition
towards considering the modes of understanding the interaction between the
environment and individuals as mutually constitutive. This line of reasoning
seeks to overcome dichotomies and linear causal relationships, and to reconcile
the above reviewed sections (Space to Emotion and Emotion to Space), both
through a focus on the modes of interaction and attention to the .
In this chapter I review primarily the principle of an extended and dynamic

cognitive processes, which are built upon ideas of environmental “tools for
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springing from Environmental Psychology and now widely used in other
144 disciplines, as well as recent and novel approaches to cognitive science, like
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intersect with my view on the cognitive and affective processes that mediate, or
even co-constitute, our spatial perception and behaviour.
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Ecological affordances” considers the implication for human agency of the
aforementioned concept of affordances, elaborated by Gibson, as one of the
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interactive ways in which we perceive and interact with our environment from
an ecological perspective. The second section “2.3.3 Distributed cognition”
describes under the rubric of Embodiment those theories that reconsidered
cognition through radically anchoring it in bodily processes as opposed to
previous theories that thought cognition and the mind to be “brainy” and
disembodied. The third section “2.3.5 Extended Mind, Extending Emotions”
reviews what the implications for reconsidering the placement, embededness
and situatedness of individuals in their physical and social environment. The
fourth section “2.3.6 Complex Emergent Order: Participatory Sense Making and
SIRN”, explores how certain theories and authors have essayed again to extend
the cognitive processes beyond the cognition from the individual to situated and
connected individuals, comprising the environment, which includes both other
individuals and social aggregates, and the physical and mental environment.
In consequence, I review in this section how the radical cognitive approach of
Extended cognition originally populated by Andy Clarck, might transform our
understanding of the role of the environment, and the proposal to extend theory
of Extended Mind into the realm of affectivity and emotion enunciated primarily
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of this section, I review independent theories of Scaffolding, Participatory Sense
Making (Di Paolo and De Jaegher) and SIRN ( Haken and Portugali). Finally
in”2.3.7 Conclusions 2.3” , I proceed to summarize the notions, concepts and
problematic that spark the research question exposed in the following chapter.
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“The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it
provides or furnishes, either for good or ill”.
Gibson 1979, p. 127
Most modern disciplines addressing human action still both respond to and
perpetuate a basic dualism between a material world separated from human
condition, and a world of organisms or agents, in turn, disconnected from the
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one of the more enduring and fertile contributions to bridge this schism between
the individual organism and their environment tackles visual perception,
cognition and behaviour from an ecological perspective73. This work emerges
145
from the intention to emphasize the material framing conditions of human
activity.
Affordances, as developed by Gibson (1977) in his article “The Theory of

Affordances” and in “The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception” (Gibson
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agent for action, and that the agent can directly perceive and employ”. As
commonly used example, a bowl can afford eating for an adult, but it may also
be perceived as a drum or hat by a child, thereby affording other uses. Thus, the
notion affordance attempts to capture these relations between mind, body and
environment in an ecological and relational manner, suggesting that organisms
do not perceive the environment or objects in the environment “as they are”
in a material “objective way”, but rather through bodily “action possibilities74”
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structure and constraints. Therefore, they have to be measured relative to the
animal.
This theory implies that every organism is both a cognitive subject that perceives
and assesses, and a proponent of action that behaves (both perceiver and agent).
6KHHQ\ORFDWHV*LEERQ·VDIIRUGDQFHWKHRU\ZLWKLQDEURDGFODVVLÀFDWLRQRIWKUHHW\SHVRIWKHR-
ries of perception: “inferential (associated with Helmholtz), organizational (such as that pursued by
Wertheimer and others of the Gestalt school), and ecological (such as that developed by Gibson)”.
(Sheehy, 2004, p. 11)
74 . In other words, the qualities of an object or environment that allow or afford an individual to
perform an action or series of actions.
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that are relevant to the organism’s well-being. Gibson referred to those as niches.
There is no understanding of the organism without its situatedness within the
environment, as a set of ecological relations between the physical environment
and the diverse species that inhabit it. “Gibson’s idea is that the organism and the
environment make an inseparable pair, where each term has to be understood
relative to the other” (Scarantino, 2003) (Gibson 1979, Valenti & Gold 1991,
Good 2007)
“The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it
provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. The verb to afford is found in
the dictionary, but the noun affordance is not. I have made it up. I mean by
it something that refers to both the environment and the animal in a way
that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal
and the environment.” (Gibson 1979, 127)
In the ecological view, understanding the constraints and opportunities offered

by an environs (its affordances) requires recognition of a dynamic reciprocity
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demand characteristics, or “invariances”) that together form the background
(situation or context) of an organism-environment event. As such, affordances
are simple the perceptive and action opportunities offered by the environment
146 to an organism, like graspability, “sit-on-ability” and so on. Thus they must be
DFNQRZOHGJHGDVUHODWLRQDOSURSHUWLHVWKH\DUHQHLWKHULQWKHHQYLURQPHQWQRU
in the perceiver, but are derived from the ecological relationship between the
perceiver and the perceived so that the perceiver and perceived are logically
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Affordance theory seeks both to objectify perceptual processes and to

operationalize the foundational Gestalt principle of complementarity between
¶ÀJXUH·DQG¶JURXQG· -HQNLQV
The concept of affordances has seen further development in both related and
distant disciplines. In neighbouring and related sciences, like human computer
interaction studies, affordances have been used to tackle ecologically modes of
interaction and overcome deterministic linear computation like sets of rules for
design.
0RUHVSHFLÀFDOO\WKHSURJUDPODLGRXWE\*LEVRQIRULQWHUPVRIYLVXDOSHUFHSWLRQ
was noted at the time by architectural theorists to offer new possibilities for
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have seen in this concept a theoretical tool for addressing such complementarity
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of science and technology studies, which views technologies like artefacts that
“may be both shaped by and shaping of the practices humans use in interaction
with, around and through them” (Hutchby, 2001) page 44475. Ian Hutchby
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frame, while not determining, the possibilities for agentic action in relation to an
object” (2001, p.444).
5RERWLFV DQG DUWLÀFLDO LQWHOOLJHQFH KDYH DOVR PDGH XVH RI WKLV FRQFHSW WR
understand agent-environment interaction and model robotic behaviour. Tipaldi
and Arras (Tipaldi & Arras, 2011), for instance, develop a probabilistic model for
spatio-temporal patterns of human activities, called spatial affordance map, as
non-homogeneous spatial process relating space, time and occurrence probability
of activity events.
The bridging potential of affordances has also been seized in social and human
sciences. In particular, affordances have been used in anthropology with the
intention of bridging between relativistic and constructionist views on human
culture defended by most strands of cultural anthropology, and the more
naturalistic and structural emphasis put on the invariance of human cultural
forms as posed by most social anthropologists (Kaufmann & Clément, 2007).
“Instead of insisting on the arbitrariness of culture, which leads to an

increase of the gap between natural mechanisms and sociocultural con-
structs, the moderate naturalism that we want to propose tries to integrate
147
them into an ontological and epistemological continuum. On the ontolog-
ical side, indeed, the gap between nature and culture decreases in a signif-
icant way if we consider cultural objects to supervene, at least to a certain
extent, upon invariant, elementary social forms that are characterized by
their tangibility and universality” (Kaufmann & Clément, 2003).
7KHLGHDVGHYHORSHGLQWKHWKHRU\RIDIIRUGDQFHVKHOSHGWRVKDSHDQRYHOÀHOG
within cognitive approaches, namely distributed cognition, that, in turn, pushed
the theory to gain particular momentum and recognition beyond environmental
SV\FKRORJ\ 1RUPDQ 1RUPDQ 1RUPDQ KDV HODERUDWHG RQ WKH
role of cognitive artefacts in enhancing our human abilities through the frame
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DUWLÀFLDO GHYLFH GHVLJQHG WR PDLQWDLQ GLVSOD\ RU RSHUDWH XSRQ LQIRUPDWLRQ LQ
order to serve a representational function” (Norman, 1991).In fact these artefacts
can, by the very distribution in space and time, sequence . As such, they can be
said to afford.
Another relevant further development of the concept of affordances in relation

to space comes from sociology. In a parallel line of theorising, but still attuned
to Gibson’s theory of affordances, sociologist Bernard Conein and engineer
(ULF -DFRSLQ FRQFHSWXDOL]H DW WKH PLFUR VFDOH WKH LQÁXHQFH RI VSDWLDO
arrangements of objects on the actions of individuals and the ways in which they
)RUPRUHVSHFLÀFDFFRXQWVRIWHFKQRORJLFDODIIRUGDQFHVZLWKUHJDUGVWRWKH,QWHUQHWDQGVRFLDO
media, see (Wellman et al., 2003) and (Graves, 2007)
seize them. For these authors, the spatial shoring of technical objects consists
LQ D ÁRZ RI LQIRUPDWLRQ UHFHLYHG E\ WKH SHUFHLYLQJ DJHQW $FFRUGLQJO\ WKLV
information can trigger an action in function of the spatial representations of the
agent . In reality, these authors do not claim that the object, or to that respect,
the spatial arrangements of objects own the distinct degree of agency to trigger
an action. However, the very spatial arrangement, together with the physical
properties of the objects can direct attention, facilitates Contexts to build a local
plan and select a precise series (Conein & Jacopin,1994). Similarly to Norman,
Conein and Jacopin consider objects in space as cognitive artefacts due to the
LPSRUWDQFHRIWKHLQIRUPDWLRQDODVSHFWVWKH\FRQWDLQ1RUPDQ'HÀQHVWKHPDV
´DUWLÀFLDOWRROVGHVLJQHGWRFRQVHUYHGLVSOD\DQGWUHDWLQIRUPDWLRQLQRUGHUWR
satisfy a representational function “(Norman, 1993).
Extending this approach and moving beyond the more immediate functionalistic
SRVWXODWHVRIWKH*LEVRQLDQFRQFHSW3ÁLHJHUHWDO DSSO\WKHDQDO\WLFDO
potential of affordances to many types of social interaction. Moreover in their
analysis, affordances also apply to many features beyond the mere physical
ones that might pone to particular actions, like institutions, judgements. Their
approach and interpretation of the notion of affordances is of primary interest
for the endeavour of this thesis as it already seeks to establish a more direct
spatialization.
148
7\SHVRIDIIRUGDQFHV
Several different kinds of modal affordances have been proposed: affordances of
use, affective affordances, symbolic affordances, etc, depending on the . Authors
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structure a research endeavour through its application to either Individual or
collective units of analysis (Kaufmann & Clément, 2007).
As the coupling between the behavioural and cognitive capacities of an agent

and the objective properties of its environment, affordances have been posed to
be grounded in both long-term attunement proper to evolution and short term
attunement “proper to situated action: the structure of material objects but also
of social relationships can be said to create additional environmental properties
that constrain an additional set of actions, for instance the “weaponability”
of a branch or the relationship-solidifying function of a gift (Schmidt, 2007)”
(Kaufmann & Clément, 2007). This idea of attunement comes to reinforce the
relational aspect of affordances, emerging from the coupling of an agent with
her environment both physical and social. Social affordances provided by other
animals and people are considered the richest and most elaborate environmental
affordances (Kaufmann & Clément, 2003) (Kaufmann & Clément, 2003) “Sexual
EHKDYLRXU QXUWXULQJ EHKDYLRXU ÀJKWLQJ EHKDYLRXU FRRSHUDWLYH EHKDYLRXU
economic behaviour, political behaviour - all depend on the perceiving of what
another person or other persons afford, or sometimes on the misperceiving of it”
(Gibson 1979, p. 135).
The features of social behaviour which are to be considered as social affordances
have also been enunciated as having a certain “demand character” Koffka (1935).
As any social signalling, these actions can be said to be two-sided entities (Bateson,
-DFNVRQ+DOH\ :HDNODQG6HUYDLV DV´WKH\DUHDWWKHVDPHWLPH
a report (on a past event) and a command or a stimulus (for a behaviour)”
(Kaufmann & Clément, 2007). Kaufmann, & Clément stress that this demand
character bears the “ability to create standard chains of social interactions and
relationships, made recognizable thanks to the selective attention to facial
expressions, sounds, body postures and direction of gaze, whose meaning can be
seen as “natural”, in Grice’s sense (1957)” (Kaufmann & Clément, 2007)
“Unlike the comprehension of “non-natural meanings”, which implies the

use of conventional symbols and the reconstitution of intentions, the rec-
ognition of the natural meaning of social affordances and the appropriate
reaction to it are quasi-immediate.
Between the affordances for physical interactions with the environment
(grasping, eating, walking, etc.) and the culturally determined affordances
that reflect preferred but not necessary interactions (i.e. hat affords wear-
ing on one’s head), there might be affordances for social interactions.”
(Kaufmann & Clément, 2007)
149
Applications of this theory of affordances today relate not only to analysing the
physical environments of inhabitation, but also in efforts to oppose environmental
degradation, as the question shifts from the narrow industrial perspective of
what the environment can do for us to a more sustainable understanding of
environmental affordances.
Affective or emotional affordances.

,KDYHEULHÁ\PHQWLRQHGWKDWFHUWDLQDIIHFWLYHFKDUDFWHUFDQSURYLGHDIIRUGDQFHV
for social interactions. For example, rage accompanied by aggressive behaviour
can afford fear and retreat or anger and defensive reaction. This seems to pair in
essence with the theories of emotions as primarily directed at mediating social
interaction (see sub-chapter 2.2 Emotion to Space, page _).
From the perspective again of human computer interaction, emotional

DIIRUGDQFHV KDYH EHHQ LGHQWLÀHG WR UHSUHVHQW WKH UHODWLRQ EHWZHHQ DIIHFWLYH
elements, such as the objects in the scenario or the emotional states, and the
effects and opportunities for the reactions of the cognising agent (Cid & Núnez,
2014).
+PZ[YPI\[LKJVNUP[PVU
“What distinguishes distributed cognition from other approaches is the
commitment to two related theoretical principles. The first concerns the
boundaries of the unit of analysis for cognition. The second concerns the
range of mechanisms that may be assumed to participate in cognitive pro-
cesses.” (Hollan, Hutchins, & Kirsh, 2000)
Humans are said to be the only creatures on this planet capable of modifying the
environment in which they live through the creation of artefacts, and transmitting
WKHDFFXPXODWHGPRGLÀFDWLRQVWRVXEVHTXHQWJHQHUDWLRQVWKURXJKSUHFHSWDQG
procedure coded in human language (Cole, 1990, p. 1). In light of this, and
in the historic convergence resulting from the printing in English language of
9\JRWVN\·V0LQGLQ6RFLHW\LQWKHSXEOLVKLQJRI0LQVN\·V6RFLHW\RI0LQG
LQ(G+XWFKLQVGHYHORSHGKLVWKHRU\RIGLVWULEXWHGFRJQLWLRQ +XWFKLQV
1995). While the “traditional” or mainstream approaches in cognitive science
already mentioned focus on cognitive phenomena at the level of individual
actors, and more precisely inside the brain, like for instance, the manipulation
RIV\PEROV 1HZHOO1HZHOO+VLXQJ =KRQJ[LDQJ GLVWULEXWHGFRJQLWLRQ
looks instead for a broader class of cognitive processes beyond the borders of the
skin or skull of an individual.
150
Three types of distribution of cognitive processes become are proposed: (1)
cognitive processes may be distributed across the members of a social group,
(2) cognitive processes may be distributed in the sense that the operation of the
cognitive system involves coordination between internal and external (material
or environmental) structure, and (3) processes may be distributed through time
in such a way that the products of earlier events can transform the nature of later
events.
As mentioned in the previous section, the theories that can be said to partake to
the distributed cognition thesis make use and overlap with certain aspects of the
WKHRU\RIDIIRUGDQFHVRI*LEVRQ1RUPDQ KDVHODERUDWHGRQWKHUROH
of cognitive artefacts in enhancing our human abilities through frame belonging to
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designed to maintain, display, or operate upon information in order to serve a
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that the role of artefacts from a cognitive perspective can be approached from
either a systemic perspective, in where these external material aides are simply
seen as to directly enhance the abilities of humans, or from the perspective of the
human agent in charge of performing the action. For Norman, this is misleading,
for many artefacts that may seem to enhance simply amplify. Such is the case of
DPHJDSKRQHZKLFKDPSOLÀHVWKHUHDFKRIWKHYRLFHRIDQLQGLYLGXDODOORZLQJD
person’s voice to be heard for a greater distance than otherwise possible. However,
the nature of the task has not fundamentally changed. It remains the same, but
with more “brute” force. However, there are artefacts that are really capable to
enhance abilities by changing the nature of the task, enabling a different overall
performance that is only possible with their concourse76. It is when we approach
this relation approached from the perspective of the agents, that we are able
DSSUHFLDWHPRUHLQGHWDLOWKHVHULHVRIVWHSVLQZKLFKWKHDLGHVIXOÀOWKHLUIXQFWLRQV
as enhancement. If artefacts do fundamentally enhance cognitive abilities, they
do it through a series of actions, namely: (1) distribution of the actions across
WLPH SUHFRPSXWDWLRQ 'LVWULEXWLRQRIWKHDFWLRQVDFURVVSHRSOH GLVWULEXWHG
FRJQLWLRQ DQG &KDQJHRIWKHDFWLRQVUHTXLUHGRIWKHLQGLYLGXDOVGRLQJWKH
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together with Zhang (Zhang & Norman, 1994) have clearly enunciated that the
role of such artefacts in distributed cognition necessarily passes through their
representational dimension. Such treatment of the representational properties of
DUWHIDFWVDSSDUHQWO\QHFHVVDU\IRUSHUIRUPLQJWKHFRJQLWLYHRIÁRDGLQJ
“Economists have been interested in the tension between what is individu-

ally rational and what is rational at the aggregate level. This theme has been
explored in game theory under the rubric of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the
paradox of the commons, and other cases where individual rationality and
group rationality diverge (Rappaport, 1966).”(Hutchins, 1995)
While the ideas behind distributed cognition, especially those concerning

that cognitive processes are distributed across the members of a social group
151
(Salomon, 1993), have already been present in different disciplines in various
formulations, it is with Hutchins’ theory that they take on a different entity of
their own. Before this, theories have considered memory as a socially distributed
cognitive function (Halbwachs, 1925), and proposed that social organization
could be read as the architecture of cognition at the level of the community
(Roberts, 1964), or even proposed culture as the distributive system of beliefs
DFURVVVRFLHW\ 6FKZDUW] 0RUHRYHUSDWWHUQVRIFXOWXUDOFRQVHQVXVKDYH
EHHQ PRGHOOHG LQ TXDQWLWDWLYH PDQQHU 5RPQH\ :HOOHU %DWFKHOGHU
DQG 6SHUEHU LQWURGXFHGWKHLGHDRIDQHSLGHPLRORJ\RI5HSUHVHQWDWLRQV
while something akin followed from Dawkins’ (1976) discussion of ‘memes’ as the
FXOWXUDODQDORJRIJHQHVDQGLWVHYROXWLRQLQWRWKHÀHOGRIPHPHWLFV %ODFNPRUH
1999).
Not only organizations can be understood as adaptive cognitive systems (March

6LPRQV EXW WKH ODZ DQG OHJLVODWLYHV V\VWHPV KDYH IRU ORQJ EHHQ
considered as means to distribute cognition at a societal level77
“Scientific communities have received special attention because the work

of science is fundamentally cognitive and distributed. The phenomena that
have been explored include how the organization of communication me-
dia in a scientific community affect the kinds of things the community can
76 . Norman proposes written language and mathematics as examples of such artefacts which are
capable of enhancing cognitive abilities. (Norman, 1991)
77 . Of course, in social psychology there is a vast literature on small-group decision making, some
of which discusses the properties of aggregates
learn (Thagard, 1993), how conditions external to the individual scientists
can affect their individual choices in ways that lead to different high-level
structures to emerge (Kitcher, 1990), how the distribution of cognitive ac-
tivity within social networks and between people and inscriptions accounts
for much of the work of science (Latour, 2003), and how scientific facts
are created by communities in a process that simply could not be fit into
the mind of an individual (Fleck, 1935).” (Hutchins, 2000)
Following this line of research, we can ask ourselves to what extent activities like
urban planning and design, when integrated in a system of governance through
language, codes and other conventions, can be said also to constitute cases of
distributed cognition. One of the most relevant recent applications of the ideas
of Hutchinson on distributed cognition apart from his studies on navigation, has
been the study of the role of the Globe Theatre in 17th century London - which
explores the on role of the theatre as built spatial device (Tribble, 2005). In her
work, Tribble explores the intertwined performance between troupes of actors,
the building’s physical spatial distribution and the highly modular structure
of the theatre plays. In this performing assemblage, certain repetition in the
W\SHVRIFKDUDFWHUVDQGQDUUDWLYHVWUXFWXUHRISOD\VWRJHWKHUZLWKWKHÁRZVRI
movements and location of resources and action facilitated by the building’s
distribution of internal spaces and stage allowed for a small troupe of actors
SHUIRUPDODUJHQXPEHURISOD\VD\HDUWKXVIXOÀOOLQJDVWURQJIXQFWLRQDOUROHDV
152 RIÁRDGLQJVXSSRUW
It is important to note that while Tribble argues that “cognition is distributed

across the entire system”, this does not imply that there is no place for individual
agency. “On the contrary, an environment as cognitively rich as the early modern
theatre is precisely calculated to maximize individual contributions” (Tribble,
2005). Can I assume the same in the case of an even more complex built structure
like the city? Or perhaps, it would be more certain sub-elements of the city, which
are closely integrated into an organized collective set of practices.
7ULEEOHDUJXHWKDW´RXUXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIWKHSOD\LQJV\VWHPSDUWLFXODUO\RIWKHPQHPRQLF
demands that the repertory system made on its participants, has been consistently distorted by a
tendency to view cognition as individual rather than social, which has caused us to imagine the
workings of complex group structures in mechanistic terms. In other words, we have mistakenly
assumed that properties of the system as a whole must be possessed by each individual within it”
(Tribble, 2005) p.135
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Emotion
Let us begin with a clarifying quotation from Francisco Varela:
“[T]he last 15 years have witnessed the ascent of an alternative view, that of
embodied or enactive cognition. This new wave arose because the compu-
tationalist doctrine failed to account even for the most elementary coping
with the world: walking, perceiving object in a natural setting, imagina-
tion. Slowly the cards turned into considering that the basis of mind is the
body in coupled action, that is, the sensory-motor circuits establish the
organism as viable in situated contexts. From this perspective the brain
appears as a dynamical process (and not a syntactic one) of real time vari-
ables with a rich self-organizing capacity (and not a representational ma-
chinery). So in this sense the mind is not in the head since it is roots in the
body as a whole and also in the extended environment where the organism
finds itself.” (Varela, 1998)
Many are the novel recent paradigms that have come to question the the
computationalist (information processing) cognitivist approach to cognition
that Varela deplores in this quotation: neo-connectionism (Rumelhart, Hinton,
:LOOLDPV5XPHOKDUWHWDO SUDJPDWLVWHQYLURQPHQWDOFRJQLWLRQ 153
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VLWXDWHGFRJQLWLRQ &ODQFH\ 3DUDOOHO'LVWULEXWHG3URFHVVLQJDQG
ÀQDOO\HPERGLHGFRJQLWLRQ,WLVWKLVODVWRQHWKDWKDVFRPHWREHVWH[HPSOLI\
and to some extent englobe the others as an umbrella term.
One of the most important postulates of embodied cognition is that mind and
body are not independent from each other but form a single integrated cognitive
system, and in the sense that many cognitive capabilities are derived from the
bodily experiences in the environment.The traditionally hegemonic ideas and
approaches to cognition that the embodied view of cognition comes to question,
are broadly based on the following claims. (1) Cognition is based in the principles
of information processing or computation, where the brain takes in the data
coming form diverse sensory systems, performs a computation and then issues
an order to the body saying what to do. Therefore this paradigm has studied and
modelled these processes in the image of that computation. (2) Ultimately, the
FRPSXWDWLRQRIWKRVHUHSUHVHQWDWLRQDOVHQVRU\GDWDLVSHUIRUPHGE\WKHÀJXUHRI
a “central planner” The classical view of mind includes a “central planner” in the
brain who knows all of the information present in the system and is dedicated
WRÀQGLQJEHKDYLRXUSDWWHUQVWKDWZLOOVDWLVI\FHUWDLQJRDOV &ODUNS
6XFK ÀJXUH KDV DOVR EHHQ UHIHUUHG WR DV WKH ´KRPXQFXOXVµ DQG KDV EHHQ WKH
subject of long controversies79 in Philosophy of Mind and cognitive science.
In summary, we can consider the main characteristics of the classical mode of

cognition to be: memory is the ability and process of retrieving from a database
of stored symbols, problem solving is viewed as logical inference, the body is
an input device, cognition is centralized in the brain, and the environment is a
SUREOHPGRPDLQ $QG\&ODUNS
With the acceptance of the embodied cognition thesis, many different
interpretations have taken off in different domains of research, ranging from
three (Shapiro, 2011) to even six (Wilson, 2002), depending on the account we
read.
Recently, radical cognitive approaches have proposed that embodiment, combined

with the previously mentioned progress in action-perception research, requires
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internally represented competence, and knowledge. In contrast, a new and
radical view on embodiment sustains that the coupling of such perception-action,
DVZHOODVWKHUHVRXUFHVDUHGLVWULEXWHGDFURVVDPRUHYDVWDÀHOGDVSUHYLRXVO\
DUJXHGRQHWKDWGRHVQRWQHFHVVDULO\VWRSVDWWKHERUGHURIRXUVNLQVDQGVNXOO
but which endorses brain, body and environment as substantial loci of resources
and couplings necessary for cognition.
Such replacement hypothesis (Shapiro 2011) has been vindicated to tentatively
154 speculate what kinds of research approach should follow if we are to abandon
previous
The enactive approach (Francisco Varela, Ewan Thompson, & Eleanor Rosch,
1991) emphasizes the deep integration of perception and action: “the enactive
approach consists of two points: (1) perception consists in perceptually guided
action and (2) cognitive structures emerge from the recurrent sensorimotor
patterns that enable action to be perceptually guided” (Varela et al. 1991, p.
173), the naming it the sensorimotor dimension” of the enactive approach. Since
then, several theorists have argued that perception is as much a motor process
DVDVHQVRU\RQH &KXUFKODQG5DPDFKDQGUDQ 6HMQRZVNL$QG\&ODUN
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sensorimotor dimension” of the enactive approach,
The enactive view on embodied perception has been, since the very beginning,
enriched with insights from Phenomenology. Both disciplines partake on a
series of issues, but more fundamentally on the importance of the bodily
corporeal experience of the environment. Such is the conception of the mind
.QRZQDVWKHKRPXQFXOXVSUREOHPWKHYLHZWKDWKROGVWKLVFHQWUDOSODQQHUÀJXUHLVEDVHGRQ
an attempt at maintaining Cartesian mechanistic metaphysics while avoiding an immaterial soul.
Such theory emerges from a Cartesian materialist proposed by Dennet (Dennett, 1991), where he
proposed the term “Cartesian theatre” .
7KLVWKHRU\KDVEHHQFULWLFLVHGRQWKHEDVLVRILQÀQLWHUHJUHVVE\ZKLFKWKHWKHRU\VHHPVWRLPSO\
an endless Russian doll principle of homunculus within homunculus. See (Kenny, 1971) and (Greg-
ory, 2004)
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that enactivism holds, and the importance of the corporeal experience is one
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mind and phenomenology should be complementary and mutually informing.
Moreover, Varela was interested in establishing connection between enactivism
and insights from Buddhist mental discipline of mindfulness awareness. Apart
from this “phenomenological connection” (Thompson 2007), the main idea
coming forward is that “mental activity is deeply linked to the subject’s embodied
presence and performances, and cognition is grounded in embodied presence
and experience” (Colombetti, 2007a).
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constitutively interdependent through a combination of personal and sub-
personal levels of description. Important to this, thus, is to abandon the pervading
idea that action serves perception as some sort of means to an end. The complex
and dynamical way in which these processes interact, makes it not possible to
LVRODWHDVLIWKH\ZHUHWZRYHUWLFDOO\LQGHSHQGHQWSURFHVVHV
In addition to sensorimotor integration, Thompson and Varela (2001) mention

another dimension of embodiment, namely the organismic processes of self-
regulation essential to being alive and sentient. This dimension of embodiment
is evident in conditions such as being awake and asleep, alert or fatigued, hungry
and it’s arguably one of the constituent basis for meaningful awareness.
155
Additionally, one of the most important contributions of embodied and enactive

cognition approaches, resides in the reconciliation and articulation of a double
origin of agency: conscious and wilful mental activity on the one hand, and
unconscious, non-mental bodily perceptual-agential processes resulting from an
interactive engagement of our situatedness, on the other. Such double angle on
agency emerges from one of the main themes describing an enactive system:
´ZKRVHIXQFWLRQLVWRJHQHUDWHVLJQLÀFDQFHRUPHDQLQJUDWKHUWKDQ DVLQWKH
“sense-model-plan-actߌ model) to act via a set of continually updated internal
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virtue of the its dynamic sensorimotor coupling with its environment, such that
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the experiential awareness of that organism arises from its lived embodiment in
the world. (Torrance & Froese, 2011)
This holds great potential for precisely integrating what has largely been two
opposite strands in philosophy and social thought, social sciences and cognitive
sciences. On the one hand the cartesian-mentalist-cognitivist approach could
RQO\ ZLWK JUHDW GLIÀFXOW\ FRQWRXU WKH SUREOHP RI WKH LQÀQLWH UHJUHVV RI WKH
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more or less structuralist constraints in our agency, exercised through “habitus”,
“practice”, “taskspace”, or any other formula, failed to avoid deterministic denial
VHHDOVR7KRPSVRQ7RUUDQFH
of the fundamental agential capacities of individuals.
Embodying emotion
If we observe the phenomenon of the human mind through the lens of embodied
cognition, we see an intricate weaving, a delicately detailed embroidery of brain,
body, material and social environment. And might change our comprehension of
what agency consists of. In fact, it is in the complex interaction of our experience,
physical embodiment and our situatedness in an environment, that our agency
can be seen to emerge. And emotions are the character of this combination, the
gist that gives measure to our being in the world: it is what renders our agential
cognition, what detects and expresses the relevance of our situated engagement.
7KLVYHU\FRPELQDWLRQRIH[SHULHQFHÁHVKDQGHQYLURQPHQWLVWKHPDLQFKDUDFWHU
of our being in the world.
Few researchers have addressed the consequences for emotion theory of the
embracing of the embodiment paradigm. Among such, Prinz, has proposed an
“embodied appraisal theory” (Prinz, 2004), with the ambition to reconcile
WKH ÀUVW HQXQFLDWLRQV RI HPERGLPHQW SUHGLFDWHG E\ -DPHV ZLWK WKH DSSUDLVDOV
WKHRULHVSURSHUEXWGHÀQLQJDSSUDLVDO´QRWDVDQHYDOXDWLYHMXGJPHQWEXWDVDQ\
156 representation of an organism-environment relation the bears on well-being”
(Prinz, 2004). Appraisal without representation the line of causal origins of our
HOLFLWDWLRQÀOHV´,QGHYHORSLQJDWKHRU\RIHPRWLRQZHVKRXOGQRWIHHOFRPSHOOHG
to supplement embodied states with meaningful thoughts: we should instead put
meaning into our bodies and let perceptions of the heart reveal our situation in
the world” (Prinz, 2004)
In a further call to embody emotion theory, Colombetti (2007a) has criticised

“corporeal impersonalism”, namely the tendency to see bodily events as an
objective index of emotion, rather than as the processes of a lived body. In
her view, despite the fact that emotion theory has evolved to search for the
incorporation of insights and tools from dynamical systems theory, applied to
PRGHORIWKHÚHFLSURFDOLQÁXHQFHVRIWKHEUDLQWKHERG\DQGWKHHQYLURQPHQWµ
ERGLO\SURFHVVHVWKDWPDNHXSDQDIIHFWLYHSKHQRPHQRQ VHH)RJHOHWDO
6FKHUHUDPRQJRWKHUV PRVWRIWKHVHDWWHPSWV´KDYHPDLQO\IRFXVHGRQ
modelling “heady” aspects of emotion, leaving the body aside”. In contrast she
proposes to seeing appraisal as constituted by bodily events such as arousal and
actions (Colombetti, 2007a)
Discussing in detail Lewis’s work, Colombetti (2007a) has come to conclude

that the lack of vertical modularity of is model, that is, that appraisal is literally
constituted by bodily physical processes (like arousal or action), brings together,
or in certain way “reconciles” perception and action in a relation of constitutive
interdependence with elements and processes that are typically affective or
emotional, thus being “entangled all the way down to the subpersonal level
with processes implicated in emotion and evaluation” (Colombetti, 2007a).
This should indeed have consequences for the manner in which we consider
psychologically emotions .
“Taken together, these enactive features characterize appraisal as itself

“enactive.”Appraisal appears in fact distributed over a complex network
of brain and bodilyprocesses, none of which individually supports an
“appraising function.” Thisdistribution implies that appraisal is literally
constituted by those physical processes that, on traditional accounts, are
merely its consequents (or, at best, its antecedents) –most notably, bodily
processes such as arousal and action. In other words, appraisal is not a ver-
tical module anymore, it is not merely instrumentally related to the body
and its activity in the world”. (Colombetti, 2007a).
Thus, in sum, emotions and affective phenomena in general appear as the

privileged tools for reintegrating the divide between cold brainy cognitive
processes like appraisal, with the bodily and “hot” evaluative and engaged realm
of affect. To conclude, I take note of the call to address empirically such bridging
between emotion and appraisal through embodiment: “It would be interesting
to consider whether a subject’s state of arousal affects her perception of her
possibility to interact with her environment (i.e. her perception of what the
environment affords), as well as her evaluations.” (Colombetti, 2007a).
157
2.3.5 Extended Mind, Extending Emotions
Artefacts created by humans have long been acknowledge to play an intrinsic
role in our capacities for survival and thriving: “the basic function of these
artefacts is to coordinate human beings with the environment and each other.”
(Cole, 1995, p. 32). However, the most common view has sustained that, at most,
these artefacts constitute simple external aids, accessory to the core cognitive
FDSDFLWLHVRIKXPDQVSHUIRUPHGE\RXUEUDLQV%\WKHWLPHLWZDVÀUVWHQXQFLDWHG
by Clark and Chalmers, the extended mind thesis (EM)come to question the
skin and bone frontier of our cognitive processes, complementing and pushing
forward the ideas anticipated by embodied, situated and distributed cognition.
In a nutshell, its main proposal as emerging from the initial proposition as
well as from following further work on along its lines, posits some cognitive
processes to be in part composed of actions of manipulation and exploitation
of environmental VWUXFWXUHV $ &ODUN &KDOPHUV $QG\ &ODUN
0HQDU\ 5RZODQGV 6RPH FRJQLWLYH SURFHVVHV DUH WKXV SDUWLDOO\
driven by environmental (non-neural) scaffolding.
The extended mind this contrasts with previous linear computationalist model of
cognition in three main aspects:
“1. The attempt to model and understand tightly coupled organism-envi-

158
ronment interaction. 2. An increasing recognition of the role of multiple,
locally effective tricks and short-cuts (often action-involving) in support-
ing adaptive success, and 3. Attention to various forms of socially, cultural-
ly and technologically distributed problem-solving allowing the ‘off-load-
ing’ of substantial problem solving activity into the local environment”
(emphasis original, Clark 2001, p.126).
7KHVH WKUHH IHDWXUHV KDYH UHGHÀQHG UDWLRQDOLW\ DV ´DQ DFWLYH GLVWULEXWHG
environment exploiting achievement.” (Clark 2001, p.126). Problem solving is
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and interactive coupling with the environment, through continuous, real-time
adjustments based on the coordination of information from the environment
DQG WKH ERG\ &ODUN DUJXHV WKDW UHVHDUFKHUV ZKR KDYH EXLOW $UWLÀFLDO
Intelligence units based on traditional cognition models have failed because the
systems do not allow for adaptive responses to the environment (Clark 1997,
p.3).
Following Dynamics Systems theory and other similar ventures, researchers have
claimed that the dynamic interaction between body and environment renders
the classical concept of representation unnecessary. For instance, connectionists
disagree with three of t and have replaced the primary characteristics of the
7KHconception of the mind that trangresses the skin and skull frontires is also known by other
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classical notion of representation with “memory as pattern re-creation, problem
solving as pattern completion and pattern transformation, and cognition as
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internal representations as “internal stand-ins for potentially absent, abstract,
or non-existent states of affairs.” (emphasis original, Clark 2001, p.129). For
Clark, these kinds of representations are fundamentally necessary for activities
like planning the future or daydreaming. Building upon the connectionist
perspective by viewing the environment as an active resource that can play a role
in problem solving and viewing the body as part of the problem solving process
&ODUNSS
2QHRIWKHPDLQDVSHFWVWRWKH([WHQGHGPLQGWKHVLVEHDUVWKDWHIÀFLHQF\DQG
operation of the brain are increased by a variety of shortcuts that exploit the
surrounding environment: “[W]e are masters at structuring our physical and social
world so as to press complex coherent behaviours from these unruly resources.
We use intelligence to structure our environment so that we can succeed with
less intelligence. Our brains make the world smart so that we can be dumb in
SHDFHµ &ODUN S (PSKDVLVLQ WKH RULJLQDO 0DQ\ UHVHDUFKHUV KDYH
argued that mental shortcuts hinder rational reasoning. Clark, on the contrary,
contends that the shortcuts are necessary for human thought, the uniqueness of
human cognition resides precisely in our brains being able to make use of the
surrounding environment to complement our cognitive processes processes.
159
“The idea, in short, is that advanced cognition depends crucially on our

abilities to dissipate reasoning: to diffuse achieved knowledge and practical
wisdom through complex social structures, and to reduce the loads on
individual brains by locating those brains in complex webs of linguistic,
social, political, and institutional constraints”. (Clark 1997, p.180).
In contrast, the natural world shows many cases in which similar, yet distinctively
GLIIHUHQWSURFHVVHVWDNHSODFH1RERG\ZRXOGKRZHYHUFODLPWKDWWKHVXQÁRZHU
shows hard cognitive ability by following the sun (Clark 1997, p.46) What is the
limit, then, for this extension? While all organisms inhabiting the earth must
rely on physical interactions with the existing physical environment, including
present objects, us humans, are able to cognitively interact with the physical
environment. Dennett sums up this concept well: “The primary source [of our
greater intelligence]...Is our habit of off-loading as much as possible of our
cognitive tasks into the environment itself – extending our minds (that is, our
mental projects and activities) into the surrounding world” (Dennett 1996,
p.135)
.QRZQDOVRDVSURVSHFWLRQRUFKURQRVWKHVLDWKHDFWRIWKLQNLQJDERXWWKHIXWXUHLVFRQVLGHUHG
the prototypical example of self-projection. Otherwise known as “imagination” (Decety & Grèzes,
2006), ‘mental time travel’ (Wheeler, Stuss, & Tulving, 1997), “proscopic chronesthesia” ((Tulving,
7KHFRQWHPSRUDU\FRQFHSWRISURVSHFWLRQKDVHPHUJHGLQGLYHUVHÀHOGVRISV\FKRORJ\DQG
neuroscience, including decision making, navigation, memory, social cognition and animal cogni-
tion.
*YP[PJPZT;OL3PTP[VM,_[LUZPVU
Among the main criticisms to the extended mind thesis, there is the question of
causal externalities, “cognitive bloat”, or the mark of the mental, concern a too
large extension of the mind until it looses its intended meaning. Such debates
are of relevance when considering the application of extended mind theses to
our environmental coupling with the environment, and of added relevance to its
application to urban contexts. In example, Adams and Aizawa (2010) argue that
even if external aids do play a role in cognition, it is only contextual, enabling
or causal, and not constitutive in any way. This criticism has been dismissed by
Gallagher (Gallagher, 2013) as the “ causal coupling-constitution fallacy”, on
WKH JURXQGV WKDW WKHUH PXVW EH D ÀQH GLVWLQFWLRQ PDGH RQ WKH FDVHV LQ ZKHUH
externalities can be said to be necessary, and thus, constitutive of cognitive
capacities. The second criticism, “cognitve bloat” considers that whenever we
use external aids, they remain properly external since they are not own by us,
nor by our minds (ref) Gallagher again dismisses such criticism calling for a
UHGHÀQLWLRQ RI ZKDW GHÀQHV WKH HOHPHQWV RI D FRJQLWLYH SURFHVV LQ WHUPV RI
engagement rather than ownership. He moreover refers to Rupert’s (2009, p.
131) notions of “ densely interactive processes” – “ those in which the organism
and environment affect each other in an ongoing way,” as a satisfactory basis for
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RIZKDWLV´WLHGWRWKHVSHFLÀFNLQGRIHQJDJHPHQWWKDW·VLQYROYHGµRULQRGHU
160
words, enactive couplings.
The third criticism considers that we need a theory for a “mark of the cognitive”
(Adams & Aizawa, 2010) , in order to properly delimit what constitutes part
of the mind. Among proposed candidates for such a marker, “non-derived
content” (Adams & Aizawa, 2010) and intentionality (Menary, 2010), have been
SURSRVHG7KHSUREOHPVVHHPWREHUHLQVWDQWLDWHGIRUWKHGHÀQLWLRQVDQGWKHRULHV
of representational knowledge and of intentional mental processes are far from
being solved and agreed upon. In addition, such criticisms are easily rejected
on the emphasis placed by enactive approaches on the non-representational
sense-making nature of cognitive and affective processes (De Jaegher & Di Paolo,
2007)
:VJPHSS`,_[LUKLK*VNUP[PVU
Alongside the long dating sociological concern on the role of institutions in

shaping social life and individual experiential cognitive frames (e.g. Bourdieu,
*HRUJ6LPPHO WKHLUUROHLQH[WHQGLQJRXUFRJQLWLYHFDSDFLWLHVKDV
also been signalled. Legal systems, for instance, is among such institutions, often
*DOODJKHUXVHV/RFNH·V QRWLRQRIRZQHUVKLSE\ZRUNLQRUGHUWRGHIHDWLQKLVRZQWXUI

:LWKUHJDUGVWRLQWHQWLRQDOLW\VFKRODUVDQGUHVHDUFKHUVDPRQJZKRP+XVVHUO DQG
6HDUOH KDYHLQGHHGDUJXHGWKDWQRWDOOPHQWDOH[SHULHQFHVDUHQHFHVVDULO\LQWHQWLRQDO
Moreover, other researchers claim that intentionality remains entirely an internalistic concept: see,
e.g., Horgan & Tienson, 2002, chap. 49
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Such institutions are claimed to constitute social extension of our cognitive
capacities:
“If we think of the mind not as a repository of propositional attitudes

and information, or in terms of internal belief-desire psychology, but as
a dynamic process involved in solving problems and controlling behavior
and action –in dialectical, transformative relations with the environment
– then we extend our cognitive reach by engaging with tools, technologies,
but also with institutions. We create these institutions via our own (shared)
mental processes, or we inherit them as products constituted in mental
processes already accomplished by others. We then engage with these insti-
tutions – and in doing so, participate with others – to do further cognitive
work. These socially established institutions sometimes constitute, some-
times facilitate, and sometimes impede, but in each case enable and shape
our cognitive interactions with other people” (Gallagher, 2013)
:JHɈVSKPUN
“Niche construction models of evolution,(are) models which emphasise 161
the role of active agency in enhancing the adaptive fit between agent and
world. In the human case, much niche construction is epistemic: making
cognitive tools and assembling other informational resources that support
and scaffold intelligent action” (Sterelny, 2010a)
In clear convergence with both niche construction models (Odling-Smee,

Laland, & Feldman, 2013) and with the external mind thesis , Sterelny (Sterelny,
2010a), has developed the scaffolded mind hypothesis, proposing that human
cognitive capacities both depend on and have been transformed by environmental
resources. His theory clearly implies a non-internalist and non-nativist view
on human agency, for he considers the adaptive problems it confronts as too
variable in a time dimension (Sterelny 2003, 2006).
One of the differences concerns the defence of the parity principle. Sterelny
argues that “as external representations are stable, physically discrete, assessed
through perceptual systems and have representational properties that depend
partly on convention. So there must be precise functional differences between
the inner and the outer”(Sterelny, 2010a). Sterelny agrees, with John Sutton
(Sutton 2010), on makes on insisting on doing away with the limiting and
unessesary parity principle explicit, for the value of these tightly coupled external
6WHUHOQ\KDVIXUWKHUPRUHFRQWUDVWHGDQGFRPSDUHGWKLVDSSURDFKHVWR'DZNLQV·VFRQFHSWLRQRI
extended phenotypes (Dawkins ÀQDOO\FRQFOXGLQJWKDWLVWRHPSKDVLVHWKHHYROXWLRQDU\DQG
developmental similarities between extended and standard phenotypic traits.
resources resides in that they are “functionally distinct from, but complementary
to, internal resources”.
“Extended minds are more powerful not just because they are bigger, hav-
ing external as well as internal resources. They are more powerful through
differentiation and the division of labour. Thus, Sutton, building on Merlin
Donald, points out that externally encoded information is often discrete,
coded in representational vehicles which are stable and which are modality
and task independent. Memory and other forms of internal representation
often do not have these characteristics. Seen this way, we all have extended
minds. Cognitive extension is not restricted to external prosthetic substi-
tutes for now degraded internal resources” (Sterelny, 2010a).
Scaffolding is the concept proposed by Clark for those activities consisting of

mental off-loading. This concept builds on the work of Russian psychologist Lev
9\JRWVN\ 9\JRWVN\ ZKR HQXQFLDWHG ´=RQH RI SUR[LPDO GHYHORSPHQWµ
, arguing that experience with external structures could change and provide
information for processing and understanding in an individual. In his “007
Principle”, Clark further argues the point:
“In general, evolved creatures will neither store nor process information in
costly ways when they can use the structure of the environment and their
162 operations upon it as a convenient stand-in for the information-processing
operations concerned. That is, know only as much as you need to know to
get the job done.” (Clark 1989, p.64).
In considering the differences between extended and scaffolded mind, Sterelny

6WHUHOQ\E LGHQWLÀHVWKUHHGLPHQVLRQVRIWKHVFDIIROGHGPLQG,QZKLFK
each dimension corresponds to a functional relationship between a resource
and an agent, conceptualised in a continuous gradients in terms of degree. His
intention to provide is a multi-dimensional space of environmental resources
which amplify agent cognitive capacity. These are not meant to be the only
dimensions along which the scaffolded mind varies, but they arguably provide a
useful initial analytical tool.
Trust “Trust involves the agent’s assessment of the reliability of their access
to a resource and the reliability of the resource itself. Some cognitive
UHVRXUFHVDUHDXWRPDWLFDOO\WUXVWHGRWKHUVDUHXVHGLQDPRUHJXDUGHG
way. The more agents trust a resource, the less they will see themselves
as needing redundancy or other insurances against failure.” (Sterelny,
2010a p.473)
Interchangeability, individualization and entrenchment. Measuring in
7KLVPXOWLGLPHQVLRQDOVSDFHDULVHVIURPGLPHQVLRQDODQDO\VLVIUDPHZRUNERUURZHGIURPGod-
frey-Smith (2009)
a gradient from standardised and interchangeable to individualised
and entrenched, the degree to which the external cognitive resource
has been “customized” or made not interchangeable through a form
RIDSSURSULDWLRQWKDWUHVXOWVLQDORRSHGFRXSOHGDGDSWHGVSHFLÀFDWLRQ
of both agent and external resource. Sterleny offers as an example the
contrast between standardised regular kitchen knives and the highly
entrenched knives of a professional cook.
The individual and the collective. Sterelny proposes that it is fundamentally

different to have external resources which extend or enhance the
cognitive capacities of one individual or a group.
Sutton and Menary have distinguished between resource and component on

the grounds that the later must be functionally integrated into the cognitive
system. “The most critical, mind-and- brain-shaping environmental supports for
cognition are these cumulatively built, collectively provided tools for thinking,
tools that are provided to many or all of a generation by many or all of the
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>L:WHJL
Within the consideration of such external cognitive aids or components, the vast
163
majority of researchers usually consider either individual objects or intangible
social institutions or resources like language. Clearly, there is an absence of a
serious consideration of spatial dimension of such resources beyond their object
like dimension. While niche construction comes in different varieties (Sterelny,
FKDSWHU VXFKDVSK\VLFDOPRGLÀFDWLRQVRIWKHHQYLURQPHQWOLNHQHVWV
dams or shelters, thus also also involving inhabiting activities, there is little
treatment of space itself. This is also true of the scaffolding framework proposed
by Sterelny. A notable exception is the work of Tribble (Tribble, 2005) on the
Globe theatre, through Hutchin’s (1995) the theoretical model of distributed
cognition.
Another worth mentioning exception, the concept of we-space (Krueger, 2011),
has emerged from the idea that processes at the root of social cognition might
follow a similar principle and in fact, could be considered as a modality of
Extended Mind. This concept is based on co-presence as the face-to-face basic
mode of human sociality interaction with others who are physically co-present
=KDR DQG VHHNV ´WR HOXFLGDWH WKH VRFLDO VLJQLÀFDQFHR IDQRWKHU·V
bodily presence” (Krueger, 2011). Co-presence occurs within shared contexts
of interaction in which others become physically accessible and subject to one
another (Goffman, 1963, p. 22) p. 22). Accordingly, the social characteristics of
,Q3KHQRPHQRORJ\DVWULNLQJO\VLPLODUQRWLRQLVUHIHUUHGWRDVWUDQVSDUHQF\ 3UHHVWHU ´$

certain resource becomes transparent in its use when it is not noted anymore, or when it is noted
EXWQRWLQWKHVDPHZD\DVREMHFWVQRUPDOO\DUHUDWKHULWEHFRPHVLQFRUSRUDWHGLQWRRQH·VDFWLQJ
self. Merleau-Ponty (1962) famously talked of the integration of tools (e.g., the blind person’s cane)
into one’s corporeal schema (schéma corporel)--the set of tacit skills that characterize action in the
world, and which structure one’s experience--in virtue of the role they play in supporting habitual
actions.” (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014)
FRSUHVHQFHDUHDQFKRUHGLQWKHVSDWLDOLW\RIWKHERG\ *LGGHQVS
“In one sense, ‘’we-space” is simply body-centric action-space. Recent neu-

ropsychological research has explored distinctions between different forms
of sensorimotor, action-space: personal space (inhabited by the subject’s
body, comprised of proprioceptive and tactile information); peripersonal
space (immediately surrounding the subject’s body, structured by the mul-
timodal integration of visual, auditory, and tactile information); and ex-
tra-personal space (just outside of the subject’s immediate reach, structured
by visual and auditory information)(Cardinali, Brozzoli, & Farnè, 2009;
Legrand, Brozzoli, Rossetti, & Farnè, 2007) . Most of this research focuses
on how multisensory representations of body-centric space are integrat-
ed and what sort of role these representations play in action execution.”
(Krueger, 2011).
The concept of we-space stands for the idea that social cognition is in essence,
an interactive form of space management, and that many actions of expressive
character that partake in it, such as gesture, touch, facial and whole-body
expressions, etc.) “drive basic processes of interpersonal understanding and thus
do genuine social-cognitive work”. (Krueger, 2011). Krueger’s concept of we-
space emphasizes that non-neural scaffolding is essential to understand situated
cognitive processes, the same way that social cognition cannot be reduced to the
164 individual. The fact that social cognition, is said to be extended cognition and
LGHQWLÀHGWRHPHUJHIURPWKHLQWHUDFWLRQSURFHVVEULQJVWKLVWKHRU\FORVHWRWKH
postulates of other theories stressing the interactive and non-linear dynamics,
such as SIRN or participatory sense-making.
Some social cognitive processes are therefore partially driven by and composed
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to individual, intracranial mechanisms but instead emerges from within the
dynamics of the interactive process itself.
2.3.6 Extending Emotions
The trouble with artificial intelligence
is that computers don’t give a damn!
John Haugeland (1998 p. 47).
Extended mind theory, a currently much discussed approach in the philosophy

of cognitive science, revolves around the claim that some of our mental processes
are physically realized in part by structures or processes in our environment
&ODUN&ODUN &KDOPHUV0HQDU\ 8VXDOO\SURYLGHGDVDQ
example, notebooks ( such as in the famous case of Otto) and other external
devices even like smartphones ( as in Clark’s later examples), are said to extend
not only our functional, or motor capacities, but also our own cognitive system.
Accordingly, these devices and any other external aid is said to genuinely extend
our minds if their are effectively and reliably coupled when performing cognitive
tasks.
The idea is that by “coupling” in such a way, the perform a reciprocal causal
interaction that not only extends, our cognitive systems in a physical way, but
actually enhances them. One of the results of this “coupling” is, thus, that we are
able to perform certain cognitive tasks that we could not perform otherwise in
165
the same manner without these aids. Thus, the condition for effective coupling
is that
Once we have broken the barrier of our own skins and bones, so to speak, the
limits of what can be considered to extend our minds is still on debate.
“As candidates for further mind extensions are various features of embod-
iment, forms of agency--such as action that adaptively re-structures one’s
epistemic environment, certainly language, and even social institutions
such as the legal system (see Gallagher & Crisafi, 2009)” (Von Scheve &
Salmella, 2014)
Jonathan Haidt (2001), under an evolutionary perspective that regards artifacts

and institutions as tools for amplifying our capacities for survival and progress,
has also considered how evolved artefacts, institutions, social structures, and
WHFKQRORJLHVFKDQJHWKHHPRWLRQDOSURÀOHRIDFXOWXUH+HQRWHVWZRPDLQZD\V
WKLV LQÁXHQFH WDNHV SODFH WKH LQWHJUDWLRQ RI HPRWLRQDO V\VWHPV ZLWK VRFLDO
institutions, and the way innovations in technology, social structure, or social
institutions may bypass certain emotional mechanisms, making those emotions
less prevalent in a society.
“Humans have developed an enormous variety of artefacts and technolog-

ical solutions to the problems of survival, reproduction, and group gover-
nance. For example, the invention of weaponry, walls, and towns largely
solves the problem of predator-avoidance and reduces the need for primor-
dial fear reactions towards non-human animals, although such technologi-
cal developments may then create new reasons to fear other people. Social
institutions are a related means by which humans solve ancient problems.”
(Dacher Keltner & Haidt, 2001),
While theorising on Extended Mind had been silent with regards to emotion
and affective states , given that most of its proponents agree with the postulates
of a separation between cognitive and qualitative experiential states, some
researchers like G. Colombetti and J. Krueger (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014)
and J. Slaby (Jan Slaby, 2014)have recently proposed affective phenomena as
FDQGLGDWHV IRU H[WHQGHG FRJQLWLYH SURFHVVHV PRUH SUHFLVHO\ GHÀQHG E\ HDFK
researcher as affectivity or emotionality respectively.
The novelty resides in an embracing an enactive approach to affective phenomena

and cognition that surpasses the limitations of the proponents of and adherents
to extended mind thesis, who sustain that while all or most of what belongs to an
individual’s cognition may be distributed widely among the technical and social
environment, they consider conscious experience to be exclusively a matter of
processes in the brain (Clark, 2009). In this respect Slaby proposes a transition
from enactive to non-trivially extended emotion in terms of phenomenal coupling.
166
In a recent proposal considering the Colombetti and Krueger (2014)have
considered integrating the scaffolding dimensions proposed by Sterleny (2010a)
as a manner of further elaborating on an extended enactive approach to affectivity.
Three distinct forms of entrenchment have been proposed: entrenchment into
the corporeal schema (when it is implicitly integrated into one’s bodily activities
VXFK WKDW LW LV QRW H[SHULHQFHG DV D VHSDUDWH REMHFW EXW DV SDUW RI RQHVHOI
entrenchment into the body image (a material resource can also be integrated
into the “body image,” the sense we have of how our body appears to others
*DOODJKHU LH FORWKLQJ RU KDQGEDJ DQG SHUIRUPDWLYH HQWUHQFKPHQW
(not experienced as an external object, but as an integrated part of what Legrand
(2007), calls the performative body. i.e.: musician’s instrument)
Colombetti and Krueger have reinterpreted Sterelny’s dimensions as applied to

affectivity and proposed to apply them to two types of scaffolding: material
sacffolding and interpersonal scaffolding (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014):
4H[LYPHSZJHɈVSKPUN
Trust.
In terms of affectivity, trust applies when some we rely on some resources for us
WRDTXLUHDFHUWDLQDIIHFWLYHVWDWHRUHPRWLRQ LQWKHVHQVHWKDWZHDUHFRQÀGHQW
of their effect) Arguably this usually applies to aids that help us feel better, e.g.:
HPRWLRQDOLW\XQGHUVWRRGDVWKH´JHQHUDOFDSDFLW\IRUH[SHULHQFLQJGLVWLQFWHPRWLRQDOVWDWHVRU
processes” (Jan Slaby, 2014)
happier or less stressed, but not only.90 An important aspect is that such dimension
of affective scaffolding need not be conscious91 or intentional in terms of attentive
awareness (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014). They propose the many ways in which
our material culture, e.g.: music, partake in our attainment of certain affective
states through “ acting on different aspects or “components” of our affective
states--such as bodily processes (typically, changes in autonomic nervous system
activity, expression, and behaviour), action readiness (dispositions or tendencies
WR DFW LQ VSHFLÀF ZD\V FRJQLWLYH HYDOXDWLRQV RU ´DSSUDLVDOVµ DQG IHHOLQJV RU
phenomenal experiences (Scherer, 2009).” (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014) page
$QRWKHUUHÁHFWLRQRIUHOHYDQFHIRUWKLVWKHVLVUHIHUVWRWKHFRQVLGHUDWLRQ
of other material non-portable items, such as cinemas concert halls and others.
0RUHRYHUWKLVUHÁHFWLRQFRXOGHYHQWXDOO\EHH[WHQGHGWRQDWXUHDQGLQGHHGDOO
kinds of either social and solitary spaces that may have a soothing or invigorating
effect. The main issue at stake then, seems to be accessibility rather than
portability. But are we talking about the reliance of a person on a material object
or to the sum of social interactions that apply therein? Can we assume that the
dimension of trust in affective scaffolding can be applied to an event? For when
we talk about concert halls or any other large space where a certain performance,
it is not just the building but what goes on inside. The same can then be agued for
markets, shopping malls, public squares or a seaside promenade. In that sense
WKHUHLVDSHQGLQJUHÁHFWLRQRQWKHH[DFWFRPSRQHQWVRIVXFKODUJHREMHFWVRU
I rather say, spaces, where there seems to be sort of synthesis, as it were, of the
167
activities, the material dimensions of that activity, the social encounters, all of
them functional to make a certain affective state available to an individual. In
the case of certain collective rituals, such as religious rituals or electronic music
raves, the “ecstatic” euphoria is enacted or made available by such synthesis in
interchangeable places, given that there are a certain number of other elements
that remain invariable or, in any case, within levels of familiarity so to allow for
that trust to happen.
,QGLYLGXDOL]DWLRQDQG(QWUHQFKPHQW
Here again, while the original meaning implied by Sterleny mainly refers to
the degree to which a resource has been adapted to one’s purposes and regular
activities. Here again music is chosen as a particular enlightening example,
IRU ´ P XVLF GRHV QRW VLPSO\ HOLFLW HPRWLRQV WKDQNV WR LWV WHPSRUDO FKDUDFWHU
music helps vent or give voice to emotions, “articulating” them as the music
unfolds (DeNora, 2000)” (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014). In this sense a musical
instrument can illustrate adequately how a professional musician makes use of a
highly individualized and entrenched affective resource.
90 . such as in the case of people . Beyond a clinical or moralistic reading of such cases, we must
contemplate the complexity of the emotional landscape of what make us feel good, understanding
WKDWLWGHSDVVHVÁDWDQGVLPSOLVWLFYHUVLRQV
91 . This opens an interesting line of research, inviting us to assess whether Bourdieu’s habitus,
FRXOGHIIHFWLYHO\EHFRQVLGHUHGWREHDUDFHUWDLQOHYHORIWUXVW,IVRWKHLQÁXHQFHRIVRFLDOLQVWLWX-
tions in shaping our lives through latent action would obviously not only be limited to cognitive
schemas but to affective ones as well, potentially even blurring clear cut borders in terms of and
challenging us to consider a certain dimension of willingness in terms of affective trust. In example,
PDQ\SHRSOHFOHDUO\ÀQGUXWLQDU\DFWLYLWLHVDPRQJZKLFKZRUNLQJDFWLYLWLHVFRPIRUWLQJDQGDS-
peasing at the same time they dread them.
“ (...) Cristina Ortiz said in an interview at the 2012 Leeds International
Piano Competition: Somebody took a piano from me, it would be my
death, because I live through the piano. Whatever happens in my life--de-
pression, pressure, happiness, or the loss of mother or father . . . --I go to
the piano, and my soul comes through [the] pieces I choose to portray that
emotion. (BBC Radio 3, 2012).” (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014, p. 1164)
Colombetti and Krueger enlarge the scope of the notion of entrenchment by

introducing phenomenological distinctions in order to help distinguish between
GLIIHUHQWNLQGVHQWUHQFKPHQWLQWRWKHFRUSRUHDOVFKHPDHQWUHQFKPHQWLQWRWKH
ERG\ LPDJH DQG SHUIRUPDWLYH HQWUHQFKPHQW ´)LUVW VRPHWKLQJ LV HQWUHQFKHG
into the “corporeal schema” when it is implicitly integrated into one’s bodily
activities such that it is not experienced as a separate object, but as part of
oneself (see section 2). Like the corporeal schema, the integrated resource is
SUHUHÁHFWLYHLHQRWH[SOLFLWO\DWWHQGHGWRRUUHÁHFWHGXSRQ HYHQWKRXJKLW
could become so with a shift of attention) (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014, p. 1164)
“Second, a material resource can also be integrated into the “body image,”
the sense we have of how our body appears to others (Gallagher, 2005). For
example, consider how this image can change depending on what we wear-
-a smart suit can make one feel self-assured and businesslike, a short skirt
168 can make one feel provocative or, depending on the context, exposed and
vulnerable (Woodward, 2006). Again, Kaufmann’s (2011) study shows
that some women choose their handbag not so much on the basis of how
it looks, but how it looks on them. The handbag corresponds to, and com-
pletes, a certain self-styled body image: “I have chosen [my handbag] as a
prolongation of my silhouette for a perfect image” (Kaufmann, 2011, p.
124).
3HUIRUPDWLYHHQWUHQFKPHQW
It refers to a form or entrenchment “where the item in question is neither entirely
transparent nor experienced like an external object”, but rather as part of what
Legrand (2007) characterises as the performative body. Here again, the example
provided is a professional musician’s relation to her instrument in contrast with
a blind person’s one with her cane. The difference resides in the that the musician
ends up by not noticing the instrument, by acquiring sensorimotor automatisms
and only how she plays. The blind person’s cane is, on th other hand, something
through which the person perceives
“As Legrand characterizes it, the performative body is neither entirely

transparent nor an intentional object of experience. Rather, it is the body
as experienced during the skilful performance of a specific activity. In these
cases, one need not deliberatively attend to one’s body--but one is nev-
ertheless still very much aware of its presence and activity, primarily via
pre-reflective proprioceptive and kinaesthetic sensations, that is, sensations
of bodily position and movement that are not, but could become, explic-
itly attended to”.
0U[LYWLYZVUHSZJHɈVSKPUN
Trust
It is suggested to be in a direct proportional relationship with familiarity at the
interpersonal level. Intimacy or affective bonding is thus argued to happen with
a sort of affective feedback. The dimension of trust is here considered to be
directly proportional to familiarity between people. The bonding that comes with
LQWLPDF\ UHVSRQGV WR D PHFKDQLVP RI DIIHFWLYH IHHGEDFN 7KLV UHÁHFWV LQ KRZ
we approach other depending on whether we know them and have certainty
about their behaviour. If we know somebody well our trust of them increases
for we know what to expect from them. This mechanism induces people to rely
or anticipate each other fro affective scaffolding, like calling a family mamber
for calming down in a situation of stress. Colombetti further notes that this
interpersonal scaffolding does not require conscious or aware expectation.
2Q WKH FRQWUDU\ ©WUXVW LV RIWHQ D PDWWHU RI SUHUHÁHFWLYH SDWWHUQV RI UHOLDQFH ©
(Colombetti & Krueger, 2014, pag 1164) that emerge in a bottom up manner.
Examples of that are the «audience effect» and «social manifestation»(Wilson,
2004). These mechanisms signal the constitutive social dimension of emotions.
They also suggest alternative “bottom-up” mechanisms of emotional contagion, 169

ZKLFK DUH ODUJHO\ DXWRPDWLF 3DUNLQVRQ HW DO LQ &RORPEHWWL .UXHJHU
2014)), and audience effect, like in the case of smiling whne facing others
Fernández-Dols & Ruiz-Belda, 1997; Kraut & Johnston, 1979LQ&RORPEHWWL .UXHJHU
2014)
,QGLYLGXDWLRQDQG(QWUHQFKPHQW
Colombetti and Krueger suggest to apply this dimension to the « degree to
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Merleau-Ponty (1962) identify as an individual’s bodily-affective style: their
overall characteristic manner of comportment, including distinctive ways of
speaking, gesturing, and moving (Meacham, 2013). Important for our purposes is
WKHIDFWWKDWRQH·VVW\OHLVQRWÀ[HGUDWKHUZHH[KLELWGLIIHUHQWVW\OHVLQGLIIHUHQW
niches » (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014, p. 1164).
For example, contrast how one’s style transforms when teaching a class-
room full of undergraduates, say, with interacting with one’s partner or
children, meeting professional colleagues for the first time, or going out for
the evening with a group of old friends. Certain styles only seem to mani-
fest--to useWilson’s (2004) term again--when scaffolded by the presence of
specific social groups. (Colombetti & Krueger, 2014, p. 1167)
2.3.6 Complex Emergent Order:
Participatory Sense Making and
:ÙLYNL[PJ0U[LY9LWYLZLU[H[PVUHS
Networks
A conversation has a life of its own and makes demands on its own behalf.
It is a little social system with its own boundary maintaining tendency
ߊ Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior.
1972
Among the many theories that have recently aboarded the, two deserve closer
attention, as they constitute potential . In both cases major emphasis is placed
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the outcome. In addition, both approaches can be said to pertain to a common
broad sensitivity with regards to complexity.
Participatory Sense Making (De Jaegher & Di Paolo, 2007) is a theory that emerges
from an inter-enactive approach to agency, and argues that “the behaviour of
agents in a social situation unfolds not only according to their individual abilities
170 and goals, but also according to the conditions and constraints imposed by the
autonomous dynamics of the interaction process itself “.
One of the main implications of sense-making is active engagement. As the

authors point out, it is an activity and not a passive reception and processing of
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YDOXHRQO\DIWHUIXUWKHUSURFHVVLQJµ 'H-DHJKHU 'L3DRORS
“Natural cognitive systems do not build ‘pictures’ of their world (accurate

or not). They engage in the generation of meaning in what matters to
them and enact a world. The notion of sense-making grounds a relational
and affect-laden process of regulated exchanges between an organism and
its environment in biological organization. Binding affect and cognition
together at the origins of mental activity, metabolism creates a perspective
of value on the world.” 92 (De Jaegher & Di Paolo, 2008, p. 4).
6HQVHPDNLQJFDQEHVDLGWRSRUWUD\RUGHÀQHVRPHJHQHUDOGLPHQVLRQRIWKH
interwoven coupling of a congizer agent and her world. In anycase, it constiues
an upgrade of a higher order than what is just conveyed by the ususal univocal
descriptions of perception or even, action. These latter are considered by these
92 The authors note that “this idea has been defended by Hans Jonas(1966) and elaborated scien-
WLÀFDOO\LQWHUPVRIWKHWKHRU\RIDXWRSRLHVLV 0DWXUDQD9DUHOD 8ULEH µ
authors a small specialized component or element of what is described by Sense-
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,QWHUDFWLYHDXWRQRP\
$QRWKHULPSRUWDQWLPSOLFDWLRQUHJDUGVWKDWRUJDQLVPVFDVWDZHERIVLJQLÀFDQFH
on their world (Evan Thompson, 2007). Regulating the interaction with the
environment, that is to say situated behaviour, has for purpose the maintenance
of the identity, and endorses the agent with a perspective of the world. If we
apply such principles to the manner in which we cognize and behave in urban
space, we derive that the very identity emerges out of the interaction with such
environment, as well as the meaning of the environment itself.
This regulative process provides the organism with a perspective on the

world, which is inseparable from the agent being a centre of activity in the
world [4, 7, 10, 12, 13]. Being a cognitive system means that exchanges
with the world are inherently significant for the cogniser who engages in
the creation and appreciation of meaning or sense-making in short. Like
few ideas in the past, this naturalised dimension of significance strikes at
the heart of what is to be cognitive. (De Jaegher & Di Paolo, 2008, p. 5).
The authors have considered the implications of this inter-enactive approach to 171
agency for our understanding of social phenomena in a broader sense, and in
addition to a theory of larger-scale social processes. The property of autonomy,
which has been described in colloquial terms as «taking a life of its own», “may
EH HQFRXQWHUHG DV DQ RUJDQL]LQJ HQDEOLQJ DQG FRQVWUDLQLQJ LQÁXHQFH RQ
the unfolding events of the interaction from the perspective of the interacting
individual agents.”
As probably the best non-verbal example so far, De Jaegher and Di Paolo (2007)
present the all too familiar situation of coming across somebody walking in the
corridor in the opposite direction. In such circumstances it is customary to try to
step aside in order to make way for the other person, but often arrives that the
other also steps aside at the same time and so starts a sort of funny dance on
synchronous sidesteps in which this repeats agan and again until one ends up
making a conscious effort to break such undesired interaction process and lets
the other pass.
,Q IDFW -DHJKHU DQG 'L 3DROR SURSRVH WKDW D GLVWLQFW IHDWXUH RI VRFLDO
interaction is its (temporary) tendency to sustain an encounter through patterns
of coordination . As such, the many gestures and interjection we use when talking
to other are intended to facilitating the continuation of the conversation. Most
importantly, «these sustained dynamics in turn constrain the range of possible
coordination patterns that are likely to happen due to the fact that interactors
are susceptible to change plastically as a consequence of the interaction history».
The interaction can happen to sustain itself until it is interrupted from the
outside (here the participants are consider the environment for the process of
LQWHUDFWLRQ 6XFKRUJDQL]DWLRQSDWWHUQGHÀQHVWKHDXWRQRP\RIWKHSURFHVVLWVHOI
We are thus faced with a self-perpetuating social interaction process,

whereby the conversational nature of the situation co-constitutes the in-
dividualࡒ s gestures, and the individualࡒ s gestures co-constitute the con-
versational nature of the situation. But does it really make sense to give
a co-constitutive role to the structure of the inter-individual interaction
process itself? How do we know that we are not simply dealing with the
linear sum of the individual gestures? (De Jaegher & Di Paolo, 2007)
Not only physical material but also cultural norms in their most basic fom of
inter-individual interaction processes bear the potential to become autonomous
structures in themselves, and that these relational structures can play a
constitutive role for the enaction of individual actions (De Jaegher and Froese
7RUUDQFH DQG )URHVH DVN ©+RZ FDQ ZH VFLHQWLÀFDOO\ JUDVS WKH
notion that an inter-individual interaction process is not just constituted by the
actions of several interacting individuals, but that this whole interaction process
itself is also constitutive of the actions of those individuals as well?»
172 It is argued, alongside other theories in social sciences, that interaction is a

irreducible level of analysis. Therefore, it is more than the sum of individual
behaviours since individuals co-emerge as interactors contemporaneously with
WKHLQWHUDFWLRQ -DHJKHU 'L3DROR
In conclusion, PSM represents an attempt at addressing social cognition from an

enactive perspective, «in terms of the embodiment of interaction using the concept
of coordination, in terms of the shifting and emerging levels of autonomous
identity and in terms of joint sense-making and its experience»(Hanne De Jaegher
(]HTXLHO 'L 3DROR 7KH DXWKRUV KDYH SRLQWHG RXW WKH FRQVHTXHQFHV
that the adoption of such theory could endorse for the study, in particular for
addressing social contingency.
SIRN
Combining different frameworks of a seemingly disparate origin, like laser physics,
urban geography, cognitive science and information science, Herman Haken and
-XYDO3RUWXJDOL +DNHQ 3RUWXJDOL3RUWXJDOL3RUWXJDOL +DNHQ
2015), have proposed the theory of Synergetic Inter-representational Networks.93
This theory arrives a similar conclusions on the autonomous structure of an
interaction process. SIRN emerges as a theory of human-human-environment
interactions framed under the principles postulated by complexity sciences and
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LQSDUWLFXODUE\KLVQRWLRQVRILPSOLFDWHDQGH[SOLFDWHRUGHURQWKHRWKHUE\+DNHQ·V DE
V\QHUJHWLFVDSSURDFKWRVHOIRUJDQL]DWLRQ,WZDVRULJLQDOO\GHYHORSHGKRZHYHULQWKHFRQ-
WH[WRI3RUWXJDOL·V ,PSOLFDWH5HODWLRQV6RFLHW\DQG6SDFHLQWKH,VUDHOL3DOHVWLQLDQ&RQÁLFWµ
ERUURZLQJWKHEDVHVRIWKHLUPRGHOIURPWKHWKHRU\RIV\QHUJHWLFV +DNHQ
and Inter-representational Networks (Portugali 1996). In continuation with IRN
«the cognitive system in general, and the one associated with cognitive maps in
particular», is assumed to «extend beyond the individual’s mind/ brain into the
external environment». This is managed through the articulation of a network
of individual and collective cognitive elements, named internal and external
representations. Internal representations refer to entities constructed by the
brain that represent information of the external environment, while external
representations to entities constructed by means of humans’ mimetic, linguistic
and artefact-making capabilities that represent information generated by the
mind/brain. External representations are, therefore, the product of the ability of
humans to externally represent ideas, emotions, and thoughts.
Synergetics adds to the notion of IRN the view that the brain/mind, cogni-
tion, cognitive mapping, and the interaction between internal and external
representations, are all complex self-organizing systems that evolve in line
with the principles of synergetics. SIRN is thus a model and a theory that
casts IRN into the formalism of synergetics (Haken and Portugali 1996).
SIRN stands s a combination of two different traditions: The psychological

173
and geographical traditions, on the one hand, which focused, like mainstream
cognitive sciences, on the brain’s information processing, and the urban-
architectural tradition, on the other hand, which has focused prioritarily
on the properties that make the external environment «legible». Haken and
Portugali argue SIRN to «integrate the psychological and geographical traditions
of cognitive mapping studies, with their urban-architectural tradition. The
psychological and geographical traditions, in line with mainstream cognitive
sciences, were interested mainly in the way the mind/brain process information.
The urban-architectural tradition, on the other hand, was interested mainly in
the properties of the external environment that make it «legible».
Recently , these authors have provided seven main propositions, namely:
Humans have an innate capability for representation that comes in two

forms: internal and external (1). This shows up in many cognitive tasks
that evolve as a sequential interaction between internal and external rep-
resentations (2). Representations enfold, and convey quantitative (Shan-
nonian) and qualitative (semantic) information (3), and they coexist in
implicate and explicate relations (4), in a way reminiscent of the relations
between genotype and phenotype (5). From propositions 1-5 follows that
the boundaries of the cognitive system should be perceived as distinct from
the boundaries of the brain/skull and the body/skin (6). The above net-
work of internal and external representations emerges as a self-organizing
system. Its dynamics is best captured by Haken’s synergetic approach to
self-organization (7). (J Portugali, 2002)
One of the main differences between SIRN and Participatory Sense-Making reside
primarily in the underlying model of cognition. While SIRN embraces clearly
an information processing paradigm, together with relying on different kind of
representations (internal and external), Participatory Sense-Making, as a theory
derived from enactive approach to cognition and biology of cognition, postulates
as radically different as noted above ( see preceding point and preceding section)
But, on the other hand, both theories embrace an emergent and interactive
regime of cognition, and a constructive and participatory production of meaning.
In both cases, the meaning ascribed to the environmental situation is dependant
upon the interaction process. Moreover, this interaction process bears a strong
autonomy. In the case of PSM, this autonomy is directly argued for, and explicitly
enunciated.
I shall argue that, while different in their formalization , and apart from
WKHLU GHÀQLWHO\ GLIIHUHQW WKHRUHWLFDO IUDPLQJ ERWK 6,51 DQG 360 FRQVLVW RQ D
very similar postulate.In fact, I will moreover argue that if one looks beyond
the and pay closer attention to the description of the underlying functioning
mechanisms, the difference remains largely contextual and cultural rather that
SURSHUO\WKHRUHWLFDOO\MXVWLÀHG7KHGLIIHUHQFHVLQWKHWUHDWPHQWRILQIRUPDWLRQ
through representations in the case of SIRN, or by the enaction of a world
WKURXJKSKHQRPHQDOFRXSOLQJLQWKHFDVHRI360GHÀQLWHO\SRLQWWRDFRQYHUJHQW
174 autonomy of the interaction process, an emergent and contingent meaning,
and a coordination between agents through largely unconscious or non-willing
participation mechanism due to that autonomy of the process itself.
The enslaving principle of SIRN, borrowed from synergetics can be said to

explain the coordination dynamics that PSM ascribes to the autonomy (self-
organization in SIRN’s terminology) of the interaction process. The use of those
external cognitive elements, such as artefacts, that are able to not only off-load
UHSUHVHQWLQ6,51·VWHUPLQRORJ\ EXWÀ[LQDQLQWHULQGLYLGXDODFFHVVLEOHZD\
concepts or ideas that are participated by others through the interaction process.
It would be important to stress that in my understanding, those representations
GR QRW VWDQG IRU YHULWDEOH FRGLÀHG VXPPDULHV RI ZKDW JRHV RQ EXW DUH D
construction of meaning, in a very enactive sense. Their artefactual nature stands
for such manufactured and dynamic status. I shall not dwell here deeper into the
discussion on wether the theories stand on mutually exclusive epistemological
grounds. However, such debate on the suitability of the term representation
seems to me to belong more to a difference in culture (Snow, 1961) than to an
LQVXUPRXQWDEOHVSHFLÀFGLIIHUHQFHLQRSHUDWLRQDOWHUPV
It would seem agreeable and adequate to consider that such principles of

interaction may happen not only in terms of a cold cognitive dimension, but
endorse also affective processes in coherence with the embodied and enactive
perspective.
In light of the reviewed research postulates, it does not seem plausible to account
for our levels of cognitive accomplishments by only addressing the processes
that happen inside our heads alone. One of the musts in order to engage in
any cognitive research remains to take into account the cognitive roles of the
social and the material world. Accordingly, the fundamentally intertwined and
mutually constitutive dynamic interaction between individuals and their physical
and social environment bears consequences on the way we might conceive of
our cognitive/affective processes, and model the cognitive tasks at stake. The
extending vector proposed by the extended mind thesis should be grounded on a
proper enactive embodiment as Colombetti and Slaby remind us.
Additionally, in coherence with the conclusions of the preceding sub-chapter,

affective phenomena can be said to constitute extended embodied enactive
appraisals, although the degree and role granted to bodily states as representations
remains open to discussion. It may seem that there are two main approaches for
this that depart on the exact extent and reach of such embodied appraisals. On
the one hand, we have the view defended by Prinz and Colombetti, by which
emotions constitute appraisals to the extent they are images of bodily changes
with respect to our well-being, but they do not represent inferences on the 175
preceding causal chain of events leading to elicitation of emotions. On the other
hand, in line with previous lines of research in positive psychology, emotions are
taken to be appraisals with representational content.
Certain objects in the environment can be said to both afford certain actions,
enhancing our interaction with the environment, and to also be considered,
once involved in the active process of seizing, elements that are constitutive our
cognitive and affective processes. Several questions remain open, concerning the
H[WHQW DQG GHÀQLWLRQ RI WKH ERUGHU IRU ZKLFK HQYLURQPHQWDO HOHPHQWV FDQ EH
said to extend our affective enactive cognition, if the nature of aggregate objects,
such as social groups, diffuses or dissolves this status of tools for thinking/
feeling. Also, about the exact modalities by which these elements perform in
our cognitive while at the same time remaining independent external objects
that can also be used, appropriated or ignored for other activities simultaneously.
How can they be said to partake in our cognitive affective appraisal? One answer
comes from the theory of scaffolding, which details the dimensions by which such
external elements may extend our capacities to think or feel. These dimensions,
QDPHO\HQWUHQFKPHQWLQGLYLGXDWLRQDQGFROOHFWLYHLQGLYLGXDOXVHSURYLGHÀQH
grain analytical tools for understanding the modes by which external entities,
of either inert physical or animate social nature, are, so to speak, incorporated
as non-substitutable parts. Advances in considering material and interpersonal
scaffolding, and most notably its application to lar. Despite these insights, there
is no substantial discussion on its application to urban context through the very
quality that differentiates it from single objects or practices: urbanity. I believe,
however, that dwelling on these postulates and theories, a discussion on whether
certain urban elements and qualities, namely urban spaces in terms of spatial
integration and provision of alterity and experiential qualities derived from
LWV VLWXDWHGQHVV UHVSHFWLYHO\ FDQ VXUHO\ EHQHÀW ERWK NQRZOHGJH RQ H[WHQGHG
cognition and affectivity, and knowledge on urbanity.
A second answer, the theories of Synergetic Interrepresentatonal Networks

(SIRN) and Participatory Sense-Making (PSM), constitute valuable attempts at
describing and formalizing theories that account for the autonomous (PSM) and
self-organized (SIRN) nature of human-human-environment interactions. SIRN
proposes a dynamic and mutually constitutive principle of interaction, between
internal and external representations (or manufactured meanings if we want
WR ÀQG D QRWLRQ WKDW DYRLGV WKH FRQWURYHUV\ RQ UHSUHVHQWDWLRQDO NQRZOHGJH
by which certain higher order, such as an opinion, a general shared mood or a
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and participated nature of the social interaction process, paying less attention to
the role of external artefacts. One thing to notice is that by virtue of the enslaving
principled detailed in SIRN, some of these higher orders in some cases could be
said to emerge through a continuous process that is necessarily participated of,
appearing thus to emerge in a naturalistic or seamless fashion. In such cases
the principle proposed by SIRN would very much coincide in some key aspects
176 with those processes explained by theories of practice on the cognitive shaping
properties of latent action.
177
178
2.4 Problematization:
Research Questions and
Hypotheses 179
Any comprehension is a machine for the production of new questions.

The enunciation of a problem is the enunciation of our critical curiosity
-- W. Jorisberg
The aim of this chapter is to provide a problematization of the theories, methods
and concepts reviewed in the previous chapters 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3.
7R WKLV DLP LQ WKH ÀUVW VHFWLRQ © 7KUHH 3RVLWLRQ RI 'HSDUWXUHª , ÀUVW
recapitulate on by framing the approach to the problem of the cognition of
the urban through three complementary positions: «2.4.2.1 From Power to
Structure. Situated Engagement», «2.4.2.2 Urbanity. Cognizing Heterogeniety»,
and «2.4.2.3 Enactive Approach to Agency».
The following section «2.4.3 Mobilized Concepts» presents in a succint manner
the concepts that are mobilized as tools of enquiry and rendered operational
in the research question laid in the last section «2.4.4 Research Questions and
Hypothesis»
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-YVT7V^LYHUK:[Y\J[\YL[V:P[\H[LK,UNHNLTLU[
Following a commonly practiced line of reasoning in the social sciences, it might
180 be tempting to reduce this enquiry on the relationship between space and agency
into a well-worn equating of Structure= physical objects and built forms and
Agency= human behaviour. Moreover, it is equally tempting to follow a related,
but slightly more decanted path that develops the idea in terms of freedom
and power. Such approach may easily fall into the cliché, namely, the built
environment would somehow come to «work» for the overall hegemonic socio-
economic order, while resistance and freedom my only be found in individual or
sometimes collective activities.
In fact, one might as well argue the opposite. It is through the highly
institutionalized human relations, which constitute the embodying essence of
institutions, that human free will is constrained and delimited. Turning our
attention to developing an alternative line of reasoning, we soon realize many
indices pointing to that direction. To begin with, as Carl Schmitt (1921) puts it
« there are no political ideas without a space to which they can be referred, as
there are no spaces or spatial principles to which no political ideas correspond»
(Cavalletti, 2005). This statement by Schmitt represents a radical and
unavoidable principle, for it reveals a spatial reason in every political philosophy,
as well as it unveils the philosophical political «tenore» of «any research that
wishes to remain referred to a neutral and predetermined concept of space»
(Cavalletti, 2005).
In this second part of the thesis I developed an approach towards a more

entangled vision that shifts the focus attention from such polarized views (agents
vs structure) to what I would call situated engagement. With this view I conceive
of individuals as spatially and socially situated, meaning that they are constituted
in the regime of interactions with their environment. Consequently, I hold that
the conditions of such situatedness are key for understanding the extents of the
modalities and nature of human agency. This view does not strip humans of an
individual character, but sees them through the lens of their living engagement,
understood as the ontological grounds for agency of both individuals and groups.
In addition, situated engagement can be said to «encourage noisy and unruly
engagement in situated, material, discursive and conceptual places». It therefore
requires a particular ethical opening up, in coherence with the Levinasian notion
of «situated availability» (Rose, 1999).
“Such approach informed by the past (in its “iterational” or habitual as-
pect) but also oriented toward(s) the future (as a “projective”capacity to
imagine alternative possibilities) and toward(s) the present (as a “practi-
cal-evaluative” capacity to contextualize past habits and future projects
within the contingencies of the moment)” (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998)
Accordingly, this view of agency grants importance to socio-spatial modalities

of interaction, and sees them inscribed in a non-trivial time dimension. In other
words, it seeks to actualize agency as a temporally embedded process of social
and spatial engagement. What this means in practical terms, is that spatial
SK\VLFDO VWUXFWXUHV WKH VSDWLDO FRQÀJXUDWLRQ WKH\ FRPSRVH FDQ EH VHHQ QRZ
181
as constitutive of human individual and collective agency, and not as mere
crystallization of institutional «structural» constraints: Can the city help to set
us free?
<YIHUP[`*VNUPaPUN/L[LYVNLUPL[`
The consideration of the question of cognition has, since the beginning of

the modern social thought, been postulated around one of the foundational
problems of sociology and the social sciences. On the one hand, the opposition
between humans’ capacity to act and change their environment and fate, based
on an understanding of free will. On the other hand, the constraints that our
environment, be it through physical material dimension or through values,
beliefs, norms and rules arising from social institutions, exert upon humans,
conditioning their capacities and delimiting their freedom to think, to choose,
WRDFW$JHQF\DQGVWUXFWXUH7KLVLVEHVWH[HPSOLÀHGE\*HRUJ6LPPHO·VLQLWLDO
passages of his Mental life and the Metropolis:
The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individ-
ual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against
the sovereign powers of society, against historical heritage’s weight and the
external culture and technique of life. This antagonism represents the most
modern form of the conflict which primitive man must carry on with na-
ture for his own bodily existence. (Georg Simmel, 1950/1903, p. 2).
The urban condition seems in many cases to overlap or coincide with the modern
condition, complicating things. Authors like Simmel, or Benjamin, associate the
modern forces of individualization with the new regimes of production, but also
with new anonymous and monetized modes of social interaction imposed by
the increased density and speed of the modern metropolis. The loss of aura94
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modern forms of production and reproduction can be said to apply also to the
human under the conditions of modernity.
For the beginning of this enquiry, I have considered framing the problem within
WKHEURDG\HWVWUDWHJLFÀHOGRIFRJQLWLRQVLQFH,GHSDUWIURPWKHLQWXLWLRQRIWKH
importance of coexistence and recognition of diversity imposed by contemporary
urban modernity. Moreover, I complement this intuition with the belief that the
exposure to otherness, adequately mediated, might facilitate the reproduction
and increase of diversity. And that this would result in a looping virtuous circle
of thriving diversity. The enquiry threading this thesis is framed within the urban
context of its case study of Madrid. It is so not only for it was the originating
context of its initial question, but also because I consider the urban condition,
that is, urbanity, to be intimately linked to these two concepts of cognition and
KHWHURJHQHLW\0RUHVSHFLÀFDOO\,EHOLHYHWKHFLW\SURYHVDQLQYDOXDEOHJURXQG
to study the generative capacities to cognize heterogeneity, that is to say, to
182 conceive and to articulate diversity that I pose urbanity fosters.
Additionally, the argument on the cognition of heterogeneity bears a call for

WKH HPEUDFLQJ RI D UHÁH[LYH SUDFWLFH $V 6HQQHW KDV YHU\ WLPHO\ H[SUHVVHG
«the experience of urban life can teach people to live with multiplicity within
WKHPVHOYHV7KHH[SHULHQFHRIFRPSOH[LW\LVQRWMXVWDQH[WHUQDOHYHQWLWUHÁHFWV
back on individuals’ sense of themselves.» Sennett (2005, p.109)
Enactive Approach to Agency

In order to properly understand the essentials of an enactive approach to agency
and to be able to pinpoint its relevance for research on the relationship between
DIIHFWLYHSURFHVVHVDQGXUEDQFRQGLWLRQ,PXVWÀUVWVHHNWRVXPPDUL]HWKHRULJLQV
of this enactive approach in the early work on autopoiesis. Such grounding
may allow to further develop autopoiesis’s key ideas regarding autonomy,
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In simple terms, I argue that the keys for understanding the relevance of an
enactive approach to considerations of agency within a socially situated and
94 . “What is aura, actually? A strange weave of space and time: the unique appearance of a
distance, no matter how close it may be. While at rest on a summer’s noon, to trace a range of
mountains on the horizon, or a branch that throws its shadow on the observer, until the moment or
the hour become part of their appearance--this is what it means to breathe the aura of those moun-
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urban bound context are: the interaction with the environment, the relationship
both of anchorage and detachment, enough for moving around, chasing for
the sources of well-being and actively modifying it, make for the emergence of
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in contrast to «more abstract and theoretically heavily weighted terms such as
intentionality, rationality, or mind95» (Barandiaran, Rohde, & Di Paolo, 2015),
and ultimately, without the need to resort to obscure and mythical divine origins
of agency that suffer from a clear black box condition96. Moreover, within all
possible approaches to the enquiry into what agency is and how it might be
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one hand, this approach grounds the quest for a more precise understanding of
agency as parallel to understanding action, not presupposing that one precludes
the other.
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E\ )UDQFLVFR 9DUHOD DQG +XPEHUWR 0DWXUDQD WKH HQDFWLYH DSSURDFK
proper takes momentum and full self-standing status with the publication of
The Embodied Mind by Varela, Thompson and Rosch in 1991. Springing from
a clear and explicated systems approach, autopoiesis is a theory that posits
WKH FLUFXODU VHOIFUHDWLYH RU VHOIGHÀQLQJ SURFHVV DW WKH HPHUJHQFH RI OLYLQJ
forms, was developed around the key notion of autonomy. A circular process of
183
organizational closure allows certain molecular and supra molecular entities, like
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RWKHUZRUGV©DQDXWRSRLHWLFRUJDQL]DWLRQFDQEHGHÀQHGDVDV\VWHP·VFDSDFLW\WR
produce its own boundary» (Stapleton & Froese, 2015). Such systemic entity, the
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with the environment where it is situated and upon which it depends, thanks to
its exchange of matter and information. The living cell can then be characterized
fully as an open system which is, however, organizationally closed. These two
key aspects, on the one hand, the anchorage of the living forms, given that the
entity emerges out of the sets of relations, and on the other hand, its autonomy
GHÀQHGDWLWVFRUHE\LWVRUJDQL]DWLRQDOFORVXUHDUHWKHRQHVWRUHGHÀQHDQHZ
approach to the relationship between structure and agency in living beings.
Froese uses the paradigmatic case of a bacterium in order to provide a more

concrete example «Take the paradigmatic case of the bacterium. Even though,
depending on what our explanatory project is, we can zoom in to look at parts
within its body, or zoom out to include parts of the environment such as the
whole Petri dish in which it is swimming, it is nevertheless the case that the
bacterium constitutes itself as an individual in a way that the systems of the other
two perspectives do not.»
WKLVDVVHUWLRQRQWKHGHÀQLWLRQRIDJHQF\DWLWVPRVWEDVLFRUJDQLVPLFOHYHOGRHVQRWHQWDLOD
necessary rejection of an emergent self capable of affective and cognitive, nor even against the
capacity to make decisions.
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The original sketch of agency laid out by autopoiesis, anchors agency in the
interactive situatedness of the organism, which by means of its coming into
being, its emergence through organizational closure also make sense of its
environment and its changing conditions. As such, the concept of agency put
forward by autopoiesis is not, thus, grounded on a granted, or pre-existing
élan vital (Henri Bergson, 1907), but it simply emerges out of the interaction
RI SK\VLFDOO\ ERXQGHG HOHPHQWV 0RUHRYHU WKLV OD\V RXW WKH ÀUVW VWRQH XSRQ
which the enactive approach proper would develop its ideas bridging the divide
between previously distinctively theorized areas of perception and cognition
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following manner: «the enactive approach consists of two points: (1) perception
consists in perceptually guided action and (2) cognitive structures emerge from
the recurrent sensorimotor patterns that enable action to be perceptually guided»
(Varela et al. 1991, p. 173).97
Recently, Di Paolo has argued that the notion of adaptivity plays a key role
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WKH FDSDFLWLHV RI VHQVHPDNLQJ ZKLFK DUH GHÀQLQJ RI WKH RUJDQLVP·V DJHQWLDO
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to regulate itself with respects to the boundaries of its own viability». Such
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homeostatic processes, while also proposing to evolve from a narrow-minded
184 view on homeostatic as mere metabolic equilibrium, present in previous
biological approaches.
A careful analysis of sense-making shows that different properties of adap-

tivity (self-monitoring, control of internal regulation, and control of exter-
nal exchanges) are implied by assuming that organisms have a meaningful
perspective on their world. Hence this property is not simply an adden-
dum but is essential (together with autopoiesis) to naturalize sense-mak-
ing. In turn, examining some of the implications of adaptivity shed new
light on different aspects of sense-making such as graded norms, indirect
meaning construction, behaviour, agency, maladaptation, and temporality.
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that emerge from the analysis of agents seem to rely on an implicit and un-
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,Q WKH VHDUFK IRU D PRUH FDSDEOH GHÀQLWLRQ RI DJHQF\ WKHVH DXWKRUV
identify three conditions for the consideration of agents as such: «(a) a system
PXVWGHÀQHLWVRZQLQGLYLGXDOLW\ (b) it must be the active source of activity in
97 . Since the enunciation of this postulate, other researchers have also contended that perception
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2·5HJDQDQG1R 1R GHÀQHVLWLQVLPSOHWHUPVSHUFHSWLRQLVHQDFWLYHLQWKHVHQVH
that it is a kind of action.
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that such living agents are emergent, and as such, constituted by a self organised multitude of
interacting agents . This view is further developed by Varela in his study on the immunological
system (ref)
its environment (interactional asymmetry),99 and (c) it must regulate this activity
in relation to certain norms (normativity)».
Froese also insists on the importance of the ontological self-individuation of the

living agent via its organizational closure, that is to say its self-organization.
7KHVHDUJXPHQWVDUHFRQWH[WXDOL]HGLQWKHGHÀQLWLRQRIDXWRQRP\DQGDJHQF\
in living organisms at biological level, and might sound extraneous to a study
of spatial agency in a highly social environment like cities. I contend, however,
that the ontological self-individuation implies primarily an intentional and
phenomenological enactment of the self at the same time as of the world (in
this case the urban environment). In other simpler, and perhaps overly simplistic
WHUPVZHFRXOGVD\WKDWWKHFLW\GHÀQHVDVDVPXFKDVZHGHÀQHWKHFLW\7KH
consequences of this enactive approach to agency are at both the result and the
origin of the way in which enaction has put into question previous assumptions
in human cognition (see section 2.3.4).
Before I move on to introducing the three main vectors of approaching the

relationship between the urban and cognition, problematized through the key
notion of agency, I must also declare that due to the broad range of topics,
ÀHOGVFRQFHSWVDQGPHWKRGVFRQVLGHUHGDQGXVHGLQWKLVUHVHDUFKWKHHQDFWLYH
approach to agency that I consider as the most adequate and cannot be developed
in the exact same manner nor with the exact same vocabulary throughout the
185
different stages. It is its main inspiring idea that is mobilized as a generative and
underlying tool for enquiry.
99 . This aspect of interactional asymmetry, which seems to post in the direction of an asymmetri-
cal characterisation of living agency with regards to the capacities of the inanimate environment,
contrasts sharply with views promoted by Latour Callon and Law, among others, who pose the
transgression of this barrier and call for the consideration of the agency also of “nonhuman actants”
or, at least in heterogeneous associations of humans and nonhumans. Such ideas have been said
WRSOHDIRUWKHDGRSWLRQRIDÁDWRQWRORJLFDOSODQHWKDWZRXOGGLVVROYHWKHQRWLRQRILQGLYLGXDO
intentional agency. Moreover, from new radical materialist approaches, like transhumanism and
quantum philosophy (Barad, 2003) emerges the complementary call for a consideration of another
quality of agency.
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Before proceeding to enunciate the research questions that arise from the
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the main concepts that are to be mobilized in my approach to the study of the
case of Madrid.
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- extension
Practice: understood and proposed through the conviction that addressing any
spatial dimension of phenomena must be done through the instantiations of
agency in space, that is to say, through space as practiced. Intimately related
to the concept of action, I understand practice as reuniting and conciliating
the emphasis in the instantiation of agency captured by the concept of action,
the appeal to the transformative qualities of the connoted by the notion of
performance and performativity. To these aspects, practice adds the nuance
and focus on the . My intention, thus, is not to substitute the importance of
action, understood mainly as a momentary expression of the clash of forces of
institutionalization and those of resistance, with the idea of practice as a sort of
©KDELWXVª %RXUGLHX 2QWKHFRQWUDU\WKHLQWHQWLRQLVWRUHFRQFLOHERWK
186 as two different temporalities pertaining to different modalities of the same time-
dimension gradient. I also consider important to stress that the notion of practice
that I intend to put forward understands space as something produced through
its practice, and not as a pre-given datum.
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enunciated as a contentious articulation of heterogeneity and diversity that is
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as holding the key for revealing implicit problematic overlaps which are usually
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problematisation of the urban condition in a context of scarce resources and
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over the notion of collaboration, which I also consider constitutive of the social,
but, instead, as a instantiation of difference that fosters and generates the
emergence of collaboration and aggregation of agents in emergent socialites.
&RQÁLFWWKXVGRHVQRWQHFHVVDULO\HQWDLOQHJDWLYHRXWFRPHVEXWWKHODERULRXV
and generative spatialized articulation of difference in a non-friction-free society.
Enaction: This concept is here mobilized directly from its core original theoretical
framework as discussed in the preceding sections, but with a concrete and focused
emphasis in its embodied and interactive aspects. The concept of enaction is here
also necessarily nuanced in order to account for action and perception in urban
contexts, which may seem to move away from the scale and nature of its initial
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al., 1991). I assume this risk of stretching the concept over its rupture point, but
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in urban contexts clearly surpass those risks.
Extension: Again, the concept of extension is mobilized due to its revolutionary

potential for questioning the way in which we address urbanity as a condition
that effectively changes our cognition of the environment. Extension, directly
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, also radically questions our way of understanding our modes of interaction,
complementing and pushing the embodied enactive approach. Applied to the
case of it new urban practices, it offers a valuable paradigm for a qualitative
analytical approach to the mutually constitutive dynamics between social
movements and urban space. Moreover, when considering the role of affective
phenomena (Colombetti & Roberts, 2015) it bears the potential to provide a new
interpretative lens to the apparent paradoxical generative role of contention and
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Affordance: Beyond the particular nuancing, its analytical potential to unveil

social dynamics in the use of space has been already proved. It is in this spirit
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applied to the manner by which those subjects who practice urban space (those
who live in cities, who unfold their lives and identities onto the built environment)
187
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essence, the fundamental act of perceiving a potential, is a spatially projective act
understood in fully enactive terms. The promise of diversity in space, something
that captures both the situated engagement of urban subjects and the projective
dimension of perception: an indication of the inherent becoming of urbanity.
Porosity: After its review in section 2.1, and in combination with the notion
of affordances reviewed in section 2.3, the notion of porosity is given a new
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perceiving subject and entails the provision for the perception of affordances.
In these terms, porosity is to be tested in the analysis of the combined aspects
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enactive experience of such qualities by the subjects studied.
2.4.4 Research Questions & Hypotheses
In the previous section, I have exposed the underlying problematic revolving

around the general question of the relationship between human agency and
urban space. I have approached them from a double-fold angle of space and
emotion, as well as from a complementary angle which deals with bridging the
epistemological and disciplinary divides between them.
Now, this section deals with the articulation of the conclusions derived from
these angles of approach and their formalization in a set of research questions.
Furthermore, I advance certain hypotheses as my tentative answers to such
research questions, setting up a methodological agenda for the thesis. The
current section is thus structured around the separate enunciation of the most
salient problematics extracted separately from each angle of approach and the
formalization of a series of related research questions that combine into a thread
of enquiry.
First, this corresponds and enunciated from the classical foundational approaches
of urban sociology and urban studies. Namely, the combined problematic of the
effects of the metropolis in our mental and emotional life due to the distinct
188 spatial and social conditions of the city, as well as the capacities of humans to
react, contest those social orders, create new cultural or conceive new spatial
orders socially.
2.4.1 General research questions
A/Space to Emotion
Urbanity and spatial conditions of co-presence.
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spatial diversity is rendered accessible, that is practicable. In this sense urbanity
seems to potentially change from an abstract condition - a sort of extant and static,
to a more tangible dimension as situation- Moreover, its situatedness articulates
both spatial and temporal dimension by means of its engaged dimension. That is,
it requires the active involvement of subjects as urbanity is something practiced
(1).
After having ruled out the possibility of a non-spatialized and non-temporal

urbanity (Netto), I am invited to consider how such spatial conditions allowing
for encounter and absence (Hillier) also accompany and regulate the necessary
recognition and embrace of alterity and potential. For that purpose, an approach
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modalities of co-presence (2).
Precisely, this stance through the equilibrated articulation of encounter and

absence seems to nuance and qualify certain idealistic stances on urbanity
postulating the maximization of intensity of diversity (or of density and diversity
as Lévy suggests). Since not only desolate, dispersed, or fragmented spaces but
also those articulating a good deal of spatial intricacies, such as labyrinthine
RU FRQYROXWHG VSDFHV KDYH EHHQ LGHQWLÀHG QRW WR SURPRWH XUEDQLW\ 1HWWR
2016), but to hinder its appearance and expression,100 I very well see how other
spaces in where other kinds of maximization is achieved might equally hinder
urbanity. A simple example of this are some central, dense and very concurred
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equilibrated articulation of encounter and absence, key to the critical seizure
of urbanity as an act in the real world of urban contexts, and not in that one of
idealized theorization. Thus, I would argue that the key to urbanity does not
rely in maximized contact, otherness and intensity, but precisely in their delicate
equilibrium according to meaningful situated frame of experience. Moreover, it
seems that the contentious spatial practices or New Urban Practices might provide
an invaluable context for researching such meaningful frame of experience. In
other words, it is in the particular equilibrium of a context of both co-operation
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spatial conditions in enacting urbanity. And precisely there, in practice, is where
the time dimension can be said to play a role in such articulation.
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contributed to the emergence, unfolding and evolution of innovative forms of
189
urban sociality among which movements of urban protest?
B/ Emotion to Space
Here my departing informed intuition parcours in ways that may be similar to
Thrift’s vindication of affect as political (Thrift, 2004). Namely, I mean to apply to
space the argument, borrowed from Sprinks,101 he applies to the political: «space
is itself produced by a series of pre-subjective forces and intensities» (Spinks,
2001, p. 24), thus locating affect and emotion among the most prominent
modalities by which such pre-subjective intensities might come into form. In
addition, following the theories of action tendencies by Frijda, I am compelled to
consider that emotions already contain a spatial germ, of which action tendencies
are but a tangible part.
B.1.RQ: - How can emotion be said to enact a space? Can we say that emotions
are indeed, inherently spatial?
AB/ Spatial Practices

AB.1.RQ. If we approach space through the dimension of practice, what are the
modes and ways of practicing space that enact and/or accompany an emotional
transition in such cases of contentious social movements in urban contexts?
100 . “(...) aspects of urbanity, the recognition of the Other and unrestricted communication tend
not to emerge intensively in dispersed or intricate spaces: they usually become diluted in dilute
spaces, break down in fragmented spaces, and avoid guarded spaces” (Netto, 2016)
101 . the original passage is as follows: “political decision is itself produced by a series of inhuman
or pre-subjective forces and intensities” (Spinks, 2001, p. 24)
AB.2.RQ. Questioning of the event as a phenomenon that is bounded in time.
(This question will be followed by a complimentary one stated on the strength
and perfomativity of latent forms of contention.)
Following a critical review and questioning of the event as the unit of focus of
an emotional process as established by several researchers among which Scherer
(2001), - can we, in fact, conceive emotional processes, among other affective
phenomena, to be focus on an event which can be said to be space-bound? In
other more daring words, can we consider space as the event?
C/ Bridging the divide. Dynamic and Extended Cognition and Affect.

C.1.RQ. Extended Mind and Extended Affect theses posit that external objects or
even __ can be said to constitute effective and proper extensions of our cognitive
and affective processes, on the condition that they are in-substitutable and that
the outcomes could not have been achieved by the individual alone with her
«organic» components. Applying these theses to an urban environment bears the
problem of qualifying what of an urban environment can be said to constitute
this effective extension, and to what extent. In related fashion, since the urban
environment constitutes an everyday «setting» there is a need to specify how
this happens, through which process of the daily, or extraordinary activities.
- To what extent can we say that urban space is constitutive of cognitive or
affective processes of its inhabitants? Following these theses, how does the urban
environment extend the cognitive and affective capacities?
190 What extents of urban space are incorporated in what cognitive and affective
processes exactly?
Accepting the premises of extended mind thesis as applied to affectivity in the

manner proposed by Colombetti, I wonder if the nature of what we consider
affective phenomena to be may change substantially. Extended mind comes from
a long genealogy of theories and research postulates that pose the enhancement
of the cognitive abilities of humans thanks to the partaking of our cognitive
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said to be capable of performing cognitive tasks that supersede our human only
capacities. In short, we are able to think more, to think better, to go further with
our capacities. If we apply a similar principle to affective phenomena, can we say
that we feel more, feel better, that in fact, our affective capacities are enhanced
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differences between what has been considered «computational» cognitive tasks
such as performing algebraic operations, and the nature of affective phenomena
are incommensurable. Nonetheless, in extended mind the parity rule has been
already surpassed in order to fully incorporate to. However, what might not be
so adrift is to consider that the incorporation of physical objectual and social
entities as constitutive elements of our emoting does fundamentally change the
nature of emotions altogether, adding in an increasing degree of complexity, to
which ends up producing emotions or feelings that can only be felt with the
concourse of such elements. In other words, with a city, and not necessarily in
the city, we are able to feel and think differently. If such conclusion, even if very
adventurous, is achieved, then, which could those emotions be? How could we
describe them? Can, in fact, urbanity be an extended emotion?
In sum, to synthesize a global hypothesis that summarizes not only a tentative

answer to these research questions but which was also at the intuited origins of
the research endeavour:
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ecology of encounter and absence that foster the emergence of social forms of
civic engagement. Additionally, in the context of an urban crisis, participants
to contentious social movements engage in a series of spatial practices which
are usually accompanied by an emotional transition. Moreover, participants
in their spatial practices seize urban porosity, which allows for that reunion of
alterity through simultaneous co-presence of heterogenous spaces, and for the
subsequent change in spatial affordance perception.
The result sees urbanity, understood as a simultaneous temporary and dynamic
embrace of alterity and an enaction of a new space, as a particular extended
affective/cognitive phenomena, for it is achieved in the concourse of physical
and social elements of the environment. Urbanity can be said to be an extended
emotion.
Detailed Research Questions 191
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3DWLR0DUDYLOODV
A/ Space to Emotion
A.1 RQ.a. To what extent the urban space, understood as a combination of
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Maravillas has contributed to the impact of their practices in different sectors of
the Metropolitan population?
A.1.RQ.b. To what extent this contribution responds to the level of porosity,
understood as the capacity of a space for providing (affording) the co-presence
of diverse spaces? Of which spaces?
A.1.RQ.c. To what extent has this porosity contributed to the unfolding or
development of a performative ecology of encounter and avoidance by the
collective of Patio Maravillas?
B/ Emotion to Space.
B.1.RQ.a - Have those episodes (or processes) of emotional transition undergone
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space?
- To what extent have these episodes of emotional transition contributed to a
change in the enactive spatial appraisal and behaviour of participants in urban
struggles ?
B.2.RQ.b - How are these emotional transitions or evolution in the general mood
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C/ Bridging the divide. Dynamic and Extended cognition and affect

C.1.RQ.a Dimensions of scaffolding.
- In the documented spatial practices of the studied contentious social
movements , or new urban practices, around Patio Maravillas, how were the
diverse dimensions of scaffolding enacted?
- To what extent we can argue that the cognitive and affective capacities of the
participants to Patio Maravillas were actually enhanced by the concourse of
built physical structures and social aggregates?
C.2.RQ.b Extended emotions in urban contexts.

- To what extent the emergence and construction of an intersubjective identity
is preceded by or based upon a collective spatialized and affective we-space
(Krueger, 2011)? Or in other words, to what extent the actual practice of
space entails or enacts a convergence of a collective coupling of affect and
space through a shared extension of affective processes (embrace of alterity),
constituting therefore an effective extension (not yet transgression) of the
individual into her physical and social environment?
192
193
194
3
•
New Urban Practices:

Madrid.
196
197
Avec la revolution urbaine dans laquelle nous sommes, tous les pratiques
devront changer...
on n’a même pas encore pensé l’espace urbain...
ߊHenri Lefebvre- interview. 1972
Since history is the endless process of human creation,

is not history for the same reason (and by the same token)
the unending process of human self-discovery ?
Is not the propensity to disclosel create ever new possibilities,
to expand the inventory of possibilities already discovered and made real,
the sole human potential which always has been,
and always is, ‘already there’ ?
The question whether the new possibility has been created
or ‘merely’ uncovered by history
is no doubt welcome nourishment to many a scholastic mind;
as for history itself, it does not wait for an answer and can do quite well
without one.
ߊBaumann, Liquid Modernity. 2000.
3.0.1 Part Overview
Abstract
During the last years, the world has witnessed an upsurge in the number of a
wave of related nonviolent political protests that have shaken and transforms
the political scene in many countries intrigued researchers. Most of these
protests and social unrest have had cities as their setting and background. In
the case of Spain, the protest cycle that started in 2011 has been of particular
strength, shaking the foundations of the political situation in the country and
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climate of social unrest and protests has seen the creation and emergence of the
15M protest movement, its transformation into a myriad of organized thematic
protest groups and social movements and the access to municipal power of the
left and independent coalition led electoral lists crowned with anti-eviction
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relies not only on their intensity and duration, but also on their relation to the
city. Not only they have emerged with the city, but most relevant, they have
been able to transform it.
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198 Practices in Madrid from 2011 and 2015 through the angles of porosity, spatial
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participants occupied social Patio Maravillas and 15M as two proritary objects
of analysis
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context and the case of Madrid” serves as an introduction to the topic of social
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chapter I also introduce the city of Madrid and the empirical analyses on the
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VWXGLHVRQWKHFDVHRI0DGULG7KXVWKHVHFRQGFKDSWHU´6WXG\8UEDQ
3RURVLW\µEHJLQVWKLVVHWZLWKDVWXG\RIWKHSRURVLW\RIWKHXUEDQWLVVXH7KH
WKLUGFKDSWHU6WXG\6SDWLDO3UDFWLFHVRI&RQWHQWLRQH[SORUHVWKHVSDWLDO
SUDFWLFHVRISDUWLFLSDQWVRI3DWLR0DUDYLOODVDQGUHODWHGPRYHPHQWV7KLVIRFXV
on the practiced dimension of space serves as a necessary complement to the
previous analysis of the more structural conditions of space itself. Finally, the
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unfolds a study of emotional transition and changes in spatial perception.
Again this chapter comes to complete the two previous analyses
Background, Structure & Objectives
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the beginning of 2009 onwards, a series of drastic economic austerity measures
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Spanish welfare state. At the same time, a rising climate of social effervescence
emerges throughout the country, with special strength in big populous cities like
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of collective action have evolved during the period between 2011 until 2015
in different forms, including spontaneous demonstrations and gatherings, open
assemblies, thematically organized action groups, and even arguably the germ
of a political party1. Also, these episodes and the social networks sustaining
them have managed a vast variety of topics and concerns ranging from local
LVVXHVWRJOREDOTXHVWLRQVRIHFRQRPLFMXVWLFHKXPDQULJKWV7KHLUQRYHOW\DQG
KHWHURJHQHLW\FKDOOHQJHVSUHYLRXVGHÀQLWLRQV:KLOHWKH\PLJKWIDOOLQWRPDQ\
GLIIHUHQWFDWHJRULHVDQGSRWHQWLDOGHÀQLWLRQVOLNHQHZVRFLDOPRYHPHQWV 0HOXFFL
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movements2 )HUQDQGHV RUUDGLFDOVRFLDOPRYHPHQWV 'DYLG)$EHUOH
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update existing theories, categories and frames of analysis.
199
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city, was already showing signs of having exhausted its social and democratic
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ne fait plus societé”, as he assumed the city not to structure nor construct society
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case of Madrid represents: in the moment of strongest economic crisis, highest
inequalities and stringiest control over urban public space, new democratic
vitality takes from in urban struggles, and the most innovative proposals seem to
come from the ideas of contentious social movements.
In summary, three main background questions frame the choice of the study
case in the city of Madrid. First, the imposition of austerity measures and its
FRQVHTXHQFHV RQ (XURSHDQ FLWLHV HVSHFLDOO\ LQ 6RXWKHUQ (XURSHDQ FLWLHV
Second, the intriguing and innovative nature and emergence of a potent and
vitality movements of organized collective action and its consequences for the
ODQGVFDSHRIFLYLFHQJDJHPHQWDQGJRYHUQDQFH7KLUGWKHSDUWLFXODUVSDWLDODQG
urban dimension of this climate of effervescence, where its affective dimensions
seems to pay a novel and potent role.
7KHFLW\LVGHDGORQJOLYHWKHFLW\
7KHELUWKDQGGHYHORSPHQWRIWKHQHZSROLWLFDOHQWLW\FDOOHG3RGHPRVLVZLGHO\SHUFHLYHGE\WKH
SXEOLFRSLQLRQDVWKHFRQVHTXHQFHRIWKH07KHSURSRQHQWVRIWKLVQHZSROLWLFDOSDUW\KDYHDOVR
claimed that genealogy. See della Porta 2015
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Main Objectives
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GHYHORSHGGXULQJWKHÀUVWSDUWRIWKHWKHVLVWKURXJKWKHVHOHFWHGVWXG\FDVHLQ
WKHFLW\RI0DGULG6SDLQ7RWKDWDLP,FRQGXFWDVHULHVRIDQDO\VHVZLWKWKH
LQWHQWLRQ WR ÀQG DQVZHUV WR WKH DERYHVWDWHG UHVHDUFK TXHVWLRQV 7KHUHIRUH
the approach focuses on the relationship between urban space and the societal
collective and individual innovations. More precisely, I tackle the non-exhausted
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and the emergence of social movements and other patterns of non governmental
civil engagement.
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urbanism and urban sciences, I discuss the concept of porosity and propose a
new version that bears the potential to redirect our ways of reading the co-
presence and interaction of different spaces in meaningfully situated contexts.
7KH DQDO\WLFDO SRWHQWLDO RI WKLV FRQFHSW LV WHVWHG XSRQ WKH VWXG\ RI WKH XUEDQ
tissue of the neighbourhood commonly known by the name of Malasaña, which
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GLVWULFW 'LVWULFW&HQWUR
Frame.
200
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been partitioned according to the mean objective of the inquiry or to the identity
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partial and biased accounts of the nature, evolution, composition, economic
underlying principles or fashion of the city. And from all those one-sided portraits
we have learnt. However, the phenomenon, or rather the phenomena, of the
city are transversal to a myriad of branches of knowledge and their respective
disciplines. By needing to focus and frame the study of a particular phenomenon
I consider relevant for the larger topic of the city, the portrait given will be
limited and partial. My understanding of the urban phenomenon does not,
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commenting and embarking into the many implications and angles that the city,
that is, the mode of urban living, has had and still has for the evolution of human
culture, and hence of mankind.
:LWKLQ WKH FRQWH[W RI 0DGULG·V UHFHQW FOLPDWH RI VRFLDO HIIHUYHVFHQFH , KDYH
selected the case of the participants of an atypical occupied social centre called
Patio Maravillas, which has played a major role as a base and reference for the
many groups, movements and platforms that have emerged and developed along
the events of 15M and the mareas47KH3DWLRDVWKHV\PSDWKL]HUVXVXDOO\FDOO
WKHFROOHFWLYHRI3DWLR0DUDYLOODVSURSRVHVDGLIIHUHQWGHÀQLWLRQ6HOI0DQDJHG6RFLDO6SDFH
in order to differentiate themselves from previous squats. For that reason, I will not use the term
squat/squatting when referring to Patio Maravillas
7KHFLWL]HQWLGHVRUPDUHDVDUHDVHULHVRIWKHPDWLFDODQGVHFWRULDOVRFLDOPRYHPHQWVFKDUDFWHU-
ized for their large demonstrations and campaigns in defence of services provided by the state.
it, is not the only centre of these characteristics that has developed and been
active in Madrid during this time, but it is arguably one of the most relevant and
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bet for the importance of a space that is at the same time a platform and vice
versa. Moreover, the focus on the spatiality of these practices goes hand in hand
with an explicit stance for considering the embodied, the practical and the latent
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approach to the dimensions of affectivity and perception, challenging too narrow
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not cover the vast variety of events and movements issued from the elan of the
15th of May, not will delve into the rhetorical, symbolic nor representational
aspects of these movements.
Structure and Methods

Given the composite prime matter of all urban affairs, there is the need to
call for the richness of tools that the natural heterogeneity of the disciplines
LQYROYHGSURYLGHVXVZLWK7KHSUHVHQW&KDSWHULVWKHUHIRUHDSSURDFKHGWKURXJK
a combination of methods applied to the complementary studies of aspects of
one and the same phenomenon. Accordingly, these separate parts are understood
as pertaining to a dialogue between methods, hopefully contributing to better
understanding through a much needed strengthening through solidarity.
201
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of the real world context of this thesis but also as a constitutive category of the
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ZLWKLQWKHOLWHUDWXUHRQUHOHYDQWUHVHDUFKÀHOGVQDPHO\VRFLDOPRYHPHQWVDQG
contentious collective action, and urban studies with special emphasis on urban
struggles, the commons.
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porous urban space”H[SORUHVWKHFRQÀJXUDWLRQDOSURSHUWLHVRIWKHXUEDQVSDFH
where the collective of Patio Maravillas has unfolded and develop their activities
during almost a decade. In this section, I conduct analyses of spatial integration
and choice at different scales, and discuss the results in context of the particular
social and spatial conditions of the neighbourhood and the city, as well as the
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assesses the modes by which the collective of the PM practices, recognises, and
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produced space that depasses mere linear spatial determinism in order to embrace
DSURSHUHQDFWLYHDWWHPSWDWUHDGLQJWKHORJLFVRI´3DUWLFLSDWRU\6SDFH0DNLQJµ
5 Page __
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7 Page __
7KHIRXUWKFKDSWHU´(PRWLRQDOWUDQVLWLRQDQGVSDWLDOSHUFHSWLRQµ8 elaborates
on the precise ways in which the emotional transition undergone by participants
of new urban practices, in this case of the collective of PM, is accompanied
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fold manner. On the one hand and based on a self-report survey, through an
analysis of the emotion transition through emotional dimensional analysis,
which includes a direct assessment of action-tendencies. On the other hand,
and based on in-depth interviews with participants, through an analysis of the
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RI SDUWLFLSDWLRQ 7KLV FKDSWHU IXUWKHU GLVFXVVHV WKH GLPHQVLRQV RI FRJQLWLYH
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conclusions.
202
8 Page __
203
204
3.1 Urban 4cenery of
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205
‘the uncertainty of the outcome remains . . .

danger and faith are the truth of hope,
in such a way that both are gathered in it’
ߊ%ORFK7KH3ULQFLSOHRI+RSH
This is not the question of a concept dealing with the past which might
already be at our disposal ...
It is a question of the future, the question of the future itself,
the question of response, of a promise land,
of a responsibility for tomorrow.
ߊ Derrida, Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, 1995,
3.1.1 World Upsurges
A constat informs the departure of this research. Since approximately 2009 a
series of protests have taken place around the world in a wave of new forms
of mobilization and struggle, characterized by their urban context as well as
by the connectedness among the protesting groups worldwide and converging
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researchers stress that while such movements behind the protest might indeed
have clear connections, their relation is more contextual and contingent than
casual or typical. In general terms, they usually invoke the highly differentiated
and complex history of each society as well as their cultural, socio-economic
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limits of logical reasoning too far.
In recent years, the world has been shaken by a peculiar type of social protests.
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WR WKH $UDE 6SULQJ WKURXJKRXW WKH $UDE ZRUOG WR WKH GLIIHUHQW ´LQGLJQDQWµ
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how the society was organized politically, the privileges of the aristocratic,
religious or military elites, or the shortage of food and mismanagement of its
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outrage and discontent, and some of the largest protests in world history”
2UWL]HWDO
One of the remaining intriguing questions behind this upsurge of non-violent

pro-democratic protest movements is the relationship to the urban condition. It
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question as a sub-study of this thesis, a very simple correlation shows that the
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by the amount of population living in urban areas, considering the urban
condition as something whose impact on the societal and individual cognition,
modes of interaction and resulting social organization, would require to assess
the degree of urbanity as something more appropriate.
FIG: 3.1.1_a1
Number of World Protests by Main :LWK WKH LQWHQWLRQ RI TXHVWLRQLQJ WKLV UHODWLRQ LQ WKH IROORZLQJ PDS , KDYH
Grievance/Demand, 2006-2013
(Ortiz et al., 2013). UHXQLWHG GDWD RQ GHJUHH RI SROLWLFDO LQVWDELOLW\ 7KH (FRQRPLVW ,QWHOOLJHQFH
FIG: 3.1.1_a2
Map combining Political Instability
Index, Civic Engagement and
Percentage of Urban Population
207
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If the index of political instability can be said to portrait the structural causes
that may accompany or give way to political contention, then civic engagement
can also be said to be constitutive of the quality of the democratic tissue in a
given society. If we add the percentage of urban population, we get a more
complete picture of the conditions that have facilitated the recent climate of
intense social effervescence in urban areas in Spain, as well as their fundamental
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tone for this chapter.
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voted during an election. Voter participation is the best existing means of measuring civic and
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However, this measure is far from ideal, in particular because of institutional differences in elec-
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3.1.2 Luttes Urbaines as a Theme.
Ingredients for an Analytical Frame
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happen to be located in cities, but to state that the urban element entails a social
component. As a consequence, in order to approach the study of contention
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but more generally to the vast literature on social movements. In the previous
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from an urban research perspective. In this section I will be referring more
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From the different approaches to social movements, few are those which
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expression New Social Movements and the Framing analysis or cognitive
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analytical standpoints but happen to also represent distinct geographical and
208 cultural grounds. Dynamics of contention seems to be primarily present and
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hand, the New Social Movements approach has been primarily the hegemonic
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urban framing of these protest movements and the bid for a qualitative and in-
depth approach to their study, there are undoubtedly many invaluable aspects
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mentioning for the aims of this thesis is that one which concerns the recourse
to cognitive frames, and to set of practices and performances as repertoires of
contention.
Resource Mobilization, Political Process and

Dynamics of Contention
Resource Mobilization
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society are subject to do not necessarily evolve into social movements unless
certain actors are capable of mobilizing resources, create viable and functioning
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social movements, in addition evolve in a climate of competition for attention
in real life settings against life conditions, activities and concerns, and against
one another, they need to mobilize the right resources and take advantage of
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mobilization theory.
Political process approaches have become during the last four decades among
the most important frames of reference for research on social movements in the
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of the framing theory, the main proponent researchers have turned from social
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Contentious politics consists of public, collective making of consequential

claims by connected clusters of persons on other clusters of persons or
on major political actors, when at least one government is a claimant, an
object of claims, or a third party to the claims. Thus defined, contentious
politics is a causally coherent domain with distinctive properties. It is
causally coherent in the sense that similar cause-effect relationships apply
throughout the domain. It is distinctive in the sense that some features of
contentious politics appear nowhere else in social life (Doug McAdam,
209
Sidney Tarrow, & Charles Tilly, 2007)
More precisely, their last work focuses on transgressive forms of contention,

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perceived need to progress from the analysis of structures to the analysis of
processes.
Dynamics of Contention
From this related discipline, I borrow the theoretical framing by which I select
to focus on performances of contention in cities instead of talking about social
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within their relation to urban or territorial dimension. Also, it can unwillingly
lead to the prejudice of having a militant vision on some of the schools that
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years because I felt that the term had become swollen and imprecise,” he said
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and the collective seizure of food, not a universal category of human action.”
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1. A sustained, organized public effort to make collective claims on target
audiences: let us call it a campaign;
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action: creation of special purpose associations and coalitions, public meetings,
solemn processions, vigils, rallies, demonstrations, petition drives, statements
to and in public media, and pamphleteering; call the variable ensemble of
performances the social-movement repertoire. and
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New Social Movements

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social theory and political philosophy, this approach originates in the work of
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the main limitations of classical Marxist theory to address other, then novel,
forms of collective action such as post-industrial social movements addressing
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emergence of novel identities, forms of action, objectives and strategic role in
society. Accordingly, this new school of thought gave a prevailing importance in
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and the urban condition has been clearly higher than in the resource
mobilization/dynamics of contention approach. Not only the topic of the city
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and vindication was unavoidable since its inception, but also constitutes today
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subjective meanings and common understandings that form the backdrop of
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way, many dimensions are increasingly subject to intrusions. Among these are
those taken to belong to the private sphere, such as the body, sexuality and
affective relations, the subjective realm, like cognitive or emotional motivations,
or even to the grounds of commonality, like nature, urban space and language.
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or powerful actors.
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fundamental metapolitical critique to the social order and to the representative
democracy, defying what has become the institutional assumed traditions
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organizational structures, their defence of the interpersonal solidarity face to
large bureaucracies and their demand for autonomous spaces are among their
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New Social Movements theory conceptualizes changes in identity formation as
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through framing processes and identity formation12, they are argued to make
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processes, theorized as manifestations of macro social changes in industrial
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211
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in turn, are enhanced and supported by the actions of NSMs. Since frames and
identity are closely related to the feeling and conceiving of grievances, NSM
approach shares this aspect of focus with other more orthodox structuralist
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Social movements can also be analysed with regards to their objectives.

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changes in norms and those aimed at changes in values.
One of the important aspects of new social movements, which has arguably
played an important role in the success of appeal of 15M mobilizations is the
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and political discourses: differences between social classes, socioeconomic
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intention was to politicize aspects of everyday life which had been seen as
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but ahead”
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collectives that conform the wave of social mobilization in Spain and in Madrid
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and informality with regards to other classical forms of mobilizations and
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to a changing context. Surely, their bid for new and non-conventional forms of
political engagement and direct action have also played a role.
212
3.1.4 Emotions and Social Movements
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to play a constitutive role in enacting human action, particularly, in the
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social movements, where emotions can be said to be both means and ends,
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generated in crowds, and shape stated and unstated goals of social movements
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explicit emotional causal mechanisms, yet few of them do apart from some
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mainly on the scholarly tradition from sociology of emotions.
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density” that generates collective consciousness, fusing cognitive and moral
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something else through the consciousness of being entrained within a collective
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sees emotional energy as the main motivating force in social life.
213
Against the tradition, from Le Bon to Bauman, which disregards protestors
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transition as liminal phase, in which the normal established order is suspended
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situates emotion as the prime mechanism of social movements for moving, for
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body and its spatial performance as a place and medium for this agency.
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movements beyond mere aspects of rage and discontent. In fact, social
movements are at the core of the most basic modes of human co-operation
at the basis of societal aggregation. Some researchers argue in the light of the
new social movements literature that these emotional factors are more relevant
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emotional discharge at the origin of social movements, which resembles the
process of falling in love.
Moreover, based on these emotional premises in the origin and articulation

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normative man models that have predominated in the social sciences. Her
model addresses the modes and origins of cooperative social interaction.
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of structural context developed in the 1970s and 1980s with a theory of action
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bridge with embodied views of cognition embraced by recent research and
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dimension framed in a theory of action and practice.
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what he considers an unnecessary division between the sociology of bodies and
that of the emotions. In his perspective, very much taken into account in this
thesis, he outlines three main reasons.
Firstly, we must note that, among the social sciences, there has been an
institutionalization of explorations of the body as the centre of the processes
of production and reproduction of society, starting already by the classic
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biopolitics. IN sum, Scribano groups different methodological operations in
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work of Foucault and his concepts of control, discipline and technologies of the
214
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on the notion of the multitude, on the one hand, by Negri, Hardt and Virno
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perspective, those enquiries that engage in corporality as ways to question
hegemonic discourses.
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we can appreciate a thread that relates approaches to social movements, civic
engagement and protests from embodied cognition, from action and practice
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converging lines emerge at the crossing of enquiries into the role of the body,
the role of practices and performativity, and the spatial and collective role of
affect.
Finally, there is an obvious separation of considerations of space and emotion

in social movement research literature. However, the connection between
such elements takes on an almost obvious nature when considering the city.
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society, of culture, of the city... which they all become almost identical terms.
A form in general, like the form of the clouds of the manner of talking, is not a
shell nor an appearance nor an accident. It is, however, a way of being, forms
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3.1.5 About spatial Practices

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oriented models in Geography has meant a gradual disentanglement of
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of boundaries, urbanization processes, consequences of space-time compression
and space-time distanciation, globalization, performance of relationships to
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phenomena is tackled through such theoretical and analytical emphasis on
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based approaches are varied.
215
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And among, finally, the purposes animating the practice theoretical

study of science and technology (e.g., Rouse 1996b; Pickering 1995a)
are the development of concepts of science as activity as opposed to
representation and the reconsideration of humanist dichotomies
between human and nonhuman entities. (Schatzki, Knorr-Cetina, &
Savigny, 2001)
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la forma de las nubes o las formas de hablar, no es una cáscara, una apariencia o un accidente,
sino que es un modo de ser: las formas son el modo de ser de las cosas; pues bien, la forma de la
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once subjects and objects, highlighting non-propositional knowledge, and illuminating the
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building-blocks of social phenomena, and to transcend rigid action structure oppositions.
17 . to speak of practices is to depict language as discursive activity in opposition to
structuralist, semiotic, and poststructuralist conceptions of it as structure, system, or abstract
discourse
From this perspective of practice theory, Schatzki has come to argue timespace18
as central to the organization of social life. His thesis considers interwoven
activity timespaces as a sort of infrastructure through which human activities
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from other seemingly more structuralist approaches is his emphasis on the
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remains innovative for he proposes a theory on bundles in order to overcome
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when people perform the doings and sayings that compose a practice, together
with the material entities that form arrangements bundled with that practice,
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an understanding of spatial arrangements that function only through practices.
“An Italian piazza seen as practice/space arrangement allows for a view

where the piazza does not pre-exist from the practices allowing it to
function, whereas in traditional approaches, the piazza as container
space is seen as first support, then practices take place within or on
the surface. Another example is related to tourist resorts, which have
been analysed as simple arrangements of material elements, whereas
the analysis of practice/space bundles performed especially by tourists
216
allow for an understanding of urbanization processes, civility, norms,
i.e. the inhabited character of the seaside. This potential of analysing in
a systematic way the space/practice bundles in order to understand how
places are inhabited appears to be a step forward. Practices do indeed
“make space”.” (Stock, 2015).
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areas stick out as particularly salient for several reasons. Firstly, they pose
a clear example of transgression of different kinds of borders, constituting
an invaluable object of research in these times of necessary disciplinary
reassessment. Secondly, they constitute a practice that not only works as
embodied and distributed cognitive appraisal of the social climate of the city,
but whose sociality holds the modal germs of the new spaces to come. As
such, it can therefore serve as a precise and non-substitutable tool for urban
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certain mutually exclusive spatial regimes, such as communitarian space and
public space, that have structured recent relevant debates in urban geography
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dimension of democratic and inclusive societies.
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In addition, given the enactive emphasis of this thesis to consider space as not
only a pre-existent container but as a lived and produced realm, the ideas on
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ideas of Massey. Departing from the idea of lived space by Henri Lefebvre,
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She proposes to introduce three characteristics that may allow to begin drafting
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Space is a product of interrelation. It is built through interactions, from
the intensity of the global, to the minuscule of intimacy.
Space is the sphere of possibility of the existence of multiplicity. If a
space is understood as an effect of interrelations, it must be a quality
of the existence of plurality: multiplicity and space are co-constitutive.
Space, as a product of interrelations, which are necessarily implicit in
the material practices that must be carried our... space, then is always
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space as contingent.
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place attention to the different ways actors construct, contest and ground their
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made up of the social production of space and the social construction of space
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differentiates between the social production of space, including social, economic,
ideological, and technological factors that result in the physical creation of the
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feelings, imaginings and use--or absences--into places, scenes and actions that
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space are mediated by social processes, especially being contested and fought
over for economic and ideological reasons”.
Low considers, and I agree with her, that such model of co-production remains
limited due to its two-dimensional structure. In coherence with the theoretical
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the result of adding embodied space, Low considers the person as a mobile
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potentiality for social relations, giving it meaning, form, and ultimately through
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practices I refer to the exercise, production and seizing of space by individuals
or groups, entailing a particular amount of repetition or stability without
becoming automatized action, like a habit.20 7KLV SUDFWLFH RI VSDFH LQFOXGHV
ERWKLWVVRFLDODQGSK\VLFDODVSHFWVDQGLWGHSDVVHV LIVWLOOFRQWDLQLQJ PHUH
mobility or movement and mere social interaction. It is the spatialized social
interaction to which we must add the ingredient of contention. As I explore in
the analysis, in this chapter I also consider additional related questions, like
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an imaginary.
Spatial practices are also to be analysed under an operational frame. If space

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into space as they provide contextualized and meaningful threads of enquiry. In
this respect, it shares certain relevant aspects with related concepts like place
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Protests as spatial practice or spatial practices of contention

218
Some of the spatial practices that are the subject of study in this chapter may
fall in the category of protest, within a broader consideration of political and
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of political participation to try to persuade or coerce authorities to support a
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actions. Miller proposes that protest covers from conventional strategies of
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Protest is occasionally used by institutionalized political actors such as

political parties and interest groups, and social movements frequently
adopt the same means of political expression used by political parties
and interest groups. If there is a single element that distinguishes social
movements from other political actors, however, it is the strategic use
of novel, dramatic, unorthodox, and non-institutionalized forms of
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political expression to try to shape public opinion and put pressure
on those in positions of authority. Social movements, as McAdam and
Snow (1997: 326) so aptly describe them, ‘’eschew politics through
proper’’ channels, often because their participants lack access to political
institutions and other conventional means of influence or because they
feel that their voices are not being heard. The tactics of protest used by
social movements are so integral to popular views of social movements
that sometimes a movement is remembered more for its tactics than for
its goals (Wilson 1973). From (Snow et al., 2008)
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contention is focused around actions, performances, claims and other space
and time bound observable phenomena.
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Politics22 has developed a particular theoretical and methodological frame
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are not something I consider appropriate to the aims of this chapter. I consider
more useful their characterization of contentious actions as repertoires of
contention, or a taxonomy of performances.
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arguing that existing theories leave many of the processes of contention
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the study of how groups shape, perceive and act upon structurally based
opportunities, rather than seeing opportunities for activism as structurally
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arguing that key processes must be situated; bringing their relational nature
to the foreground of the analysis.
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contextual approach to the study of contentious politics can provide nuanced
and rigorous explanations of the processes and mechanisms driving contention”,
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The mechanisms and processes approach McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly

describe shift the focus of contentious politics scholarship towards
contextualized understandings of how individuals and groups come to
engage in contentious politics. Context and contingency--historical as
well as spatial--become more important to understanding the operation
of mechanisms and processes. McAdam et al. focus on a wide range
of social processes and forms of contention reflecting a deliberately
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interdisciplinary and broad-ranging approach (McAdam et al. 2001).
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practices that result from the articulation of a joint system of urban agents and
other social practices, so that its development objectively tends towards the
structural transformation of the urban system” &DVWHOOV
0RUHUHFHQWO\7RUUHV KDVXQGHUWDNHQWKHDQDO\VLVRIVSDWLDOSUDFWLFHV

applied to the contentious context of socio-territorial movements. Inspired
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experiential component to the analysis of protest movements in Argentina.
In her work she poses that space cannot solely be considered a place around
which social movements build their identities, but are also a territory subject
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VRFLDO PRYHPHQWV XUEDQ VRFLDO PRYHPHQWV RU VRFLRWHUULWRULDO PRYHPHQWV
territorialize politics and place the urban space as both their object and subject
of claims and identity. By turning the city in the main object of dispute, they
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these practices depass the rich but nevertheless simple catalogue of protest.
220
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a pertinent aspect, intentionally chosen for this research for its capacity to
capture not only the response to the social conditions in a context of crisis,
but also the often hot and pressing dimensions of engagement. On the other
hand, the relevance of new urban practices resides in the fact that they unfold
DVDFWLYH HQDFWLYH UHFRQÀJXUDWLRQVDQGSRVHDSURSRVLWLYHSURMHFWLRQWRZDUGV
future actions. In other words, these new urban practices enact a projective
planning capacity in their participants. My hypothesis is that they do so
through an enactment of imagination, a particular cognitive and emotional
transformation by which they transform the capacity of participants to perceive
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practices performed by the participants are part of protests and other forms
RI FRQWHQWLRQ +RZHYHU WKHVH GLPHQVLRQ GRHV RW H[KDXVW WKHLU VLJQLÀFDQFH
and for that reason I have decided to coin a new term, new urban practices,
capturing their role as proponents of new contemporary forms of urbanity.
Modes de vie as Structuring Experiential Frames for the Everyday

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ra del sistema de agentes urbanos y de las demás prácticas sociales, en forma tal que su desar-
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varied, especially within its main disciplinary home, sociology. Historically
the concept can be said to emerge from the classic works in sociology like
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of Bourdieu respond to the frames of structural sociology issued from the
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and the emergence of the concept of new middle classes, other authors turn
progressively to the description of a process of pluralization and differentiation
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positions are tightly adjusted to the description of the world they depict.
(OLDV SRVHVWKDWZKLOHLQGLYLGXDOVDUHPRWLYDWHGE\D´PXOWLSOLFLW\RI

possible destinies”, these are constrained by structures in function of their
VRFLDO RULJLQV DQG WKHLU SRVLWLRQV WKXV OLPLWLQJ WKHLU ´REMHFWLYH FKDQFHV
of success”. Bourdieu sustains that individuals moderate their subjective
aspirations in function of the objective possibilities depending on their social
RULJLQ7KHUHIRUHFRQIRUPLQJDNLQGRIFODVV´KDELWXVµ27. In this respect, the
theory of habitus comes to visualize the relation between the place in society of
individuals and their modes of behaving, living, feeling, their preferences and
dislikes. In other words, it establishes a link between social structure and the
221
associated practices or lifestyle.
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poses that in a postfordist economy and amid increasing globalization, the usual
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least, get transform in the encounter and mixing with other cultures, giving rise
to individuals who articulate their own personal trajectory. Some authors have
proposed in the last years a combination of these two antagonist positions,
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as a response to those processes of second modernization and individualization
highlighted by Beck. It is a concept largely related to the notion of action.
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objective classical socio-demographic factors like social position and revenue
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as in the theories around it
27 . Bourdieu departs from a general theory of the hierarchization of social space.
In sum, the concept of lifestyles, modes de vie or Lebestillen consist of different
yet related theorizing of experiential frames that order our everyday lives and
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point to a relevant crossing of subjective and objective. In that regard, they
are related to one of the core preoccupations of this thesis. However, I believe
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of new urban practices, on the other hand, emerges in this thesis from the
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engagement. By no means I ambition it to be a general theory capturing a new
phase of social modernity.
3.1.6 On the *hoice of thL*ase of Madrid

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intricate set of aspects to be taken into account simultaneously. Admittedly,
this sparks the consideration of a strong dilemma in the research design of
222
this thesis, between selecting several cases where the individual instantiation
of single problematic can be then compared, or the choice of single rich
case with generous amounts of relevant data, and which reunites the many
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promising, falls short for the real comparison can hardly be sustained given
the highly diverse and contextual circumstances of each case. As it emerges
from the articulation of the different aspects of the relation between the
different main core problematic, namely affective, spatial and agential, in an
urban real-world context, it is essential that they be reunited and happening
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FDVHZKHUHWKHKLJKHVWFKDQFHVRIVXFKUHXQLRQZHUHLGHQWLÀHG,QWKDWVHQVH
case is selected for its idiographic qualities. In this respect, the study case is
considered as idiographic as opposed to a nomothetic approach287KHFKRVHQ
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understanding on new urban practices. In addition, the choice of one single
case is complemented with a research approach that uses different scales,
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design research for this thesis
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symptoms have lung cancer is atabest incomplete evidence that a particular patient presenting
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of making sense of one case study, selected because they are substantively or
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of the case. It has been noted that most of studies in political science, for
instance, usually comprise one and rarely more than three, or either a large set
for comparative purposes. As with many case-study research, the answer to
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the enquiry. In other words, as I learn more about the phenomena in question
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rendering the chosen approach weaker, is widely assumed to constitute one
of its fundamental strengths, as the multiplicity of problematic that might be
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case when researching urban phenomena.
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revealing features that are anomalous in some way from the viewpoint of
current theory.29 In what regards the conception of outcomes, the main goal
is to resolve the intriguing anomaly that the case represents in a theoretically
progressive way, based both on in-depth knowledge of the case itself, and on an
interdisciplinary methodological and theoretical approach. Sometimes there is
223
no sharp separation of causal conditions and outcomes, for an outcome may
seem inherent in the constitution of the case.
29 . A case study is successful even if it succeeds in showing only that existing theory is inade-
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Introduction to the Case of Madrid
FIG: 3.1.1_a2_1
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period of 2011-2015 responds primarily to two main reasons. ON the one
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is admittedly brief and should not be regarded as thoroughly analytical, but as
224 a contextual interpretative framing gaze.
Place of Spain and Madrid in the World Financial

Crisis and Recession
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DQGSROLWLFDOFKDQJHVIROORZLQJWKHODVWÀQDQFLDOFULVLV, Madrid has not only
undergone important and often dramatic changes, but also , granting the city
a relevant role in the landscape of contested cities.
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and more incomplete construction of the welfare state model that pervaded
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passing term of societal crisis
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registered in Ireland, where the ratio increased by a staggering 90.0 percentage points, compared
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unforeseen explosion of social effervescence and contention of the last years
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the ground for what has happened since.
Going Global
Let us begin with a brief, visual, synthetic and biased introduction into the
origins and results of the Metropolitan expansion model undergone by the city
of Madrid in the last two decades. Large urban expansion plans were envisaged
by regional and municipal governments, facilitated by an important change in
the legal frame regulating the land uses and land planning in the whole country,
changing in turn the underlying societal paradigm inspiring and governing
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legal framework, which was clearly favourable to private investment, added
momentum together with a series of converging supranational factors, like
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real estate and construction sectors, as well as the depletion of the Spanish
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competition.
Beyond doubt, the strategic position of Spain with large amounts of tempered
and sunny coastal land also made it possible to draw not only increasing
numbers of tourists, but speculative capital as well, turning the national
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6SDQLVKEDQNVSXVKHGERWKWKHÀQDQFLQJRIWKHXUEDQL]DWLRQSURFHVVDQGWKH
access of small consumers to large oversized mortgage loans in order to locate
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capital favoured the formation of large conglomerates of real state companies
that aggregated and rationalized the extractive nature of the operation. It all
followed the well-known extractive speculative logic behind many operations
LQHPHUJLQJFRXQWULHVZLWKWKHVSHFLÀFLW\WKDWXUEDQL]DWLRQEHFDPHWKHPDLQ
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factors contributed to the over dimensioning of the Spanish economic growth of that period
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FIG: 3.1.1_a3
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The Metropolitan Expansion Model
In the case of Madrid, the model of city extension through fragmented residential
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hypertrophy of the construction dependent sector of the economy that echoed
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226 $FWXDFLyQ8UEDQDµ 3$8V LQ6SDQLVKHQYLVLRQHGQHZGHYHORSPHQWDUHDVLQ
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URXJKO\GZHOOLQJXQLWV IRUDQHVWLPDWHGLQKDELWDQWV
Alongside these new areas for residential development, new transport

infrastructure was planned, with notable emphasis placed upon road
development. Such operations came to converge into a new paradigm of
peripheral residential development, with emphasis on the use of means of
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legitimizing such operations consisted of the image of a global liberal capitalist
city, competitive at the highest levels and with a large that seemed to self
sustain itself thanks to its faculty to attract investments in a never ending
virtuous circle of construction and economic growth.
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however, to a large extent a direct contradiction of that metropolitan model:
a larger and more global city indeed, but with the intended new residential
expansions half empty and the centre denser than ever before. All of this
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housing, rising unemployment and an social discontent unprecedented since
:KLOHWKLVÀJXUHZDVDOUHDG\LQWURGXFHGLQWKH*HQHUDOSODQIURPLWRQO\FDPHWRIXOO
use with the new plan in 1997
the transition to democracy in the 1970s-1980s.
In fact, it just takes a look at some statistical aggregates from those years to
recognize that the evolution of the city was very much following the meteoric
course of large emerging metropolises. In terms of relative economic weight,
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than 800,000 registered foreigners when in year 2000 did not reach 150,000.
7KH RIÀFLDO PRGHOV ZHUH E\ WKH \HDUV RI WKH EXEEOH SURMHFWLQJ D VLPLODU
outraging forecast of 7 million people population for the region of Madrid
alone by the year 2017; but if we take areas which are functionally integrated
ZLWK 0DGULG VXFK DV *XDGDODMDUD 7ROHGR DQG 6HJRYLD WKH IRUHFDVW DOUHDG\
DPRXQWVWRDVWDJJHULQJÀJXUHRIPLOOLRQSHRSOH Such growth resulted in
unprecedented increase in land occupation in the region of Madrid, only if
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urban land increased by half of what it had done in its entire history with only
moderate population growth. It goes without saying that these forecasts have 227
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the urban tissue were indeed, still very present by 2015.
FIG: 3.1.1_a4
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the municipality of Madrid has even recovered population, from 2,957,058 inhabitants in 2001
WRLQ $QXDULR(VWDGtVWLFRGHOD&RPXQLGDGGH0DGULG
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FIG: 3.1.1_a5
8UEDQIRRWSULQWJURZWKDV
envisaged in the year 2001.
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228
FIG: 3.1.1_a6
Planned growth of the high-
way network as envisaged in
WKH\HDU6RXUFH&$0
Basurama
The result. Urban fragmentation and social inequality
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. Most of these extensions were partially urbanizing protected green areas and
rural productive land.
Also, the underlying model of the General Plan of 1997 not only clearly
depends on the private automobile, but set the guidelines for a territorial and
VRFLDORUJDQL]DWLRQKLJKO\GHSHQGHQWRQLQFUHDVHGOHYHOVRIPRELOLW\(YHQWR
an extent that some researchers and urban planners have argued that these
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specialized areas like shopping malls RU RIÀFH SDUNV EHWZHHQ WKH PHVK
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public transport network, the growth of the road network and the choice of the
highway as a preferred type, required large portions of territory to be destined
to the land-hungry multiple road joints, contributing to what has been termed
WKHLQIUDVWUXFWXUDORUPRELOLW\VSUDZO 5RFK 6XFKPRGHOFU\VWDOOL]HGWKH
229
WHQGHQF\RIUHQGHULQJWKHSHULSKHU\RIWKHFLW\KRVWLOHWRSHGHVWULDQWUDIÀFDQG
highly dependent on private means of transportation for daily life. In fact, as
RI0DGULGZDVWKHXUEDQDUHDZLWKPRUHNLORPHWUHVRIPRWRUZD\V ZLWK
RUZLWKRXWWROOV LQUHODWLRQWRLWVSRSXODWLRQLQ(XURSH (FRORJLVWDVHQ$FFLyQ
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roads increased from 218 to 970. In 2009 the region, with an area of 8.028
NPDQGDSRSXODWLRQRILQKDELWDQWVKDGDURDGQHWZRUNRI
km.
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NGO, RI WKHVH 8UEDQ ,QWHUYHQWLRQ 3ODQV ZHUH GHFODUHG LOOHJDO E\ WKH
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dwelling units. A small but considerable part of those housing units had been
either already built or sold. 7KHWRWDOVXUIDFHDIIHFWHGE\WKHVHQWHQFHDPRXQWV
WRPLOOLRQVTXDUHPHWUHV
Such operation was not alone. In fact, those years saw the development and
,Q\HDUWKHUHZHUHLQ0DGULGELJFRPPHUFLDOPDOOVZLWKPLOOLRQPRIUHWDLO
DUHDDQGPRUHWKDQSDUNLQJORWV H[FOXGLQJDOOVPDOOFRPPHUFH 7KLVDPRXQWVWRD*URVV
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tructu/general/anuario/ianucap09.htm
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FIG: 3.1.1_a7
Total area affected by the ruling
3$8VGHFODUHGLOOHJDOE\ of the Supreme Court of Justice
WKH6XSUHPH&RXUWRI-XVWLFH
in 2012. Protected land
included in the urbanisation projects
7KHWRWDOVXUIDFHDIIHFWHG m2 Land of special
by the sentence amounts to % ecological protection
PLOOLRQVTXDUHPHWUHV
6RXUFH(O3DLV
230
FIG: 3.1.1_a8
Income inequalities and
unemployment across
(XURSHDQFRXQWULHV 6RXUFH
(86,/& &RXQWULHVKDYH
been ranked by the relative
increase in household dis-
posable income inequalities
LQWKHSHULRG
construction of few iconic operations in the areas of public infrastructure
or commercial surfaces, reaching the summit of speculative operations with
the announced investment by an American billionaire to build a dedicated
PLQL FLW\ RI JDPEOLQJ 7KH SURMHFW FDOOHG (XURYHJDV SURGXFHG D ZDYH RI
indignation and energetic protests both at street level and in the media, and it
GLGQRWPDWHULDOL]HLQWKHHQG+RZHYHUWRJHWKHUZLWK:DUQHU3DUNWKH3$8V
Valdebebas, etc., it stands as a real symbol of the excesses of these years that
saw the social divorce betwenen the ruling elites and the citizens and which
will ultimately headed towards the change of political cycle.
)ROORZLQJ WKH \HDUV RI 0DGULG·V PHWURSROLWDQ H[SDQVLRQ ZKLFK ODVWHG

until 2008 roughly speaking, the continuing implementation of such urban
JHRJUDSK\ RI IUDJPHQWDWLRQ FRQVWLWXWHG D UHDO UHFRQÀJXUDWLRQ RI WKH VRFLDO
as it did not just continue as a simple process of increasing segregation and
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landscape in reorganization in social, economic and legal terms, as well as in
WHUPVRIWKHSK\VLFDOUHDOP7KHUDSLGLQFUHDVHLQVRFLDOLQHTXDOLWLHVFDSWXUHG
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of which the urban dimension is unfolding has all of a sudden situate Spanish
society in a situation in which the thick substance of urban democratic public
space.
231
Growth of social discontent and burorepression

Perhaps not surprisingly, social discontent grew sharply by that time, producing
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nature of these protests and their forms of civic associationism are covered in
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simply go on tolerated by the authorities. If the initial demonstrations of the
15M in 2011 unfolded in an atmosphere of nonviolence and even festive and
celebratory mood, soon the sustained levels of protests.
FIG: 3.1.1_a9
For over one year the imme-
Many civic rights platforms have denounced this increase in the levels of diate surroundings of the
direct repression as well as the softer forms of burorepression Already by National Parliament Building
&RPSOH[KDVEHHQFORVHG
\HDU DQG RQO\ FRXQWLQJ WKRVH FDVHV UHODWHG WR WKH 0 SURWHVWV WKHUH down by the police forces.
were approximately more than 700 disciplinary processes for a total value of Source: unknown
HXURVLQÀQHV,WKDVEHHQFODLPHGWKDWWKHVHIRUPVRIEXURUHSUHVVLRQ
constitute an effort to impose a silencing of protests. Moreover it has been
argued that this represents, contrary to the rhetoric behind such operations, an
effort to put an end to collective forms of protests, since it puts obstacles for
the rights of reunion and demonstration.
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FRQWURORQWKHXUEDQVSDFH7KLVKDVFU\VWDOOL]HGLQWRUHFXUUHQWDUHDVRIH[FOXVLRQ
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FIG: 3.1.1_a10
Empty and underbuilt lots
and buildings in Madrid.
Source: Urban Networks,
2013
232
FIG: 3.1.1_a12
Map indicating the location of the CCTV
cameras installed by the municipal police in
FIG: 3.1.1_a11
Lavapiés Neighbourhood.
Empty public land. Source: EMVS
Source: El Pais, 2013. Madrid
2014
than three days after the forced eviction of the protesters on August 2, 2011,
or the long duration exclusion zone around the national parliament, with more
than one year of continuous presence of fences and only allowed to residents.
One might think that this is not surprising knowing the previous evolution in
terms of implementation of policies and technologies of control, like the set
XSRID&&79FDPHUDFLUFXLWLQWKHFLW\FHQWUHDQGWKHLQWHUQDWLRQDOOHJDODQG
political derive under the rhetoric of security and terrorism. In this regard,
a second development, together with this derive of militarization of space,
seems to place the control of protests in Spain in last years close to the model
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can to add to the preparation of Madrid for the explosion of social effervescence
that followed. During these years, and especially with the triggering of the
crisis, many buildings and other built physical structures got empty at the
233
same time as lots of land made available by the change of legislation and /
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phenomenon hit Madrid is still far from the numbers that made the main
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adding to the impression through the effect on the experience of the everyday
by its citizens.
In sum, all of these factors together had the effect of producing a particular
atmosphere of control and segregation, among the climate of general impunity
RI SRZHU DVVRFLDWHG ZLWK WKH VWDWH RI H[FHSWLRQ WKHRUL]HG E\ &DUO 6FKPLWW
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regular behaviour and control and of digital sphere of communications we
arrive close to scenarios of biopolitical control, and manipulation of affect
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violent instantiation to those theories of the city of malaise, discontent and
discomfort, referred to in the introduction.
Concluding remarks.
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their properties and the growing demand for housing favoured a process that
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growth had no relationship with the housing needs of the whole population
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E\ 5RFK GXULQJ WKRVH \HDUV 0DGULG EHFDPH ´HVVHQWLDOO\ EXLOGLQJ
space, that is, a space of social exclusion organized to accumulate the income
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endeavour in its various meanings, had in the spectacular image of star
architecture a natural ally. Moreover, regular but technically competent
architects in charge of the architecture of the vast residential stock were also
necessarily involved in the years of expansion and fragmentation.
Spectacle and shock coordinated in a spiralling choreography, through which

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services and structure prior considered to be strategic and requiring public
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of the metropolitan territories, but also their political and social aspects. It
234
is done so through a steady deconstruction of the notion of inclusive public
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and state of exception.
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of housing per capita, with a high concentration of houses in the hands of the highest social
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unable to access housing. And this when, paradoxically, there are enough housing units to ac-
commodate everyone.”
FIG: 3.1.1_a13
Visualization of the 15M
hashtags, capturing its
diffusion network in phase
of explosion. Ellaborated by
Pablo Aragón. { | Toret, 2013
| | |zu:1194268:EEIFR4NJ}
235
5L^MVYTZVM:VJPHS,ɈLY]LZJLUJL
In the landscape of dismantling of welfare state and increasing social inequalities
Madrid has seen the upsurge of social unrest with unprecedented levels of
active engagement in contentious activities through organized movements
DQG DVVRFLDWLRQLVP 'HOFOyV HW DO 7KLV SHULRG KDV EHHQ LGHQWLÀHG WR
constitute a cycle of protests in which the civic society has not only demanded
new solutions to the problems, but actually essayed its own tentative forms of
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:LWKUHJDUGVWRWKH(XURSHDQFRQWH[WWKHVWUHQJWKDQGQRYHOW\RIWKHVHIRUPV
of social mobilization, as well as their breadth of reach and relevance for
shaping a new national political cycle is unmatched.
7KHQHZPRYHPHQWVERUQZRUOGZLGHIURPKDYHEHHQVXEMHFWWRVHYHUDO
IUDPHVRIDQDO\VLVWU\LQJWRÀWWKHPWRSUHYLRXVGHÀQLWLRQVDQGWKHRULHVQHZ
social movement, very new social movements, network social movements,
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GHWDLOHG VFUXWLQ\ E\ UHVHDUFKHUV JLYHQ LWV UHOHYDQFH VHH $QWHEt 6iQFKH]
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-LPpQH] (VWDOHOOD0LFy &DVHUR5LSROOpVDPRQJRWKHUV
FIG: 3.1.1_a14
Protestors rise their hands
during the performance of
the collective action called
´PXWHVKRXWµ6RXUFH$OYDUR
Minguito 2011
236
FIG: 3.1.1_a15
Participants to the mobili-
zations of 15M integrated
facades of the surrounding
built structures as devices for
communication.
Source: Alvaro Minguito
2011
$VDJHQHUDOVXPPDU\DIWHUDÀUVWSHULRGRIVXVWDLQHGRXWEXUVWVRIVSRQWDQHRXV
collective indignation, another phase of more organized and structured
mobilization followed, facilitated by an increasing integration of these bottom-
XSVWUXFWXUHVLQWRPRUHRUJDQL]HGWKHPDWLFRUVHFWRULDOPRYHPHQWV DPRQJ
which the most well known are the mareas or tides, which for years have kept
sustained social action in relation to certain themes like public health system,
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coherence with theories of the life cycle of social movements is complemented
with the articulation of new political parties or groups that emerge from the
general spirit of the 15M and, in convergence with previous demands, stand
seeking to seize the momentum and step into the institutions. Arguably, this
phase, while in clear continuation with the previous phases of civic mobilization,
constitutes a tangible change in the amount of social mobilization in the
streets. Some scholars as well as politicians think that this is due to the fact
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political organization might have so neutralized the lack of representativity
that arguably was one of the fuels for such increased and sustained levels of
street protest.
Despite the surprise with which the national and international media received
237
the emergence of the 20111 protests, 15M and what followed after in Madrid
and to a great extent in the rest of the Spanish territory has been claimed to
GZHOOVWURQJO\LQSUHYLRXVRULJLQV5HVHDUFKHUVOLNH+DUR%DUEDDQG6DPSHGUR
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WKHVHDUH´0RYLPLHQWRµPRYHPHQWIRUWKHDEROLWLRQRIH[WHUQDOGHEWIRU
GHYHORSLQJFRXQWULHVWKHPRYHPHQW´1XQFD0DLVµ LQUHVSRQVHWRWKHZRUVWRLO
spill disater in Spain happened in 200 in the Galician coast and which sparked
a wave of both solidarity with thousands of people volunteering in the cleaning
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WKH ´QR D OD *XHUUDµ PRYHPHQW DJDLQVW WKH VHFRQG ,UDN :DU ZKHUH 6SDLQ
SDUWLFLSDWHGLIRQO\WRDPDUJLQDOVFDOH ´0RYLPLHQWRSRUXQD9LYLHQGD'LJQDµ
RU09' PRYHPHQWIRUGLJQLÀHGKRXVLQJDJDLQVWWKHVKRUWDJHRIDIIRUGDEOH
KRXVLQJLQWKH\HDUVRIWKHUHDOVWDWHEXEEOH 7KHUHZHUHRWKHUVWKDWSOD\HG
D UROH LQ VXFK DV WKH PRVWO\ RQOLQH PRELOL]DWLRQ RI WKH ´$QWL /H\ 6LQGHµ RU
$QRQ\PRXV DJDLQVW WKH FRQWURO RI WKH LQWHUQHW 7R WKH VDPH H[WHQW RWKHU
DVVRFLDWLRQV DQG RUJDQL]DWLRQ OLNH ´'HPRFUDFLD 5HDO <Dµ 5HDO 'HPRFUDF\
1RZ RU ´-XYHQWXG 6LQ )XWXURµ <RXWK :LWKRXW )XWXUH HYHQ WKURXJK WKH\
happened immediately before the 15M, are also argued to be its antecedents
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FIG: 3.1.1_a16
Bodily presence as main
political instrument. Co-pres-
ence and encounter as
result.Demonstration of may
20th 2011. Madrid
Source: Juan Luis Sanchez,
2011
The role of technology

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238
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theorized on the emergence of a peculiar form of technopolitics at the crossing
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appropriation of digital tools for generating shared moods and notions, mutual
empowerment, getting people on the streets, taking the lead on common issues
DQGIDFLOLWDWLQJFROOHFWLYHEHKDYLRXUVµ -DYLHU7RUHW
$OUHDG\E\/RYLQNDQG6FKQHLGHU SRUWUD\HGWKHQHZJHQHUDWLRQV

DV WKH ´KDSS\ VODYHVµ RI WKH GLJLWDO WHFKQRORJLHV WKDW DWH XS WKHLU WLPH DQG
locked them in a room, turning them into eternal hackers, depositaries of the
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previous online forms of mobilization, on 2011 the protestors combined in a
most natural and effective manner both presence and activity in the streets
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Direct action. Space

One of the most notable effects of the diverse movements starting with the
explosion of the 15M is the salient role of direct action and involvement.
Arguably, these aspects relate to a more fundamental proactive stance towards
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further at a later stage in the this chapter.
7KLVDFWLYHVSDWLDOHQJDJHPHQWDOUHDG\VWDUWVZLWKWKHDFWRIWUDQVJUHVVLQJWKH
mere demonstration as complaint and progress to an state of active proposal
HYHQ LI WHQWDWLYH HYHQ LI LQVHFXUH DQG GLIIXVH E\ LQDXJXUDWLQJ WKH GHÀDQW
spatial action camping in the centre of the city. From that moment onwards,
I can say that direct action and active involvement have been a constant that
has permeated the activities of all those participants. Among the plethora of
movements, initiatives, platforms and activities that emerged from that germ,
there is a common acceptance of this genealogy of self-management of space
coming from the squating culture.
239
3.1.9 Patio Maravillas and Malasaña
:LWKLQWKHSOHWKRUDRIPRYHPHQWVWKDWKDYHSDUWDNHQWRWKHLQWHQVHFOLPDWH
of social mobilization in Madrid, I have chosen to focus on the collective of
3DWLR 0DUDYLOODV IRU VHYHUDO UHDVRQV 6RPH RI WKHVH UHDVRQV
are objective facts and some of them belong to my departing hypotheses. In
FRPELQDWLRQ,DUJXHWKH\FRQVWLWXWHDVXIÀFLHQWDQGSURPLVLQJEDVHIRUWKH
choice of subject. First of all:
1. It precedes 15M and constitutes a very clear link with previous movements
and problematics, while at the same time being absolutely changed by the
15M.
2. It has played a strategic role in connecting, coordinating and facilitating the
emergence of different movements
,WH[LVWHQFHLVOLQNHGWRDFOHDUO\GHÀQHGSK\VLFDOVSDFHHYHQLIDWWKHVDPH
WLPHLWFKDOOHQJHVVXFKGHÀQLWLRQ
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5. It is a local social centre, strongly rooted in the community of neighbours.
However, it has the intention to address the whole metropolitan geography and
thinks about and acts upon a space larger than its immediate surroundings.
240 ,WKDVDVWURQJDQGGHÀQHGSROLWLFDOSURMHFW\HWLWUHPDLQVWUDQVYHUVDODQG
inclusive, open to debate and new non-partisan forms of doing politics.
Choice of Location
Patio Maravillas intentionally chose the neighbourhood of Malasaña. As they
have made clear in their own reports and published articles, this responded to
a series of reasons, which are relevant to this research. Among such motives, I
FDQFLWHWZRPDLQDVSHFWVÀUVWO\0DODVDxDLVRQHRIWKHQHLJKERXUKRRGVXQGHU
WKHPRVWYLUXOHQWSURFHVVRIJHQWULÀFDWLRQHVSHFLDOO\H[DFHUEDWHGGXULQJWKHVH
ODVW\HDUVE\RSHUDWLRQVOLNH7ULEDOO6HFRQGO\WKHQHLJKERXUKRRGRI0DODVDxD
holds a strategic position in the city centre and while not being considered
part of the most touristic attractive areas of the historical mediaeval centre,
has played a relatively prominent cultural role in the city over the last three
GHFDGHV0RUHRYHU7KHQHLJKERXUKRRGKROGVDJRRGGHDORIVRFLDOPL[ -XVWR

FIGs: 3.1.1_a17 and
3.1.1_a18 5HFHQWO\ UHVHDUFKHUV KDYH LGHQWLÀHG DQ HQKDQFHG SURFHVV RI JHQWULÀFDWLRQ
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of the neighbourhood of in the centre of Madrid, especially concentrated in the neighbourhoods
Malasaña. Consisted in a
commented walk around
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the “landscapes of specula- -DQRVFKND 6RUDQGR $UGXUD 7KH FRPELQDWLRQ RI WKH \HDUV
tion”. Organized by platfoms
linked to Patio Maravillas
*HQWULÀFDWLRQLVGHÀQHGDVDSURFHVVRIUHXUEDQL]DWLRQRUUHQHZDORUFHUWDLQDUHDVRIDFLW\
producing a series of processes of social and urban transformation by which the most vulnerable
population with lower income is displaced in favour of a new sector with higher symbolic and
economic capital
of urban re-structuring mentioned in previous sections with what has been
WHUPHGWKH´HQWUHSUHQHXUDOLVWµG\QDPLFVWKDWZHUHIDYRXUVDQGODXQFKHGE\
municipal authorities in Madrid, accentuated the attraction of both investors
DQG ´FUHDWLYH FODVVµ WR WKH &HQWUDO 'LVWULFW 7KHVH SURFHVVHV WULJJHUHG D
series of sociocultural and economic transformations that are clearly linked
WR JHQWULÀFDWLRQ WKH SURÀOH RI WKH SRSXODWLRQ EHFDPH \RXQJHU DQG PRUH
bourgeois, with preference for single person dwellings, increased mobility,
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linked to the arrival of a higher income population to the previously rundown
and poor areas in the city centre alongside the irruption of new cultural FIGs: 3.1.1_a18
practices. However, these processes are rarely ever totally completed and the
ROGHUDQGSRRUHUSRSXODWLRQUHPDLQVLQVLJQLÀFDQWQXPEHUVFDXVLQJDVHULRXV
SUREOHPRIKHLJKWHQHGLQHTXDOLWLHV7KLVSURFHVVPRUHRYHUXVXDOO\UHVXOWVLQ
certain sectors of the population being segregated and literally isolated inside
their own neighbourhood, as their places of gathering are substituted by more
expensive and culturally different ones, they face lack of social services and
are ultimately unable to afford the cost of life in their own environment but
DUHDOVRXQDEOHWRVHDUFKIRUDOWHUQDWLYHKRXVLQJ7KLV´XUEDQSRODUL]DWLRQµ (O
3DWLR0DUDYLOODV DGGVDVRQHRIWKHPDLQUHDVRQVIRU3DWLR0DUDYLOODVWR
KDYHFKRVHQWKHQHLJKERXUKRRGRI0DODVDxDZLWKLQWKH&HQWUDO'LVWULFW
Also, on the other hand, urban neighbourhoods have become in this situation a
privileged unit of observation and policy intervention and area-based initiatives
241
inspired by a social innovative approach have been experimented in dissimilar
FRQWH[WVLQ(XURSHDQGHOVHZKHUH %LDQFKHWWL
Initial Intuitions behind Patio Maravillas.

As it is described by the members of the Patio themselvesWKHLQLWLDOÀUVWDFWLRQ
behind the project of the Patio was sustained on a double-fold intuition. On the
one hand, they realized that the social centres that had already existed within FIGs: 3.1.1_a19
7KHÀUVW+4RI3DWLR0DU-
a certain atmosphere of inclusive attitude and spirit of resistance had opened avillas in Acuerdo Street. A
ZKDWWKH\GHÀQHGDVDÍUDPHRISRVVLELOLW\µ. On the other hand, and always picture of the patio that gave
the name to the collective
according to their own accounts, they felt that previous social mobilizations and whose spatial features
have shaped its associative
VXFKDVWKHGHPRQVWUDWLRQVDJDLQVWWKH,UDTZDULQPRELOL]DWLRQDJDLQVW
and inclusive logics.
FRQWURO RI WKH LQWHUQHW DQG WKH PRYHPHQW FDOOHG ´9 GH 9LYLHQGDµ + IRU Source: Patio Maravillas,
2009. Madrid
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QRWDEOH FROOHFWLYH SRWHQWLDO WKDW ZDV ´ZLVKLQJ WR H[SUHVV LWVHOIµ ,Q DGGLWLRQ
these movements and mobilizations had arguably a new social composition
WKDWKHOGWKH´GHVLUHµWRWDFNOHWKHWHUULWRU\IURPGLIIHUHQWSROLWLFDOIUDPHV
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PXFKGHWDLOHGDQDO\VLVKHUHGHVSLWHWKHLULQKHUHQWLQWHUHVW6XIÀFHWRVD\WKDW
the members themselves consider those years as an invaluable preparatory
years for those challenges to come with the explosion of the 15M. During
VHHLQWHUYLHZVZLWKSDUWLFLSDQWVLQ&KDSWHU
([SUHVVLRQXVHGE\*XLOOHUPR=DSDWDQRZPHPEHURI0DGULG&LW\&RXQFLO
those years there was a general climate in which new things were incubating,
and which would ultimately bloom with the arrival of the 15M. Gárate and
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not so much of identitary questions, rupture of the right-left political axis
and its substitution for the high-low, politics of anonymity and of anybody,
spontaneity, technopolitics, communication as a base for organization, etc”
FIGs: 3.1.1_a20_Patio femi-
nista
Souce: Patio Maravillias 7KRVH SUHYLRXV \HDUV ZHUH NH\ LQ SUHSDULQJ WKH 3DWLR 0DUDYLOODV IRU SOD\LQJ
such a crucial facilitatory role for the many activities, civic platforms and
diverse social movements that used Patio Maravillas either as a physical base
for their activities or as a central node in their organization and communication
activities.
:LWKWKH0DQHZDQGKHFWLFSHULRGRIDFWLYLW\ZLOOVWDUWFKDOOHQJLQJWKHVH
novel forms of organization and ways of conducting citizen politics that were
tested and incubated before as well as the arguable emergence of new forms
DQGSROLWLFDOVXEMHFWV:LWKLWVDUULYDO0VDZWKHSHUIRUPDQFHRIWKHXVXDO
tools, like assemblies, happen in the streets, and it all suddenly turned into a
spontaneous camp in the centre of the city, and the catalysis of new forms of
social action like the campaign against forced house eviction and other forms
RI QRQYLROHQW FLYLO GLVREHGLHQFH :LWK WKDW UDSLG HYROXWLRQ ´QHZ VSDFHV RI
ZKLFKZHKDGQHYHULPDJLQHGHQWHUDQGMRLQWKH3DWLR5HDO'HPRFUDF\1RZ
242
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2OG3HRSOH*URXS <D\RÁDXWDV 2FFXS\WKH79 7RPDODWHOH WKHDVVHPEO\RI
WKHQHLJKERXUKRRGDOONLQGVRIWLGHV IRUWKHIDPRXVWLGHVRUWKHPDWLFVRFLDO
PRYHPHQWV WKDW VSUXQJ IURP WKH JHUP RI WKH 0 HWFµ *RQ]DOR *iUDWH
*XLOOHUPR =DSDWD S %\ WKH HQG RI WKH FDPS LQ 3XHUWD GHO 6RO
$FDPSDGD6RO ´WKRVHVTXDUHVH[WHQGHGLQWRWKHVRFLDOFHQWUHVZKLFKVWDUWHG
to multiply, to be born everywhere. And with them their own legitimacy is
multiplied. From small, parcial social centre for a minority, Patio turns into a
node in a dense network though which thousands and thousands of people
start to get organized in a more or less diffuse manner” *RQ]DOR*iUDWH
*XLOOHUPR=DSDWDS
7UDQVODWHGE\WKHDXWKRU2ULJLQDOLQ6SDQLVK´0LHQWUDVWDQWRDQXHVWURDOUHGHGRU\HQWUH
nosotros y nosotras se estaba empezando a poblar el ambiente de nuevas formas de hacer poltica
TXHD~QQRHQWHQGtDPRV\VyORLQWXtDPRVOHYHPHQWH2UJDQL]DFLyQHQIRUPDGHUHGFHQWUDOLGDG
GHODFXHVWLyQPDWHULDO\QRWDQWRGHODLGHQWLGDGUXSWXUDGHOHMH´L]TXLHUGDGHUHFKDµ\VXV-
WLWXFLyQSRUHO´DUULEDDEDMRµSROWLFDVGHDQRQLPDWR\GHFXDOTXLHUDHVSRQWDQHLGDGWHFQRSRO-
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p. 2
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aquello estall y nos encontramos en una asamblea como en tantas otras ocasiones, pero esta vez
estbamos en una plaza, montando una acampada, de pronto se comienzan a parar desahucios,
UHGDGDVHWF<HQWUDQHQHOSDWLRHVSDFLRVTXHQXQFDKDEDPRVLPDJLQDGR'HPRFUDFLD5HDO
<D-XYHQWXG6LQ)XWXUR<D\RÁDXWDV7RPDODWHOHODDVDPEOHDGHOEDUULRPDUHDVGHWRGRVORV
FRORUHVHWFµ *RQ]DOR*iUDWH *XLOOHUPR=DSDWD p. 2
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LHURQDORVFHQWURVVRFLDOHVTXHVHHPSLH]DQDPXOWLSOLFDUDQDFHUSRUWRGDVSDUWHV<FRQHOORV
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un nodo de una red tupida a través de la cual se organizan de forma más o menos difusa miles y
miles de personas.”
During the days previous to the 15M, Patio Maravillas was used as a reference
point for the organizations and meeting of those involved in the preparation
of the activities around 15M. At the same time, it became an unavoidable
reference, not only in terms of organizational capacity, but also and more
importantly as a locus where certain ideas about a different city met were
embodied together with another form of building a strongly bonded yet open
FIG: 3.2 _a21

Malasaña Madrid. Aerial
photograph Source: PLanea
2010
243
minded and respectful sociality.AS it became clear in the interviews with

participants, emotion played a very important role in facilitating contact and
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urban through feminist ideas, politics of care, and ecological awareness. A
proper embidiment of the affective dimension of urbanity.
Malasaña. Dossier on the neighbourhood

General Description.
Statistical Information.50
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LQWHUQDODUWHULHVLQWKHFLW\RI0DGULGDQGFRQFHQWUDWHVDJUHDWGHDORIRIÀFH
space as well as intense retail use. Moreover, the street has strong presence and
predominant place in the collective imaginary, being commonly protrayed in
movies and literature as a representative scenery of intense urbanity.
Around the Plaza del Dos de Mayo, a square in the heart of the neighbourhood,
a whole circuit of youth entertainment got developed, comprissing many bars,
music and clothing stores, as well as restaurants. It was once a space of preference
of a generation that sought both the disappearance of the dictatorship as well
FIG: 3.1 _a22
Malasaña Madrid. Aerial photo-
as the inauguration of new fashion and lifestyle behaviours. Afterwards, many
graph Source: ____ different generations have used this neighbourhood as a recreational part of
the city, being nowadays characterized by with prominent young population
by night. However, these specialized applications generating noise problems
and accumulation of garbage in the public space, causing unrest among its
residents.
&KDUDFWHUL]HGE\KDYLQJVWUHHWVWUXFWXUHEDVHGRQJHRJUDSKLFDOIHDWXUHVDQG
lines growth on old roads, its layout presents certain homogeneity, with streets
RI GLPHQVLRQV OHVV WKDQ ÀIWHHQ PHWHUV DQG EXLOGLQJV RI XS WR VL[ VWRUH\V
7KHVHSURSHUWLHVDUHRIXQHYHQTXDOLW\WKHUHDUHDODUJHQXPEHURIEXLOGLQJV
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XQGHUJRQHPDQ\PRGLÀFDWLRQVLQLWVLQWHULRUOD\RXWOLNHWKHRSHQLQJRI'RVGH
244
Mayo Square and the expansion of its streets. However, authorities have failed
WR WUDQVIRUP WKH PRUSKRORJ\ RI WKLV DUHD RI WKH FLW\ DV WKHVH PRGLÀFDWLRQV
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of open spaces, particularly green areas, is combined with traditional overuse
RISULYDWHYHKLFOHVDOWKRXJKQHZWUDIÀFUHVWULFWLRQDUHLQSODFHDQGVRPHDUHDV
have successfully been transformed into pedestrian priority areas. As a result,
pedestrian mobility and public transport are overall adequate. On the other
hand, private transport mobility suffers from the intricacy and narrowness of
its streets, despite its central position. As for public facilities and equipment,
the local requirements are not met adequately, especially regarding sports uses.
7KHQHLJKERXUKRRGLVFRPSRVHGSUHGRPLQDQWO\RIROGHUDJHJURXSVDOWKRXJK
a reverse trend is presumed with increasing foreign population. In fact, this
WUHQGLVIDFLOLWDWLQJWKHUHMXYHQDWLRQRIWKHDUHD·VSRSXODWLRQ7KXVLQUHFHQW
years there has been an increase in immigrant enclaves, who have come to the
QHLJKERXUKRRGVHDUFKLQJIRUDIIRUGDEOHUHQWDOGZHOOLQJ5HFHQWO\DOVR\RXQJ
people have been observed to have preference to move into this area, attracted
E\WKHEHQHÀWVRIFHQWUDOLW\LQWHUPVRIHDVHRIWUDQVSRUWDWLRQSUR[LPLW\DQG
abundance of specialized services, proximity of cultural offer and the intensity
of street life.
As mentioned previously, the neighbourhood has been subject to an intense

SURFHVVRIJHQWULÀFDWLRQZLWKWKH7ULEDOORSHUDWLRQEHLQJLWVPRVWZHOONQRZQ
example for it is a coordinated operation between private investors and the
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new momentum and is now spread and generalized to most of the tissue of
the neighbourhood, with higher intensity along the areas surrounding the
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a wider local community, in a series of campaigns against it.
Description of historical evolution.

0DODVDxDDOVRFDOOHG8QLYHUVLGDGGLVWULFWEHORQJVWRWKHWKLUGSUHFLQFWRIWKH
historic centre, which was developed in the second major expansion of Madrid
;9,;9,, 7KHDUHDZKLFKJLYHVLWVQDPHWRQHLJKERXUKRRGRZHVLWVRULJLQ
WRWKHGLYLVLRQRIWKHIRUPHUEDUUDFNVRI0RQWHOHyQ,QWKHUHYROXWLRQDU\
%RDUG RI &LW\ :RUNV H[WHQGHG WKH ZLGWK RI WKH VWUHHWV DQG GHÀQHG 'RV GH
Mayo square around the Barracks Arch.
Applying planning regulations:

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purposes of the parameters and conditions of the building and regime uses, the
plan in effect determines the scope as urban land within the management area
245
1 or Historical Heritage Protection predominatingly in two degrees:
-Grade 1: corresponds to blocks of considerable size in the old town with the
layout of a maximum internal alignment, whose purpose is to obtain a central
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-Grade 2: it applies to blocks from the old town whose characteristics do not
allow tracing interior alignments which can get a yard large enough block.
Previous projects:
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and environmental improvement, which they have led rehabilitations and
improvements of public space.
1977, Malasaña Plan: defence of the neighbourhood against degradation and
blocking of speculative processes.
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interventions in areas singled out for their heritage value or their problems.
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Program: Actions in the neighbourhood intensify.
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building facades
-2008-2011, is included in numerous action plans for the revitalization of the
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observation of urban qualities. However, it has recently become a better
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exposed previously, porosity is related to a web of concepts that seek to relate
spatial conditions of the built urban tissue to modes of social interaction and
cohabitation of diversity.
In this chapter, I consider porosity in relation to the provision of social and

spatial opportunities for the emergence of social movements and conditions of
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of the urban tissue of the neighbourhood of Malasaña, where Patio Maravillas
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comparative study of 8 samples of urban tissue in Madrid, helping to properly
contextualize the relative place of the neighbourhood of Malsaña within the
totality of the city. Second, I concentrate the analysis of the neighbourhood of
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through two distinct yet related angles of analysis: the conditions of the spatial
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introduce the problematic behind this chapter, elaborating in how the research
questions that motivate this study translate into the empirical enquiry. As a
consequence, in the second section I expose the design of this empirical study,
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the methodology, the data used and the analytical tools deployed. In particular,
I present the categorization and selection of the urban tissues to analyse and
an introduction of the neighbourhood of Malasaña through a brief portrait. In
addition, I elaborate on the method and variables chosen to combine urban
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discuss their relevance for the research questions, their limitations and the
necessary extension and complements to this study to be tackled in the next
chapters.
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its continuation into the next chapters. Here, I introduce a re-conceptualization
of porosity based on its approach through the notion of practice, based on the
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be extended to non-contentious social action and spatial practices of urban
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3.2.2 Problematic
Operationalizing porosity as an answer to the emergence of new urban
practices
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the possibilities of using an enquiry into urban porosity as means to better
understand the constitutive role of the spatial dimension in the emergence and
seizure of social movements or new urban practices:
A.1 RQ.a. To what extent the urban space, understood as a combination of

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of Patio Maravillas has contributed to the impact of their practices in
different sectors of the Metropolitan population?
A.1.RQ.b. To what extent this contribution responds to the level of
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the co-presence of diverse spaces? Of which spaces?
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the collective of Patio Maravillas?
As I have already commented in the previous part of the thesis, Dehaenne

249
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in which human individuals interact with one another face to face from body to
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stands for weak links and the establishment of non-intensive relationships
where potential exchanges of information, take place. Such exchanges of
information need not be based solely on informal chat or verbal formats, but
are also constituted by the appreciation of behavioural and stylistic aspects such
as attitudes, styles, fashion, character. Moreover, as it has been broadly argued,
bodily dimension is of primary importance for reading and assessing structural
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have shifted from an external reading of the body and its behaviours in where
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experience of the world through the body as the only ultimate substrate in
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the importance and potential of the presence of the body for unveiling social
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others through these conscious or unconscious recordings, but also through
the information we gather through our own bodily practices when we are in
presence of others.
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belief and group structure. Organic solidarity requires an integrated and dense
space, whereas mechanical solidarity prefers a segregated and dispersed space,
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between them, respective hegemony, and their fundamental character, have
been studied since the establishment of sociology as an autonomous discipline
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been picked up in space syntax where the cause of the different solidarities,
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prerequisites. Moreover, as Marcus comments, the concept of co-presence has
come back and re-emerged as relevant for sociological theory in consistent
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Goffman and Anthony Giddens.
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space does not determine what takes place, co-presence is seen as a pre-
condition for face-to-face interaction and all the social processes that require
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function of cities: to structure co-presence among people of different ages
and genders, among inhabitants and strangers or outsiders, among people of
different occupations or social classes, and within economic, civic, and religious
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and insistent and are in their nature never absent. How these conditions are
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others, which does not necessarily imply focused interaction, we gain information
and knowledge from our fellow citizens and participate in processes that
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through public space that material urban resources are accessible, an access
that is dependent on both the location of the amenities in space but also the
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structured and shaped by urban form, which creates the actual experience of
access through space.
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social movements or contexts of urban contention? Stavrides argues for a more
experiential account of porosity, stating it plays an important role in granting
individuals and collective a rich tissue of where different spaces of the city
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perform an important transformational and emancipatory role in society
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social realities, but also of different spaces.
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central quality a methodological question arises, how do we account for such
quality of urban space? In that sense, the notion of porosity that emerges from
251
the research questions does not simply equal the connectivity of the urban
tissue, but precisely the sum of the conditions that allow that tissue to afford
co-presence of difference and in different manners. I would argue that porosity
is related to the provision of cognitive and affective affordances, which in turn
allow not only for a seizing of space, but ultimately also for a production of
urban space.
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phase, related to how the conditions of space make possible for new urban
practices like Patio Maravillas to emerge and transform the city. I elaborate a
more precise articulation of this answer in the methodology section for this
empirical study, articulating the use of different methods that seek to precisely
account for the presence and articulation of the different constitutive urban
qualities.
252
3.2.3 Methodology
Empirical Study Design.
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city of Madrid that have accompanied the development of an intense activity
of social civic engagement in the form of a network of social associationism
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results of this study will be used as complementary supporting evidence in
the interpretation of the other empirical studies in this thesis, dealing with
emotional engagement transition and spatial perception. It is important to
stress that the objective of this study is not a comparison of the measures of
integration and choice between the different samples per se, but an informed
discussion under the light of the contextualization of these results with other
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the subject matter beyond deterministic linear quantitative relationships.
Mixed methods approach.

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253
the main part of the analysis are conducted using graph analysis methods on
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statistical measures for demographic and other social data, I also rely on the
use of the cartographic representation for crossing and contextualizing the
analyses.
Structure of the Study

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neighbourhood of Malasaña. Such characteristics are portrayed through the
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the analysis is performed in two steps.
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according to a combination of different criteria, among which are the relative
location within the city of Madrid, the morphology of the urban tissue in
what regards the characteristics of the built volume, the level or regularity
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measuring 1200m x 1200m, which roughly corresponds to the area covered by
a 15 min walk. Such measure, I contend, is able to capture a certain landscape
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terms of neighbourhood life.
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data of the neighbourhood and interpret their effect of the exact location of
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8
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1 2
FIGs: 3.2_a0
The 8 sampled tissues.
Source: the author using
Google maps.
in this step, some cartographic representations are done at larger scales.
Data and Participants. Urban Landscape and

Sampled Tissues
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is implemented to the extents of the urban fabric of the city of Madrid though the
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in terms of morphological, functional. historical, urbanistic, sociodemographic
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FIG: 3.2 _a1

The map summarizes
the catalogue of Urban
Lanscapes Types accord-
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FIG: 3.2 _a2
Selected sampled tissues
1200x1200 metres.
Orthophotograph.
256
FIG: 3.2 _a3
Map of Madrid. Drafted by Pedro
de Teixeira in 1655,
Source: Spanish National Library
257
A1. Central Historical Central District
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although by its extension and complexity numerous components in its interior
are distinguished. Despite this complexity, there is a unitary perception due to
several factors: the predominance of the 19th century languages, the massive
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Prado axis, the southern boulevards and the steep topography towards the
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Map of Madrid. Drafted by
Pedro de Teixeira in 1655, suburbs, has differential features: large blocks, greater continuity of the streets
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old town performed by the dynasty of the Habsburg combines two procedures
in the layout. Firstly, the spontaneous continuity of roads towards the exterior
and secondly, a regulated modelling between the branched tracings.
Being constrained by the city walls, the city built upon itself during the 19th
century, has provided the features of the current built form. It is characterized
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plasters.
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and Mayor and some points near the Puerta del Sol, where the architectural
languages were very varied, with a wide range of historicist eclecticisms. During
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building renovation of great incidence in the tissues, which have damaged the
architectural heritage.
FIG: 3.2 _a4

Aerial photograph of Madrid.
Source: Planea
FIG: 3.2 _a5
Map of Madrid. Fragment.
Drafted by Pedro de Teixeira
in 1655,
Source: Spanish National
Library
259
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A2. Ensanches
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by the second half of the 19th century, which are located in the neighbourhoods
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FIG: 3.2 _a6
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of the population of Madrid with a high level of homogeneity, particularly
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is medium-high, motivated by the quality and variety aesthetics of buildings.
Its strength relies on its highly urban life and density of services, pedestrian
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Selected sample: Barrio Salamanca (qualifying as A2. Ensanches -

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of prestige and it has been traditionally inhabited by the upper middle class,
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Neighbourhoood of Sala-
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residents but many of the interior patios have been built up resulting in an
increased density and some housing stock of dubious qualities. It has numerous
iconic architectural projects and its diversity of uses has proven very fertile.
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It responds to the same historical formation as the bourgeois expansion
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population of Madrid currently lives. Similar Layout and lot parcelling. It has
a global quality of the medium-high landscape, with some weaknesses due
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have the same concentration of commerce and cultural endowments of the
bourgeois expansion.
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population of Madrid with a relative predominance of the new urban middle
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is characterized by a uniform grid street structure road, of generous widths
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without interrupting it, but suffer from the appearance of being residual
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both in the built and in public space, which produces a monotonous image
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reduces commercial presence. Its strengths are the good architectural design
that can improve the built scene and in the opportunity of having abundance
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compensating for shortcomings in nearby areas.
FIG: 3.2 _a8_1
Neighbourhoood of Valde-
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view.
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FIG: 3.2 _a8_2
Neighbourhoood of Valde- developments that came later with the real estate bubble. Its smaller size
bernardo. Madrid. Project by and its urban design features have been praised by specialists as sustainable
J.M. Ezquiaga
Source: Spanish National development very characteristic of the standards and aspirations of the middle
Library class, both in terms of lifestyle and of architecture. Its street grid pattern is very
regular and to some extent tighter than newer urban extensions, which makes
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private partnerships aimed at social housing and adopting the open block
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not to the street and adapting to the topography of the terrain.
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living here. Middle and lower working classes predominate, with a high rate of
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fabric is slightly organic and adapted to the terrain, with few wide streets that
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DQGFXOGHVDFDQGDQXQGHÀQHGVSDFHEHWZHHQEORFNVFKDUDFWHULVWLFRIWKLV FIG: 3.2 _a9
ODQGVFDSH DQG ZKLFK LV QHLWKHU SULYDWH QRU SDUW RI WKH VWUHHW 7KH JOREDO Barrio del Pilar. Madrid. Aerial
photography.
assessment of the landscape indicates a high homogeneity when dealing with Source: Spanish National Library
neighbourhoods executed by the same developer, with great complexity due
to the large number of public spaces, several of which with public facilities
and commercial activity and very mixed with the residential plot. Its strengths
are the great number of green spaces and a landscape easily recognizable by
its inhabitants. However, it has low building quality and urbanization, with
serious parking shortage.
Selected sample: Barrio del Pilar (qualifying as A.3. Landscapes of open

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combined with storey high buildings of mono functional retail amenities. Its
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263
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as a working-class neighbourhood, this tissue kept developing during the 70s
and 80s, now presenting a mixed middle-class population.
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conform harmonious sets of sunlight-oriented and well thought public space
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view. commerce or retail uses. From a sociodemographic point of view, these
colonies are characterized by the predominance of working classes with a high
presence of aging population and average immigration. It currently houses
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homogeneity with unitary design that gives it strong identity, appearing like
small cities with their internal logic within the larger urban tissue. However,
these tissues suffer from the deterioration of buildings and open public space.
Selected sample: Hellín (qualifying as A.3. Landscapes of open block -

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structure and of the dense open block tissue. Although the containing district of
San Blas has a mixed, residential and industrial character, the bounded area of
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264
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labyrinth of semi-pedestrianized inner streets, where there is some commerce.
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It constitutes the alternative to the open block in urban developments of
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it for a set of blocks that use it like private garden with swimming pool and
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than average population density. It has a high social homogeneity, with a
predominance of middle-upper classes, low demographic growth and low
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LQ ODUJH EORFNV RI DERXW KD GHÀQHG E\ VWUHHWV RI D ZLQGLQJ SDWK 3ULYDWH
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of the landscape is good, with a high incidence of architectural quality, having a
clear identity at metropolitan level. Also the level of maintenance, the design of
the enclosure to the street and the greenery of the vegetation affect the overall
assessment. Among its weaknesses, the absence of collective public space, such
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of this tissue are already represented in the sample collection.
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economic means, prestigious architects are entrusted with the integral design of
the towns, for which constitute completely homogeneous landscapes. About half
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orthogonal, with very narrow sections sometimes of pedestrian nature with
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2 heights, with the appearance of experimental typologies. It is the place of
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can be valued as low quality, high construction degradation and with a high risk
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location justify not choosing it as a tissue to sample.
265
A4. Low Density Developments
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Single-family dwellings promoted at the beginning of the 20th century under
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streets with a broken and sinuous pattern, give rise to an irregular grid with
elongated blocks. in terms o building, two models emerge, one of detached
houses surrounded by a garden, based on a single building model within a
coherent line of design. And another of terraced dwellings aligned to the street
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quality of the landscape is assessed as medium-high and decreases in the case
of colonies without garden for lack of vegetation. A weakness is the all too
often inadequate section of streets with impassable sidewalks as well as the
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Selected sample: El Viso. (qualifying as A.4.a Low Density Dev-Protected

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266
FIG: 3.2 _a11

El Viso. Madrid. Original
modernist buildings.
Source: check
FIG: 3.2 _a12

El Viso. Madrid. Orthopho-
tography.
Library
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location and qualities, it was never occupied by its intended target sector,
but has always been really appreciated among the upper middle class liberal
professionals and intellectuals. It is built in one of the highest points in the
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city of Madrid.
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obvious particularities and differences due to its small size, lack of common
green areas and its current situation in the centre of the city. It stays very close
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denser residential tissues, which adds to its desirability as a residential area. A
good deal of the architecture still stands visible and well kept, conforming an
iconic image for the population of the city
E*DUGHQ&LW\ 267
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landscape is represented in the models of the garden city that are adopted from
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quite isolated from the existing city and poorly communicated by public
transport
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of Arturo Soria that has a well-ordered street network, garden cities are usually
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municipality and is represented by high classes, with a high level of social
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value lies in the high quality of the construction and the private space at the
expense of a merely functional public space for mobility in private vehicles.
Selected sample: Ciudad Lineal (qualifying as A.4.b Low Density Dev-

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FIG: 3.2 _a13

Ciudad Lineal. Madrid. Orthopho-
tography.
Source: Spanish National Library
FIG: 3.2 _a14

Ciudad Lineal. Madrid. Cross sec-
tion through main street Source:
Arturio Soria y Mata 1882
268 solution to the problems derived from the insalubrious congestion of large cities,
lack of affordable land, and problems of rationality of transportation networks.
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circumvent the city and connect it to the new development. Dwelling units would
be built in regular blocks and would house a mix of social classes adhering to a
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be kept for gardens and plantations, potentially transforming the arid outskirts of
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tissue houses well off social classes and has been totally integrated into the
metropolitan area. Little stands from the original project.
5.Compact development
5a. Organic Popular Neighbourhoods
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always built between party walls, aligned to the street with varying heights
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with high residential density, Medium-low level of social homogeneity and
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overall quality of the landscape is considered low, due to the poor quality of
buildings, lack of public spaces, poor quality of urbanization and little presence
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intensify life in the street around these areas.
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2ULJLQDWHG IURP ZKHQ WKH DUP\ UHWXUQLQJ IURP WKH YLFWRU\ RQ WKH ÀUVW FIG: 3.2 _a15
Tetuán. Madrid. Cross
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QHYHUKDSSHQHG 7KDWHSKHPHUDOFDPSHYROYHGLQWRDPRUHVWDEOHVWUXFWXUHDV Source: Todo por la Praxis
2015
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houses a very high number of immigrant populations of Latino-American origin
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highlighting neighbouring social differences.
269
FIG: 3.2 _a16

Tetuánl. Madrid. Cross
section through main street
Source: ____
Tools and measures
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7KHZD\VRIPHDVXULQJDQGDVVHVVLQJIRUSRURVLW\RIWKHXUEDQIDEULFUHÁHFWWKH
duality or relational character mentioned previously in this chapter. Precisely,
equating porosity to levels of co-presence and cohabitation of diversity, which
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techniques that can help to capture these phenomena as proxies for urbanity.
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potential richness to be found in the combination of the two. On the one hand,
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following the methods proposed by space syntax. On the other hand,
About types of space syntax analysis methods

As explained before Space Syntax is a method and a theory developed by
Bill Hillier and colleagues during more than three decades. It sparks from an
understanding of architectural and urban space as the void space surrounded
by or surrounding physical structures such as buildings and their aggregates.
270 Its theory and methods stress a cognitive reading of such spaces and impose
a social understanding of consequences of their organization for the activities
performed in these spaces, the movement that connects them and the by
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methods of analysis for the purpose of better contextualizing the tools and
measures of choice for this study.
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each convex space with a circle and each permeable connection between two
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connected in syntactical steps in a hierarchical manner. For instance, from the
entrance hall of a building we can access the corridor from which we can then
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VSDFHVWKDWDUHRQHV\QWDFWLFVWHSDZD\DUHSXWRQWKHÀUVWOHYHODERYHWKHURRW
space, all spaces that are two steps away are levelled on the second row, etc.”
$V +LOOLHU DQG +DQVRQ SRVH D MXVWLÀHG JUDSK LV FRQVLGHUHG GHHS RU VKDOORZ
depending on the relationship of the root space to other spaces. Moreover, the
relationships between space can form tree-like organization branching out or
looping rings.
7KHZD\6SDFH6\QWD[PHWKRGRORJ\PHDVXUHVKRZZHOOFRQQHFWHGDVSDFHLV
relative to the symmetry of spatial relations, through the concept of ‘relative
DV\PPHWU\·5 5$ )RUH[DPSOH´$FRQQHFWVWR%µLVHTXDOWR´%FRQQHFWVWR
A”. Otherwise the relationship is considered as ‘asymmetric. In sum, spaces
closest to all spaces are the most integrated in a spatial network and score low
5$6XFKVSDFHVEHLQJPRUHFHQWUDOQRUPDOO\KDYHPRUHLQWHQVHPRYHPHQW
through them. On the other hand, segregated spaces are those far from other
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attributes of the spatial network.
In space syntax methodology, there are three main manners of analysing

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different ways of understanding and abstracting urban and architectural space.
- Axial and convex analysis.

7KH\ FRQVWLWXWH WKH VWDUWLQJ SRLQW IRU WKH PHWKRGRORJ\ RI VSDFH V\QWD[
7KH HPHUJH IURP WZR UHODWHG \HW GLVWLQFW DEVWUDFWLRQV RI YLVXDOO\ SHUFHLYHG
FRQWLQXRXV VSDFH 2Q WKH RQH KDQG FRQYH[ VSDFH ZKLFK LV GHÀQHG DV WKH
space represents adjacency relationships by reducing the spatial complexity of
5 . measuring the total amount of asymmetry in a plan from any point, through mean depth from
that point.
271
FIG: 3.2 _a17

Axial representationof urban
space Fewest axal lines (b),
graph (c), graph connectivity
(d & e). Source: Akkelies
van Nes 2015
a layout to the fewest and fattest convex spaces6 . On the other hand, the axial
line abstracts and represents in explicit relation to linear pedestrian movement,
upon the assumption that most spaces are perceived on the basis of their
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reduction of these spaces to the longest accessible lines that cover all convex
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these kinds of representations of space is that these convex spaces or axial lines
respectively are not considered individually, but in connection. In that sense,
what matters is the topological logic underlying the set of interconnected
spaces8)RUWKDWUHDVRQD[LDOPDSVDUHFRQVLGHUHGWREHÍXQGDPHQWDOV\QWDFWLF
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQVWKHRUHWLFDOO\EHFDXVHWKH\UHÁHFWPDQ\VWUXFWXUDOSURSHUWLHVRI
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7XUQHU+LOOLHU,LGD 3HQQS
FIG: 3.2 _a18
Segment map and its asso-
ciated graph
- Isovists and Visibility graph analysis.
Source: Turner 2005 7KHVH WHFKQLTXHV DUH GHULYHG IURP WKH ZRUN RI %HQHGLNW ZKR ÀUVW
LQWURGXFHG WKH FRQFHSW RI LVRYLVW DV SUHYLRXVO\ FRPPHQWHG VHH &KDSWHU
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GLUHFWO\YLVLEOHIURPDSRLQW7KHLVRYLVWLVFRQVLGHUHGIRUDQDO\WLFDOSXUSRVHV
like a closed polygon and thus it has the same properties as any polygon, like
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the viewshed is constructed is taken as a representation of the isovist and is
272
XVHG WR EXLOG WKH JUDSK WKDW UHVXOWV IURP WKH FRQQHFWLRQ RI LVRYLVWV DV WKH
DQDO\WLFDODEVWUDFWLRQVRIWKHVHWRIFRQQHFWHGVSDFHV6HHÀJXUH 6XFK
graph constructed from isovists is called visibility graph and its type of analysis
is thus termed visibility graph analysis or VGA.
- Angular Segment Analysis

As mentioned before, axial lines appear to be less precise when trying to detect
semi-continuous spaces in an urban system, like cities that have a uniform grid
with long streets that cross the regular streets diagonally, like Barcelona or
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IRXQGQHFHVVDU\ &RQUR\'DOWRQ %DIQD 6XFKDUHSUHVHQWDWLRQZDV
required to detect these linear or semi-linear connections in the urban structure
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WKLV SXUSRVH D ÀQHU JUDLQHG UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ ZDV LQWURGXFHG WR WKH 6SDFH
Syntax model considering street segments as the elementary components of
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7KLVLVRQHSRVVLEOHUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIFRQYH[VSDFHVVXJJHVWHGE\WKH6SDFH6\QWD[0DQXDO
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convex spaces.
8VXDOO\WKHORJLFXQGHUO\LQJD[LDOOLQHUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIVSDFHHPHUJHVIURPDQGDSSOLHVWR
pedestrian movement.
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ZRUN QRGHVRUYHUWLFHVRIDPRUSKRORJLFDOJUDSK*$ 7KHJUDSK*$ZLOOFRQVLVWRIWZRVHWVRI
LQIRUPDWLRQJUDSKYHUWLFHV UHSUHVHQWLQJD[LDOOLQHV 9$ ^Y$Y$Y$Q`DQGDVHWRIOLQHV
/, Ô,O,O,/`HDFKOLQHLQWKHJUDSK*$UHSUHVHQWVDQLQWHUVHFWLRQEHWZHHQWZRD[LDO
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9 . is a derived measure from the correlation of some of the topological analytical measures of a
graph representing urban space. It stands for the correlation between , thus
two intersection points. Segments have geometric properties marking the 8
cumulative angle between each pair of intersecting streets. One of the most 6
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4
outlines the shortest angular journeys through the spatial network. Angular a.
1
0 depth
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since users are likely to minimize cognitive distance as they walk through a
3
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0 depth
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recommend the adoption of the metric radius option, that is to say to measure
c.
in metres the reach of the radius to be covered from a particular segment. It

has also been noted that while the selection of the boundary to conduct these
DQDO\VHVFDQLQÁXHQFHWKHUHVXOWV E\GLVWRUWLQJWKHYDOXHVRIJUDSKGLVWDQFH
the choice of metric radius for the analysis is especially indicated to avoid such
d.
ERXQGDU\SUREOHP 7XUQHU

FIG: 3.2 _a19
-XVWLÀHGJUDSK
For these reasons, I have opted for the adoption of Angular Segment Analysis 6RXUFH%LOO+,OOLHU
“Space is the Machine”.
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overall city tissue, covering those regular and long streets equally as well as
shorter and more organic ones.
7KH PDLQ PHDVXUHV GHYHORSHG E\ WKH DXWKRUV RI VSDFH V\QWD[ WKDW FDQ EH
273
conducted upon the graphs resulting from the urban space represented by any
of the above described methods are:
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directly connected to a space.
Integration is a measure that describes relativized asymmetry in the graph
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most integrated to the most segregated. Integration is usually indicative of
how many people are likely to be in a space, and is thought to correspond to
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KHOSIXOWRLOOXPLQDWHKLJKHUYDOXHVLQDV\VWHP LHWKHKLJKHVWYDOXHV
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neighbours taking into account the number of alternative connections that
each of these neighbours has.
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global choice are located on the shortest paths from all origins to all destinations.
&KRLFHLVDSRZHUIXOPHDVXUHDWIRUHFDVWLQJSHGHVWULDQDQGYHKLFXODUPRYHPHQW
potentials. It is usually applied to axial analysis rather than convex analysis,
because it is descriptive of movement rather than occupation.
Patterns of Centrality: Integration and Choice.
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of choice and integration are very close to similar measures performed in spatial
PRGHOOLQJDQGZKLFKDUHFDOOHGEHWZHHQQHVVDQGFHQWUDOLW\7KH\GLIIHUIURP
each other in a small but fundamental manner, that is, how distance between
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how accessible it would be in a sort of optimized structure, as for instance, the
diamond graph10 +LOOLHU +DQVRQ 7KLVPHDQVIRUH[DPSOHWKDWWKLV
measure of integration will describe how well accessible is the street segment of
Gran Via Street between this and that crossing to all the other street segments
in the city of Madrid, and will compare this to the same measure for all the
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differs from centrality is through topological distance, that is through the count
of how many turns or how many axial steps.
On the other hand, the measure that choice and betweenness perform of
the level of centrality of a given tissue is done through analysing how many
274
minimum-distance paths between every two segments each segment lies on.
In other words, how many times a street segment is in a route that minimizes
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a route connecting different street segments passes through it.
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urban spatial system, delineating the so-called foreground network set into a
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this syntactic measure illustrates how often a segment is on a route that
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connecting segments within the system that passes through that particular
segment.
Use in Studies of Co-Presence

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social segregation in Stockholm. On the other hand, Ashley Dhanani and Laura
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WKHXUEDQIDEULFEDVHGLQWKHXVHRIWRROVDQGPHWULFVSHUWDLQLQJWRWKHÀHOGRI
10 . One of the characteristics of the diamond graph is a quasi normal distribution of nodes across
all levels, which is found to represent a more realistic benchmark for comparing spatial settings
RIGLIIHUHQWVL]HV +LOOLHU +DQVRQ%DIQD
space syntax. More precisely, the use two combined measures of the properties
of the street network, choice and integration,11 as a proxy for co-presence.
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a measure of through-movement potential and integration approximate a
measure of to-movement potential, where the highest values for both measures
RYHUODSWRWKHJUHDWHVWGHJUHHZLOOFUHDWHZKDWKDVEHHQWHUPHG¶DFWLYHFHQWUHV·
and are likely to be foci be the foci of movement through and to town centres,
creating the potential for co-presence between people undertaking different
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´GLIIHUHQW PRGHV RI VSDWLDO FRSUHVHQFH DQG YLUWXDO FRPPXQLWLHVµ
S $VKOH\ 'KDQDQL DQG /DXUD 9DXJKDQ KDG SUHYLRXVO\ VWDWHG WKDW WKH
location of greatest overlap is likely to be where the potential for the products
of the movement economies of the city can take root.
7KLV FRQFHSW RI FRSUHVHQFH LV DOVR HYDOXDWHG PDWKHPDWLFDOO\ WKURXJK

correlations of choice and integration between all scales of measurement.
7KHVFDOHVRIPHDVXUHPHQWZKLFKFRUUHODWHPRVWKLJKO\FDQEHVDLGWRVKRZ
coherence between the scales which through and to movement are operating
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275
FDQ EH HYDOXDWHG WKURXJK WKLV PHWKRGRORJ\ 7KH DQDO\VLV RI FRSUHVHQFH
is carried out through time to ascertain the changing peak locations of co-
presence in the network.
Interfaces of co-presence.
Following Legeby, the analysis of the tissue of Malasaña will help elucidate
whether certain elements in the urban space in the neighbourhood of Malasaña
can be sid to perform as interfaces of co-presence. In those spaces, I speculate
that higher degree of porosity is provided for, as the reunion of high scores in
ERWK &KRLFH DQG ,QWHJUDWLRQ PHDVXUHV :KDW WKLV PHDQV LV WKDW WKRVH DUHDV
gather high probability of co-presence of alterity, as they attract diverse kinds
of people from different parts of the city..
11 . choice and integration angular segment analysis are variants of measures of betweeness
centrality and closeness centrality, which are broadly used in network analysis.
Tools II: Urban Compositional Variables
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Demographic
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in the last years, more researchers are reasonably disaggregating population
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population a powerful indicator, if obviously not the only one, of intensity of
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categories of this urban compositional analysis, can be extremely revealing of
complex urban phenomena.12,KDYHUHIUDLQHGIURPFRQGXFWLQJDÀQHUJUDLQ
analysis separating residents from working population and for this study I
use only the category of the total residential population aggregated by census
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276 Building Use

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It consists of a series of georeferenced points divided in activity categories
GHÀQHGE\WKH1DWLRQDO6WDWLVWLFV2IÀFHDQGWKH0LQLVWU\RI(FRQRP\ .
For the purpose of clarity and intelligibility I have grouped uses into the
following categories:
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DURXQGKRVWHOOHULH7KHVHYDU\LQFUHDVLQJO\LQIRUPDWVHUYLFHKRXUVDQGWDUJHW
FOLHQWHOH &DIHV UHVWDXUDQWV DQG EDUV KDYH ORQJ EHHQ FRQVLGHUHG UHODWLYHO\
important elements in the urban landscape, offering a semipublic space where
many social interactions take place. I therefore consider this category relevant
IRUWKHSURYLVLRQRIFRSUHVHQFH7KHFDWHJRU\RIWKHGDWDDYDLODEOHGRHVQRW
DOORZIRUWKHGLVWLQFWLRQLQWRWLJKWHUFDWHJRULHV IRULQVWDQFHWKRVHEDUVDQG
pubs specialized in the late night sector, as opposed to cafeterias opening only
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5HWDLODQG&RPPHUFH
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locutorios or call shops, a kind of internet cafes offering cheap telephone rates
12 . All while acknowledging criticism of its relevance as a criterion for comprehending urbanity
0DUFXV
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,1(EDVHHV
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a big percentage of foreign or immigrant population and, as such, are a good
proxy for the presence of foreign nationals in a neighbourhood. I consider the
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ethnic linguistic and cultural diversity.
3XEOLF6HUYLFHV7KLVFDWHJRU\LVLPSRUWDQWIRULWPHDVXUHVWKHSUHVHQFHRIWKH
state in the urban fabric as well as its reach to the resident urban population.
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EHHQLGHQWLÀHGDVLPSRUWDQWVXSSRUWVIRUWKHZHOIDUHVWDWHPRGHOLQLWVXUEDQ
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From this information, I have calculated densities of uses for each of the
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FKRURSOHWRQWRWKHFHQVXVDUHDVWKHRIÀFLDOFDUWRJUDSK\RIWKHFLW\RI0DGULG
Urban Vulnerability
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itself results from the interpretative synthesis of different indicators related to
unemployment, level of education, questions of quality of life.
7KLVGLPHQVLRQLVGHULYHGIURPWKHZRUN developed by the team of Hernández
$MDDQGFROOHDJXHVLQWKH'HSDUWPHQWRI8UEDQDQG7HUULWRULDO3ODQQLQJRIWKH
6XSHULRU7HFKQLFDO6FKRRORI$UFKLWHFWXUHRI0DGULGEHORQJLQJWRWKH0DGULG
277
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a concept of increasing use in the social science, for it captures the relative
position of a certain population. In the case of urban vulnerability, it describes
the potential for the population of a particular urban space to be affected by
adverse circumstances. In that sense this notion does not refer to a critical
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captures in itself an important part of the sort of spatially crystallized inequality
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7KH DQDO\WLFDO PHWKRGRORJ\ RI WKH $WODV RI 8UEDQ 9XOQHUDELOLW\ LV RUJDQL]HG
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vulnerability in urban contexts:
- Socio-demographic vulnerability
6HYHUDO IDFWRUV DUH LGHQWLÀHG WR SOD\ D FRQVWLWXWLYH UROH LQ WKH HPHUJHQFH RI
socio-demographic vulnerability. Firstly, the demographic ageing tendencies
W\SLFDORIDOO(XURSHDQFRXQWULHVZKLFKDUHHYHQVWURQJHUWKDQDYHUDJHLQ6SDLQ
6HFRQGO\ WKH LQFUHDVLQJ FRPSOH[LÀFDWLRQ RI WKH IDPLO\ GZHOOLQJ VWUXFWXUH
with not only more single people dwellings but more complex arrangements
7KLVZRUNKDVEHHQFRPPLVVLRQHGE\WKH6SDQLVK0LQLVWU\RI3XEOLF:RUNVDQGLWIHDWXUHVLQ
a dedicated webpage: https://www.atlasvulnerabilidadurbana.fomento.es
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immigration arriving from developing countries.
- Socio-economic vulnerability
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However, unemployment is not the only factor. Labour precariousness or
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are falling into poverty levels despite having a full time remunerated job.
In addition, the low educational level of certain individual members of the
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decrease their chances of improving their situation due to lack of access to
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RU ODFN RI EDVLF IDFLOLWLHV KHDWLQJ WRLOHWV HOHYDWRU HWF 7KH WHUP ZKLFK LQ
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278
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denote not ony informal dwelling proper, close to the image of shanty town,
but extends to a wider category comprising the inferior quality dwelling built
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contemporary the building codes and standards, it is nevertheless inhabited
and is thus considered infravivienda.
- Subjective vulnerability
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incorporates some question of relevance to the aim of detecting subjective
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to the following topics:
Level of environmental noise

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Innapropriate connectivity by mobility infrastructure
Low percentage of green areas
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7KHVH FDWHJRULHV DUH FRPELQHG LQ D VHULHV RI GLIIHUHQW LQGH[HVDQG V\QWKHWLF
indicators.
279
3.2.4 Analysis of Results and Discussion
In this section I present the results of the empirical analysis. Firstly, I present
and discuss the results for the comparative analysis of eight sampled
tissues. Secondly, I present and discuss the result of the analysis conducted
RQ WKH VHOHFWHG WLVVXH RI 0DODVDxD 7KH UHVXOWV DUH SUHVHQWHG DQG GLVFXVVHG
simultaneously.
1. Comparison of urban tissues
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varied urban street network in terms of syntactical measures. In the measure
that combines integration with choice, we are looking at the performance in
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movement”. In other words, how the street segments of this tissue score in
terms of connectivity as destinations themselves or streets that people are
likely to cross when going somewhere else.
7KH WLVVXH RI 0DODVDxD VKRZV DSSUHFLDEOH FRKHUHQFH EHWZHHQ GLIIHUHQW

280
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a notable complex role in providing for co-presence at different scales. Its score
at small metric radius describes if people from the neighbourhood are likely to
cross which street segments in their daily pedestrian movements, resulting in
the possibility of co-presence of the local population. In other words, the kind
RIFRSUHVHQFHWKDWZHFRXOGDVVXPHWREHWKHEDVLVIRUWKHÉRQGLQJµ VWURQJ
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from all over the city to cross the streets of Malsaña, either as destination or on
their way somewhere, resulting in the co-presence of non-local population. In
other words, the kind of co-presence that we could assume to be the basis for
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overlap indicates that Malsaña potentially affords more diversity in the kinds
of people that would therein coincide, which indicates that whatever street
action or public claim made by Patio Maravillas has elevated chances to reach
people from different parts of the city.
In comparison other tissues are seem to be less diverse in their street network
FIG: 3.2 _a20 DVZHOODVLQWKHLUSRSXODWLRQGHQVLW\7KHFDVHRI%DUULRGH6DODPDQFDLVDOVR
Combined measures of
Integration and Choice R=n, interesting, since its streets seem to score high in the combined measure of
and Population Density at
Projected at Census Areas.
Metropolitan scale
Source: the author.
6HH)LJBD
281
Tissue
282
FIG: 3.2 _a21

Comparison of scores of Selected Sampled Urban Tissues in different
centrality measures. Sourcee: the author.
Average
283
FIG: 3.2 _a22

Combined measures of Integration and Choice R=n,
and Population Density at Projected at Census
Areas. Selected Urban Tissue Samples
Source: the author.
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characteristic of the urban extensions of the second half of the 19th century,
together with ts location in the city appear to grant a tissue in which most of
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assures as good overlap of co-presence from local and non-local population,
it also prevents a certain variety in the tissue, lacking areas of retreat and the
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their differences in terms of population density and style of development at
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FKRLFHDWJOREDOVFDOH 5 1
From this comparison, what arises with more clarity is the place or relative
importance of the neighbourhood of Malsaña in terms of access to diversity
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Malsaña does not score the highest in terms of the combined measure of
,QWHJUDWLRQ DQG &KRLFH17 but affords for a particularly varied landscape of
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284
FIG: 3.2 _a23

Malasaña. Scatter Plot
Correlation Integration and
Choice R=400 m. Source:
the author.
scores while being placed in the historic district and thus close to the axes of
highest commercial, cultural and pedestrian movement areas.
2. Porosity Study of Malasaña
In order to recall the research questions that this empirical study tries to
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afterwards towards the third question.
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Maravillas has contributed to the impact of their practices in different sectors
of the Metropolitan population?
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as a particularly appropriate tissue in terms of variety of its spatial syntactical
conditions. In addition, when this information is combined with the urban
compositional variables, like population density, it emerges a more nuanced
and richer picture of the spatial conditions allowing for urban porosity. In the
FDVHRI0DOVDxDWKLVDOORZVIRUDVSHFLÀFDOO\DGHTXDWHDUWLFXODWLRQRIXUEDQ
285
space that can properly accompany the emergence of a contentious urban
social movement like Patio Maravillas and the kinds of new urban practices it
performs.
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D UHDVRQDEOH VFRUH LQ WHUPV RI ,QW&K DQG DERYH DYHUDJH SRSXODWLRQ GHQVLW\
WRJHWKHU ZLWK DUHDV WKDW UHSRUW ORZ VFRUHV RI ,QW&K DQG KLJK SRSXODWLRQ
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when we combine this information with the one of the measures that best
capture urban vulnerability, like the presence of infravivienda, it becomes clear
that the neighbourhood reunites a highly varied landscape of human situations,
while being certainly very cohesive in terms of built physical appearance.
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Maravillas has contributed to the impact of their practices in different sectors
of the Metropolitan population?
Patio Maravillas, in its migratory location since its beginnings in 2007, has
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differing conditions of centrality seems to yield a fertile environment for the
development of its community. On the one hand, it has always been located
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which constitute veritable connections between the larger distributive axes like
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VFDOH IDFLOLWDWLQJ DQG UHJXODWLQJ WUDIÀF DW JOREDO VFDOH DQG EHLQJ FURVVHG E\
thousands of locals and visitors every day. At the same time, Patio Maravillas
has always been close to other streets with far lower degree of connectivity
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the results of the spatial integration analysis, which show that axes like San
Bernardo Street and Fuencarral Street score in the highest quintile in measures
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Moreover, the scores in both these measures of the other adjacent streets vary
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on the one hand, between street segments that are highly globally integrated,
that is to say, well connected, and others that are less globally integrated, that
is, less connected at the scale of the whole city. On the other hand, there
are streets which by scoring high in both choice and global integration they
are more likely to enjoy the presence of non-locals, on either their way to
somewhere else or with the purpose of visiting the multiple shopping and
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286
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does not necessarily only respond to the a priori analysis of these factors of
connectivity and urban composition, but also to many other including a certain
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location, responding to a will to combine addressing the whole of the city
at the same time as vindicating the role of citizens and democratic processes
WKH FHQWUH RI WKH FLW\ 7KH ZLVK WR GLVWDQFH WKHPVHOYHV IURP WKH VFHQH
RI´XVXDOµVTXDWVLQWKHQHLJKERXUKRRGRI/DYDSLpV19 located to the south of
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DQGFLYLFSURMHFWIURPPRUH´H[FOXVLYHµ20 previous squat projects and political
activism scene.
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known examples. For a comprehensive historical review of the evolution of squat culture in Ma-
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enclaves.
FIG: 3.2 _a24
Malasaña. Angular Segment
Analysis of Integration with
metric radius= 1600 m.
Building uses
Sourcee: the author.
287
FIG: 3.2 _a25
Malasaña.
Angular Segment
Analysis of Choice with
metric radius= 1600 m.
Population Density at
Census Areas
288
FIG: 3.2 _a26

Malasaña. Angular
Segment Analysis.
Combined Measures
Integration & Choice
R= 1600 m.
Density of Education
+HDOWK6HUYLFHV
FIG: 3.2 _a27
Malasaña. Angular
Segment Analysis.
Combined Measures
R= 1600 m.
Density of Restaura-
tion Services. Sourcee:
the author.
289
FIG: 3.2 _a28

Malasaña. Angular
Segment Analysis.
Combined Measures
R= 1600 m.
Density of Retail
Services. Sourcee: the
author.
of diverse spaces?
Patio Maravillas has chosen the location in a neighbourhood that reunites

VRPH RI WKH FHQVXV DUHDV ZLWK WKH KLJKHVW SRSXODWLRQLQ WKH &HQWUDO 'LVWULFW
of the city of Madrid, only equalled by a similar cluster in the more southern
neighbourhood of Lavapiés.
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residents and visitors. From a social relational stance on space, we can assume
the co-presence of certain urban uses as an indicator, not a proof, of a diversity
of social spaces. I use the data from the municipal bureau of statistics to derive
FIG: 3.2 _a29 the density of what I have considered the main groups of uses that can indicate
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Distric showing the location WKLVYDULHW\7KHVHXVHVDUH(GXFDWLRQ +HDOWK5HWDLO &RPPXQLFDWLRQDQG
of “infravivienda”.
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Sourcee: EMVS
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these densities, projected on choropleths at census areas, show a particularly
dense tissue.
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activity, this intense retail activity has been penetrating inside the neighbourhood
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nightlife circuit that has made a reputation for the area among generations of
290
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overlap.
Additionally, the relatively high presence of public buildings guarantees

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neighbourhood.
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and composition, certain aspects of urban morphology are not covered by these
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public buildings, this is not only important for the composition they provide,
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accessible public space in the neighbourhood.
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development of a performative ecology of encounter and avoidance by the
collective of Patio Maravillas?
Malasaña has provided for a very appropriate location for such ecology of
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contentious social movements like Patio Maravillas certainly requires of
a nuanced and delicate equilibrium between exposure and concealment.
([SRVXUHLVQHFHVVDU\IRULWIXQFWLRQDOWRGLIIHUHQWQHHGVDQGREMHFWLYHVRID
contentious urban movement. Firstly, the contentious nature of the movement
requires that its vindications, protests and messages reach a certain audience.
At the same time, such a social movement needs to gain certain presence and
visibility in order to recruit and ensure a certain reproduction of the movements
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located in close vicinity to street segments that score high and which are also
highly practiced by pedestrians. Moreover, as I have already commented, this
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those streets.
On the other hand, certain reserve is also necessary for a collective like Patio
Maravillas for other kinds of needs. Firstly, the quietness and low pedestrian
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allow for the intimacy required to be able to gather, establish conversations.
Also, in the wake of more active contentious actions, retrieving from areas of
high exposure can prove relevant for the capacity of such social movement to
engage in certain guerrilla tactics. Moreover, the anonymity provided by more
intricate and less connected streets facilitate the surveying work that members
of Patio Maravillas have constantly performed during its existence. a covering
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291
More precisely, the intensity of pedestrian movement linked to the uses of this
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or chains of activities, differ for different times of the days and for different
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tendency since now many establishments offers services that involve a
combination of retail and consumption of food or beverages, allowing their
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coincidence of areas, which are nevertheless differentiated at closer scale.
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expected, the main pedestrian axes bordering or crossing the neighbourhood
reunite a high concentration of both retail and retauration. However, the
distribution of these varies greatly within the neighbourhood, having a
growing and more pressing presence along Fuencarral Street and its adjacent
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clear gradation of the number of businesses, character of its decorative styles,
time slot or modality of leisure they exploit and, in consequence, the target
audience they appeal to.
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of Malaseña reunites all the conditions to make it prone to a pressure from the
real-state market developers due to its strategic centric position as well as its
FIG: 3.2 _a30 big differences in property rental prices, meaning that relatively affordable
Malasaña. Block and Street
Structure housing of lower standard coexists alongside with high standard representative
Source: the author.
expensive neighbouring areas.
About affordances, urban tissue and cognitive capacities
FIG: 3.2 _a31
Malasaña. Built foorprint and Hillier argued that cities, as products of bottom-up incremental processes over
Street Structure
Source: the author. a long time, have tended to evolve towards environments that support spatial
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human intelligibility. If we admit this daring statement, It follows as a logical
conclusion, to think that different cities afford different intelligibility, and
that the spatial conditions of their tissues, play an important role as either
facilitators of hinders of intelligibility.
Hillier and Portugali have claimed that cities are cognitive objects. Hillier draws
the conclusion that: ‘human geometric intuitions seem to be embedded in the
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«out there» but also a type of extensions of the human mind, blurring such
differences between inside and outside.
292
Against this background, the axial map is a simple geometric representation

of the visibility and mobility affordances of the built environment that make it
possible to measure distance in a manner distinctly based on human perception
and cognition. As such, the axial map overcomes, as a measure of embodied
and situated cognition, the criticized separation of subject from object and
rather represents urban space as an extension of the human mind as embedded
LQWKHHQYLURQPHQW &RQUR\'DOWRQ %DIQD/DUV0DUFXVHWDO
FIG: 3.2 _a32
Malasaña. Accessible urban space.
Public Urban Interiors
Source: the author.
293
v*VUJS\ZPVU!;OL(ɈVYKHUJLZVM
Porous Urban Space
In this chapter I have conducted an empirical analysis on urban porosity through
the combination of spatial syntactical measures and measures of social content
applied to the city of Madrid. First, I have conducted a comparative analysis of
eight different samples of urban tissues, with the intention of understanding
the relative position and characteristics of the neighbourhood of Malasaña.
Second, I have focused on the neighbourhood of Malasaña and contextualized
my interpretation of urban porosity in the context of Patio Maravillas.
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cities. It does so through the provision of conditions of access to and avoidance
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urban space affords for individual and social cognition/and affectivity of the
urban condition. I believe that previous discussions on the role of urban space
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shown that this is indeed a case. In addition, I also observe that urban porosity
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measures of space.
However, is provision enough? Or in other words, to what extent does the

existence such furnishing of conditions make a case for the constitutive role
of the urban space in cognitive and affective processes? Given the presented
evidence, I am inclined to consider to some reasonable extent, that the role
of porosity in the emergence and development of new urban practices would
remain an indirect one and not necessarily a constitutive one if it were just
for a provision or furnishing of conditions of co-presence. Here, however,
the angle of reading of urban space through experience and situatedness
becomes a key aspect in considering urban space as something beyond mere
indirect infrastructure for human contact and the social and spatial cognition
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the rich and complex urban social life that would characterize a highly urban
place. It is necessary also to analyse the moment and action of seizing such
affection, such cognition. In other words, the moment when urban space could
then be said to play a real and direct constitutive role in emotion. For this
precise reason, the following empirical studies are of salient importance.
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portrait, if yet not exhaustive, of the spatial conditions in which the setting
and actions of Patio Maravillas are set. By spatial conditions I literally mean
the «relational plane» emerging from the combination of both properties of
physical space as well as its social «content». On the one hand, those properties
of physical space that I have sought to portray are those that set the topological
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provide for as facilitator of urbanity. On the other hand, I have considered
inescapable and necessary to contextualize that rather abstract and detached
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the social tissue that inhabits and practices that physical urban space.
One interesting future possibility could result from an ecological approach to

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instance through a study of the correlation between syntactical measures and
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LQWHUHVWLQJZRXOGEHWRSXUVXHWKLVOLQHRIHQTXLU\E\DSSO\LQJ6KDQQRQ·VLQGH[
of biodiversity not only to such registered activities but ideally to other more
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are obvious, but the growing availability of geololalized instantaneous data
from mobile devices, as well as the increasing use of social media as means to
295
access and diffuse information about such actions holds promise.
Porosity Through Practice

Having conducted this empirical study, I am now able to put forward a tentative
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different kinds of constituent meaningful social relations in the form of weak
links and strong bonds without further characterization, the notions hold the
risk of remaining a black box concealing relevant distinctions. It is to that aim
that I propose to further qualify the co-presence not by essaying a taxonomic
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modes of perceiving and practicing and which in fact reunite those elements
brought together through co-presence into a particular experience.
Outlook
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hypothesis of departure, but expands it into more ambitious grounds. Moreover,
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Practices, emotional transition and changes in spatial perception. I note,
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Among the elements studied in this chapter, three aspects deserve a note of
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physical structures in the generation of meaning. In terms of scaffolding, it has
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detailed and focused study.
296
However, the overall aspect of scaffolding shows, both in cognitive and affective
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not outside the realm of extension, but which can be said to be functional
couplings or coordinated looped interactions. For example, in terms of the
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is that Patio is a resource for participants at different levels. It has proved to
provide funding through the common management of the income provided
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legitimacy with regards to a certain detached and uninvolved local audience,
who end up by accepting Patio as a generator of opportunities.
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infrastructure one, I would argue that the different cognitive activities involved
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decision making about the use of remanent funds. Here the coordinated decision
making and the emotional involvement of participants seem to provide for not
only a distributed cognition that yields good results, but also a distributed
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fact that the collective has a voice with moral authority.
However, cognitive and affective scaffolding proper are also played at another
level, which also shows with accentuated character in the interviews as covered
in the previous section.
About the role of architecture and the built environment in the generation
of meaning.
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urban space, in the emotional and identitary transformations that I have chosen
for this study are clearly different from other kinds of available discourse
analysis methods. Among such methods, one that deserves mention is Spatial
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under the umbrella of multimodal discourse analysis. Spatial discourse
analysis considers space as a meaning producing text. In other words, it holds
that space and buildings in particular are texts that produce meaning through
their spatialization. Moreover, this approach considers texts to be analysed--
spatial texts--to be multimodal;21 that is, they are made up of a multiplicity of
communicative resources.
As such it is an approach that refuses to study spatial discourse through the

analysis of the words of users, but looks instead at the buildings as the source
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particular to architects and designers, many of whom still prefer to avoid the
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297
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meaning endowing dimension of situatedness, and refuses to approach space
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believe that such an approach necessarily needs to be confronted with one like
that of this thesis.
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for the analysis of meaning created through the co-deployment of various semiotic resources
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3.3 Study 2. Spatial Practices
of Contention.
301
He walked with equipoise, possibly in either city. Schrödinger’s pedestrian.

ߊ China Miéville, 2009 The City & the City
Nos quieren en soldedad, nos tendrán en común

They would like us in solitude, they will have us in common
ߊ Nacho Vegas, 2014 Runrún
In order to better understand some of the fundamental qualities of urban space
which foster social innovation, I suggest addressing this research into the urban
condition through the angle of experience. Instead of simply stopping at the
physical properties of built structures or their aggregate social composition,
my proposal seeks to reconcile physical properties of space and social content.
I intend to do that by considering the active practice of urban space and its
cognition through a qualitative analysis of the situated experience of the actors
of urban actions. This approach, I contend, allows to investigate the qualities
of urban space that allow for the kind of active grabbing holding, reaching out,
that constitutes, in other words, the enaction of urbanity as an active situated
engagement.
In the previous chapter, I have shown the way in which an urban tissue, in this
case the neighbourhood of Malasaña, might provide conditions of urban porosity
allowing certain cognitive and affective affordances. In this chapter, in turn, I
focus of the actions by which a social collective, the members of Patio Maravillas
and associated movements, seize the potentials granted by such porosity. This
account is done through a focus on collective actions that bear contention in
the urban context. In order to analyse these spatial practices, I make use of
cartography and audiovisual documents, like video and photography as the main
302
means for exploring and analysing these practices.
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the problematic to be tackled in the chapter, articulating the research questions
into this empirical enquiry. In particular, I introduce the notion of spatial practices
and their categorization with regards to its theoretical treatment in geography and
in relation to questions of contention and urban social movements. Additionally,
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regards to notions of event and latency. Following, the second section deals with
the design and structure of this empirical study, clarifying its aims and limits. In
this section I also expose the method of analysis and interpretation and well as
the kinds and origins of the data. In the third section, I present and discuss the
results, providing an interpretation of their relevance for the research questions,
as well as their limitations and the need to complements this study with the third
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The results from the previous chapter have shown that in order to consider the
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dimension that requires the active concourse of individuals or groups. For that
reason, in this chapter I set to approach this question from the angle of practice
and acquire a valuable portrait of the necessary spatial engagement. This step
will be valuable to other complementary steps in order to better analyse the
target emotional and cognitive operations of these new urban practices, and
to help answer the research questions stated in chapter 2.4. As a part of this
enquiry, a critique and reconsideration of the concept of spatial practices applied
to contentious politics in urban contexts is due. Aspects such as their time and
spatial delimitations are in need to be assessed in the case of real world empirical
study.
The exceptional intensity of episodes of collective action in Madrid1 has evolved

during the period between 2011 until 2015 in different forms including
spontaneous demonstrations and gatherings, open assemblies, thematically
organized action groups, and even arguably the germ of a political party.2 Also,
these episodes and the social networks sustaining them have paid attention to and
managed a vast variety of topics and concerns, ranging from local issues to global
questions of economic justice and human rights. These forms of mobilization 303
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redemptive, reformative or radical social movements (Aberle, 1991). Thus, they
arguably constitute a novelty that challenges existing theories, categories and
frames of analysis.
As I elaborate on the following passages, I approach the modalities of spatial

practices that such contentious urban movements have performed in relation to
the research questions stated in chapter 2.4. These research questions revolve
around the questions of the practice dimension of space by contentious social
movements in two fundamental manners. Firstly (AB.1.RQ & AB.2.RQ), they
urge me to enquire the modes and ways of practicing space that enact and/or
accompany an emotional transition in such cases of contentious social movements
in urban contexts, with special attention to their temporality.
Secondly (C.1.RQ.a), assuming the postulates of extended mind and extended

affectivity, they pose questions on the dimensions of scaffolding enacted. Finally,
around the notion of threshold spaces an interesting question emerges Threshold
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while 2014 were 3057. The peak was registered in year 2013 (5512), followed by 2012 (3419).
The year of the 15M there were “only” 1963. Source: Spanish Ministry of Interior Affairs. http://
www.interior.gob.es/web/archivos-y-documentacion/documentacion-y-publicaciones/anuari-
os-y-estadisticas/
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Europena context.
spaces also require an approach from the angle of experience, action and practice.
In this chapter I explore spatial practices performed, coordinated by or related

to Patio Maravillas and accolades. One of the characteristics of Patio Maravillas
is the rich network of social movements and civic platforms which collaborate
or coordinate with it. Within these plethora of movements and platforms, I
have additionally chosen two extensions, the events related to the 15M and the
Mortgage Victims’ Platform3 (Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca PAH) for
several reasons. Firstly, their actions are clearly circumscribed within the logic of
urban contention, often requiring physical non-violent confrontation with state
and municipal police. Secondly, they pose an alternative to established order
at various levels with regards to economic, social, legal and planning norms
and regulations. Third, they complement other spatial practices performed by
members of Patio Maravillas, and seem to correspond neither to demonstration
nor everyday lifestyle categories.
304
3 . Or Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, translations differ.

3.3.3 Methodology
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The aim of the study is to analyse the spatial practices that have accompanied
the development of an intense activity of social civic engagement in the form of
a network of social associationism linked to urban struggles.
The study is not conducted on a representative sample in statistical terms. It uses
different cases chosen for their exemplary value, and is approached through a
combination of methods.
Transdisciplinary Mixed Methods Approach.
Mapping.
In this study of spatial practices, the composite nature of the actions to be studied,
with their varied repertoires, as well as the rich and heterogenous context
requires an attentive approach. An approach that is able to integrate these
issues in order to help provide an intelligible frame for understanding the nature
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offers the advantage of a synthetic reunion of multiple dimensions (Stan Allen,
2009). By the act of discriminating the data, integrating them and representing
them in scale, new relations are unveiled. Mapping, thanks also to its variety of
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Ethnographic methods.
In order to provide a properly situated portrait of the actions, I make use of
audiovisual material collected in situ and during the events to be studied. These
documents, in particular the videos, often include short testimonies by the
participants and even interviews, adding to their interest for understanding the
unfolding of the events and the response of the participants. The photo and video
journalist who gather these documents usually did it in a position of participant
observation. While such situated testimonies may bear the bias of involvement
and participation, they provide not only an invaluable and non-substitutable
source of information, but also grant a voice to those involved through their
actions (and often their own voices).
6WUXFWXUHRIWKH6WXG\
The study is structured in different steps which are organized as approaches at
different scales. The actions are approached by scale and not chronologically.
• Step 1. Metropolitan scale.
First, I gather information and analyse the Stop-eviction actions performed by PAH
in Madrid during these last years4 (2012-2015), and integrate this information
into a map at the metropolitan scale. Additionally, this map is contextualized
4 . subject to the availability of the data provided by PAH

by a brief account on the numbers and kinds of social mobilizations since 2011
and situated in the scenery of urban fragmentation and social portrayed in the
previous chapter. The objective of this step is to produce a cartography that
provides the integration of the amount and location of the spatial practices
studied with regards to their presence in the territory of the city. It is important
to stress that these steps at different scales do not imply a particular link or
limitation of certain cognitive or emotional activities to these scales. In other
words, emotional and cognitive dimensions should not only be studied at larger
or smaller scales, but pervade both punctual and constant tes of actions and
practices, if yet in different fashion.
• Step 2. Historic Central Distric

Second, I “descend” upon the central district of Madrid, where the intensity
of the spatial practices of contention during this period of 2011-2015 has
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contentious spatial practices and integrate them in a cartography capturing
their spatial extent as well as their relation to other contextual information. The
spatial practices here analysed capture a rich variety of formats including the
appropriations of public space in the forms of camps to the enactment of societal
democratic practices through popular assemblies.
• Step 3. Malasaña
306 Third, I continue with my approach towards the smaller scale of the
QHLJKERXUKRRG RI 0DODVDxD ,Q WKLV VWHS , FRQFHQWUDWH PRUH VSHFLÀFDOO\ RQ
the actions of the members of Patio Maravillas, looking at the range of spatial
practices encompassing both latent and punctual actions. Examples of these
analysed in this chapter are: the nomadic parcours of the Patio Maravillas itself,
demonstrations and other actions of explicit contention, as well as the everyday
real-life neighbourhood displacements of its members.
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in terms of space and time do not exactly apply in the same manner, rendering
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location become rather arbitrary for the purposes of this study. IN consequence,
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internal unit of perception. This means that the unit of analysis are the collective
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The actions studied within each step have a different date. These dates are not
always consecutive. The reason for that is to avoid creating the impression that
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In truth, it is clear that the 15M was a sort of catalyst for the new wave of social
mobilization in Madrid, but some of these other actions, while belonging to the
same «climate» (as it is argued in the concept of New Urban Practices), still
retain a certain independent entity.
Data and Participants
Participants
As explained previously, this chapter covers the spatial practices of members
of Patio Maravillas and related organizations. It covers additionally, the spatial
practices performed by an anonymous crowd of citizens during the series of
demonstrations and social action that started on the days before May 15, 2011
and continued thereafter in more or less sustained manner for a period of 2-3
years.5
From the numerous groups, platforms and collectives that have contributed to
WKLVFOLPDWHRIVRFLDOHIIHUYHVFHQFH,QWKLVFKDSWHU,FRQFHQWUDWHVSHFLÀFDOO\RQ
three main collective subjects that are interrelated: 15M ( also known outside of
Spain as the Indignados Movement), Mortgage Victims’ Platform (Plataforma
de Afectados por la Hipoteca, PAH), and the Polyvalent and Self-managed Space
Patio Maravillas (Espacio Polivalente Autogestionado).
)LUVWO\WKH0LWVHOILVDUDWKHUGLIÀFXOWVXEMHFWWRGHÀQH3DUWDPRYHPHQWSDUW
a spontaneous collective, it lacks both the organizational and hierarchical core,
as well as the thematic focus that motivates civic platforms. Its form is variable,
its composition uncertain. However, as many scholars and thinkers have noted,
its tangibility cannot be doubted and perhaps signals a need to update our
307
theoretical notions and methodological toolkits.
The second subject that focuses the attention of this chapter is the Mortgage
Victims’ Platform (Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca, PAH). It is a
decentralized platform of mutual aid between people who have been affected
by mortgages they cannot pay and risk being evicted from their homes. Its
spectacular actions of nonviolent resistance represent at once both the extent of
their spatial reach and the emotional intensity these actions entail. Finally, Patio
Maravillas also lies in the focus of this research.
6RXUFHVRIWKH'DWD
The information about 15M is gathered from several sources. Primarily from
different press articles in the Spanish Press: El País, El Diario, Diagonal. Another
important source is the wiki pages created by participants themselves as an
archive and collective knowledge participatory platform.
Several newspaper articles have been consulted for this chapter, in particular
those featuring stop-eviction actions, diverse events of protest and news in
relation to Patio Maravillas. The newspapers consulted are: EL País (printed and
online version), Diagonal (online version), El Diario (online version) Additionally,
in this chapter I make use of invaluable audiovisual material gathered by
photojournalists Alvaro Minguito (Diso Press), Carlo Olmo (Diso Press) and
5 . Certain, there have been related mobilizations after that date, but the level of sustained conten-
tion decreased evidently.
Jaime Alekos6 (Periodismo Humano). Juan Zarza (Periodismo Humano), Nacho
Guadano,7 and Paloma Saiz
Tools and Measures

If protests usually involve a given degree of proactive attitude with regards to
space. The spatial practices here considered are analysed through the following
criteria :
1. 'HJUHH RI ODWHQF\ 7KLV UHÁHFWV WKH FRQWLQXLW\ RI WKH SUDFWLFHV RU
actions, as well as their intensity. It measures according to a gradient
with punctual and momentous events in one extreme and constant
everyday habits on th e other. For instance, a given demonstration is
a punctual event frequency.
2. Levels of spatial involvement. This axis of analysis measures the
degree of active involvement of individuals in space. It ranges from
a refusal to engage, like for instance in the protests where activists
stay put and refuse to move, to the active manipulation of objects
and space.
3. Movement. Between static (absence of movement) and constant
(continuous movement)
4. Type of movement. While the previous point measures the degree and
308
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in what concerns its trajectory. It is not measured according to a
line of intensity between two values, but, instead, is captured by a
series of categories. 4a. A to B Movement. 4.b 4.c Swarm- constant
revolving around an area of interest. This type of movement is typical
of the ind of everyday local displacements inside a neighbourhood
by someone heavily engaged in the community. It also features in
groups engaging in a social action, perhaps due to the fact that the
presence of other changes priorities in spatial reconnaissance and
survey (Dorfman, Nielbo, & Eilam, 2016)
A second dimension to be analysed is the relation of these spatial practices to

the kinds of thresholds proposed by Stavrides. This dimension has two elements,
one of which is tackled in this study and another one which will be dealt with in
WKHQH[WFKDSWHU7KHÀUVWRQHLVWKHUROHRIVSDFHVLQWKHHFRORJ\RIHQFRXQWHU
and avoidance that Hillier (1996) famously articulated and which has been the
subject of the previous chapter.9 The second deals with the kinds of transitions
performed at cognitive and affective level by participants to these new urban
practices. This aspect requires the analysis and assessment of the kind of
6 . Arrested by the police forces in 2015 after covering the eviction of Ofelia Nieto 29. This proves
WKHGLIÀFXOWDQGQHFHVVDU\UROHRIFULWLFDOPHGLDDQGUHVHDUFKVSHFLDOO\LQWKHUHJUHVVLYHDWPRV-
phere in Spain after the approval of the “Ley Mordaza”. my solidarity goes to him.
7 . http://nachoguadanofoto.blogspot.ch/
KWWSSDORPDVDLQ]WEZHHEO\FRP
9 . In the previous chapter i have analysed primarily the conditions of the urban tissue that might
facilitate or accompany the perfromance of such an ecology of encounter and avoidance.
transition performed and their intensity, upon the analysis of the language from
direct testimonies of the participants. This is the subject of the empirical study
performed in the next chapter. Making it all the more relevant to the analysis of
new urban practices in a holistic manner.
The two maps that follow: Map1: Geography of Territorialized Contention, and
Map2: Emotional Atmospheres of Extimacy, are the result of the and are thus
discussed in the next section “Findings and Discussion”
309
310
FIG: 3.3_1
Map 1: Geography of Territorialized Contention.
Source: The author.
Income per capita above average. Based on

data from The Spanish National Tax Office
2010.
Built structures.
Planned extension of city fabric. According to

data from 2008
«Planes de Ampliacion Urbanistica» (PAUS)

declared illegal by the Superior Court of
Justice in 2012.
Evictions and Counter evictions actions since

2012. Source (PAH) 2015.
311
1
312
2
FIG: 3.3_2
Map 2: Emotional Atmospheres of Extimacy.
Source: The author
313
(UHS`ZPZVM9LZ\S[ZHUK+PZJ\ZZPVU
In this section, I present and discuss the most relevant results of the three steps
of the study. For the purpose of clarity and brevity, rather than presenting all
the results one by one for each step and each analysed event or unit of events,
I directly articulate the most relevant information into a discussion of their
VLJQLÀFDQFH
:[LW 4L[YVWVSP[HU ZJHSL 7\UJ[\HS ,_WSVZPVUZ VM

,_[PTHJ`
This analysis is performed and depicted in two main graphical documents:
Map1: Stop-Evictions_Assoc_Metropolitan scale with frames10
Map2: Madrid Metropolitana DNC compressed
Since the beginnings of the movement PAH, the campaign called Stop-Evictions
(Stop-Desahucios) has gathered attention from the media, with its actions
featuring repeatedly in the tv news programmes and inciting a wave of solidarity
and indignation from the broader public. Their birth is marked by the rising
QXPEHUVRISHRSOHLQ6SDLQZKRKDYLQJVLJQHGLQWRDPRUWJDJHÀQGWKDWWKH\
cannot pay it back once they are unemployed, ill or with a major problem that 315
prevents them from receiving enough income. Moreover, those members of
the family that signed as a guarantee also risk losing their homes. According
WR WKH 6SDQLVK *HQHUDO &RXQFLO RI -XVWLFH EHWZHHQ DQG
SURFHVVHVRIPRUWJDJHH[HFXWLRQKDYHEHHQLQLWLDWHG7KHVHRIÀFLDOGDWDGRQRW
discriminate between housing and other uses. Amnesty International based on
data from Spanish Central Bank, establishes in 97.577 the number of home
mortage executions, that is to say 100.000 families or approximately 350.000
have been evicted. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Spain has 30%
of Europe’s empty dwellings.
What follows is only a brief account of two episodes selected as examples of

these actions.
2IHOLD1LHWR$XJXVWDQG)HEUXDU\
District of Tetuán.
Arguably the process of resistance against the demolition of the building in

2IHOLD1LHWRFRQVWLWXWHVDPDMRUHYHQWLQWKHFRQÀJXUDWLRQRIWKHQHLJKERXUKRRG
movement in Madrid during the last years (Bordallo, 2015). The Urban Plan
for the district, approved in 2004, included the demolition of this building in
order to enlarge the pavement in 6m2. Since 2012 and for over 2 years, the
10 . In this map, I have represented the punctual actions of Stop-Evictions with regards to the reach
of their presence and their accumulation to conform a particular affective atmosphere. Each action
LVJLYHQDUDGLXVRIIDGLQJLQÁXHQFHRIPHWHUV
family together with activists from the Housing Assembly and many other related
DVVRFLDWLRQV DPRQJZKLFKSDUWLFLSDQWVWR3DWLR0DUDYLOODV KHOGDFRQÁLFWZLWK
the city council, which ended up in the eviction of the family and demolition
of the building. A series of campaigns and actions sustained the battle until the
ÀQDODFW'HVSLWHWKHORVVRIWKHEXLOGLQJVRPHDFWLRQVZHUHVXFFHVVIXOOLNHWKH
one in August 2013 when the family together with activists and neighbours,
managed to stop the eviction and the prevent the demolition. The Movement
IRU+RXVLQJÀJKWLQJIRUWKHDFFHVVWRDGLJQLÀHGKRXVLQJIRUDOOZDVHQJDJHG
in this process since the beginning. During the time that this movement lasted,
it became a referent of the resistance and an example of local self-organization
against speculation and for the right to housing (Bordallo, 2015).
Many news articles, blog posts and even documentaries have featured this
process of urban struggle and resistance11.
316
3
3116
FIG: 3.3_3
Location of Ofelia Nieto
in the neighbourhhod of
7HWXiQ6DPSOHG7LVVXH
(see chapter 3.2)
FIG: 3.3_3_b
Screenshot from video doc-
umentary.
Source: M. Cristofoletti & H.
Atman 2015 “Quebrados”
11 . -2015 “Quebrados” Video Documentary by Michele Cristofoletti y Hugo Atman. Source: https://
youtu.be/eBYr-Ab-K-c
-27.02.2015 “La Policía desaloja en Madrid a los habitantes de Ofelia Nieto 29 para derribar el
HGLÀFLRµ0,18726$*(1&,$69Ì'(2$7/$6
6RXUFHKWWSZZZPLQXWRVHVQRWLFLDSROLFLDGHVDORMDRIHOLDQLHWR[-
tor=AD-15&xts=467263
-27.02.2015, 09:49 “El desalojo y derribo de Ofelia Nieto deja en la calle a una familia de diez
personas con tres niñas y un anciano” Lucia de la Fuente. Madridiario. Source: https://www.
PDGULGLDULRHVQRWLFLDVRFLDOHOGHVDORMR\GHUULERGHRIHOLDQLHWRGHMDHQODFDOOHDXQD
familia-de-diez-personas-con-tres-ninas-y-un-anciano.html
Alvaro, an activist from the assembly of the neighbourhood explained that
the strategy was twofold. On the one hand, to resist in the house, occupied by
activists and neighbours and which became a hub of activism and encounter.
On the other hand, a series of actions to reach out to wider society, as well as
actions at where they perceive as the source of those problems, like the City
&RXQFLO RU RWKHU PXQLFLSDO RIÀFHV 7KH SURFHVV RI UHVLVWDQFH DQG RFFXSDWLRQ
followed different phases. Firstly, it was reunion and encounter of many activists
and sympathizers, as well the resident family. A series of parallel campaigns were
organized like, for instance, the recollection of signatures against the demolition
(4000 signatures collected).
Soon afterwards and in an organic manner, the house became a logistic and
organizational base for this and other campaigns. The continuous presence
of activists in the house made it look like a sort of continuous occupation, or
rather, the assimilation of that space into the sequence and network of spaces
used by the movements. The process of continuous resistance developed therein
saw the organization of different actions, like the organization on the rooftop
of the building of a colloquium with urbanists and architects about real estate
VSHFXODWLRQ DQG WKH SURFHVVHV RI JHQWULÀFDWLRQ XQGHUJRQH E\ WKH GLVWULFW RI
Tetuán. Following, the organization of a camp on the roof in order to prevent the
planned demolition on the 14th of August 2013.12
317
And under the threat of eviction and demolition, the house became a fortress. In
this phase two concurring elements are relevant. On the one hand, the physical
presence and accumulation of bodies, with the aim of not only blocking the way
in, but also impeding the demolition for security reasons. On the other hand,
WKHSK\VLFDODOWHUDWLRQVDQGPRGLÀFDWLRQVPDGHWRWKHKRXVHIRUWKDWSXUSRVH
This went as far as to build and install structures to block the entrances, but
also included setting up posters and signs to warn the neighbourhoods and the
passers by of the events that were going on.
This phase ended with the success of the eviction and the demolition of the
building, despite the presence of activists. However, the campaign and movement
did not end there. As if it were for the inertia of such large mobilization as wel
as the accumulation of hopes, determination and aspirations of the participants,
the demolition only sparked a coordinated and consequent reaction, just as the
previous steps had. However, even though this following step seemed natural
seen from the inside of the movement as some activist declared13, I believe it
EHDUVFOHDUVLJQLÀFDQFH
Since immediately after the demolition, the idea of rebuilding the house came
to the minds of the activists. A campaign and a call were issued to search for
volunteers and to again give diffusion to this action. This reconstruction, though
12 . more than 150 people slep inside the house and many dozens outside according to the organiz-
ers source: https://youtu.be/eBYr-Ab-K-c
13 see 2015 “Quebrados” Video Documentary by Michele Cristofoletti y Hugo Atman. Source: https://
youtu.be/eBYr-Ab-K-c
FIG: 3.3_4
Activists camp on the roof in order to guarantee the defence of the building with 24 hours pres-
ence during organized in shifts. The building became a hub for activists and social movements.
Source: ON29, 2015
318
FIG: 3.3_5
The defence of the buiding saw
moments of imaginative non-vio-
lent resistance, like the “occupa-
tion” of a bulldozer combined with
techniques of refusal to move.
FIG: 3.3_6
Activist from Stop-Evictions (PAH) celebrate with the family of residents the ephemeral success to
VWRSWKHÀUVWDWWHPSWRIHYLFWLRQDQGGHPROLWLRQRIWKHEXLOGLQJLQ2IHOLD1LHWR
Source: ON29, 2015
319
FIG: 3.3_7 FIG: 3.3_8 FIG: 3.3_9

Activists set up physical defences 7KHEXLOGLQJLVÀQDOO\GHPROLVKHG Activists from the platform
to block the entrance, combining Source: ON29. 2015 ON29 and other related
Source: ON29. 2015 movements organized a
symbolic reconstruction of
the building..
Source: ON29. 2015
symbolic, marks an important site in the transformation on the spatial perception,
spatial imagination and spatial management attitude of the participants to these
actions. It signals, as an external objective action, that certain threshold had
been trespassed.
The spatial practices associated with this episode are varied and cover a wide range.
From the occupation and refusal to move and engage to the active encircling,
marching and active manipulation of the built space. One of the emergent
hypotheses, to be further tested in the following chapter, is the following: instead
of the space or spaces having performed as threshold spaces, it was the spatial
SUDFWLFHVWKDWKDGSHUIRUPHGVXFKWKUHVKROGDOORZLQJIRUDUHFRQÀJXUDWLRQRI
the “established order” and the capacity to envisage alternatives and to trigger
engagement.
The relevant aspects of this episode largely surpass the objectives of this chapter.
As already mentioned, the defence of this building became a hub for many
different platforms, and in a certain way the experience was a school on how to
organize groups o and actions for similar purposes. Moreover, and perhaps more
pertinent to the enquiry of this thesis, a vehicle through which many identities
go formed and which strongly changed the way of perceiving the neighbourhood
and the city by the many activists and sympathizers who participated.
320
7ULEXOHWHVQ-DQXDU\
Historic Central Distric. Neighbourhood of Lavapiés.
Neighbourhood of Lavapiés. In this case, the evicted person is Antonio Argobia,

a 54-year-old chronic sufferer with a recognized absolute disability who lived
alone on rent in a building located in the street of Tribulete. The motive of the
HYLFWLRQLVWKHQRQSD\PHQWRIWKHUHQWRIHXURVZKLFKFRXOGQ·WDIIRUGZLWK
his only income of 740 euros per month as a pension from the state. For this FIG: 3.3_10
occasion, a judicial committee, accompanied by riot municipal police. Without Location of the event in Tribulete
St. Neighbourhood of Lavapiés in
any previous negotiations, the riot police tore down the door of the apartment, the Historic Central District.
and immediately proceeded to arrest Antonio Argobia, as well as J.A, a mediator
of Stop-Evictions, A.K and R.G. photojournalists who were there to cover the event
for the news agencies of Associated Press (USA) and Nur Photo (Italy). Outside,
dozens of people, among which members of different housing assemblies and
neighbours, gathered in the vicinity of the housing block, having arrived too late
321
to prevent the eviction. For some time, the activists neighbours and sympathizers FIG: 3.3_11
Police forces charge without warn-
blocked the street and refused to move to let the police take away those they had ing, forcing their way through the
arrested. Their strategy consisted in holding arms and sitting down in the middle human barrier.
Source: Alvaro Minguito, 2014
of the street with an attitude of non-violent resistance. The police forces faced (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
the interpellation of the activists and neighbours, who expressed aloud their
indignation.
-- “What is it that you do for a living? You throw a disabled person into the
VWUHHWV",VWKDW\RXUMRE"7KDWLVQRWDGLJQLÀHGRFFXSDWLRQ,ZRXOGVD\µZH
can hear an activist say in a video of the event.
322
FIG: 3.3_12
Excerpts from video
01.02.2014.
Photographs: Rodrigo
García
Video: Jaime Alekos
Source Source: https://you-
tu.be/YX9YLhPvoBw
FIG: 3.3_13
The logics of blocking and
kettling are appropiated by
activist who block the exit of
police forces.
The image show a dia-
gramatic analysis of the
evolution of the events.
Source: the author.
After few moments of tension, riot police charged without a warning causing
injuries among the activists. The response of the neighbourhood was immediate.
People started to shout at the Police:
-- “Out! Out of the neighbourhood!”, “Murderers!” --
As the police tried to move through the crowds and out from the neighbourhood,
SURWHVWRUVWKURZVKRHVREMHFWVDQGHYHQÁRZHUSRWVIURPQHDUE\EDOFRQLHV,Q
323
few minutes, the police retreats away amid the fury of the neighbours, who shake
the vans of the police and even break the glass of one of them.
Apart from the professional journalist that covered this event, volunteers from
the Carabanchel Neighbourhood Popular Assembly helped recorded it in video.14
This event was featured in several printed and online media,15 provoking a strong
reaction among citizens of Madrid.
Few aspects are relevant in this case. The strong and collective creation of
the neighbourhood in solidarity with the evicted and indignant at what they
considered an unfair abuse of power by the authorities. In addition, their passive
and non-violent resistance to combine by an occupation and blocking of public
space around the. Like this they create a double area of exclusion, englobing the
ÀUVW RQH FUHDWHG E\ WKH SROLFH ZLWK WKH LQWHQWLRQ RI EORFNLQJ WKH SDUWLFLSDQWV
This is, moreover, combined with other kinds of movement. First, a fast and
spontaneous displacement of the activists, observable in the video as they
try to shortcut the way of the police by crossing the market denotes an acute
spatial knowledge of the urban tissue around the apartment of Antonio Argobia.
Secondly, the slow process of marching behind the police as they literally expel
them from the neighbourhood.
I do not have knowledge on whether more people joined the PAH movement
14 . 01.02.2014 ·Video :Jaime Alekos, Rodrigo García. Source: https://youtu.be/YX9YLhPvoBw

3LODU$OYDUH](O3DLV´&XDWURGHWHQLGRVHQHOGHVDKXFLRGHXQHQIHUPRFUyQLFRHQ
Lavapiés”
FIG: 3.3_14 or local assemblies after the diffusion of this event. However, this event had
The police blocks the street
and the acivists and partici- undeniable effect in a collective imaginary of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood
pants block the police.
Source: Jaime Alekos
of Lavapiés, potentially reinforcing an idea of a fairer spatial local autonomy in
the face of the indiscriminate and external (in this case state forces). The spatial
aspects of this are several and denote processes of territorialization through
FRQÁLFW 7RUUHV )LUVWO\WKHLQMXVWLFHLVODUJHO\DVVRFLDWHGWRDVSDWLDOJRRG
the apartment, which is, furthermore, related to the notion of the right to access
GLJQLÀHGKRXVLQJ6HFRQGO\WKLVHYLFWHGLQGLYLGXDOLVLQWHJUDWHGLQDFRPPXQLW\
and is part of the neighbourhood. Police and judiciary forces come to expel not
only the family, but the community of activists and neighbours that support them.
This is perceived as a clear attack on the spatial integrity of the neighbourhood.
This action was punctual and thus it cannot be said to have had the same
scope and reach as in the case of Ofelia Nieto 29. However, the effects on the
neighbourhood and the emotional imprint left by the audiovisual documents
LQWKHSXEOLFDUHQRWDEOH,QWHUPVRILWVVSDWLDOFRJQLWLYHVLJQLÀFDQFHWKHVWHS
from passive nonviolent resistance through occupation and refusal to move,
to the active encircling and expulsion of the police marks a strong emotional
involvement. Moreover, it also signals a clear transition again towards an active
spatial engagement in the defence of territorialized we-space.
324
:[LW/PZ[VYPJ*LU[YHS+PZ[YPJ)L[^LLU*VUÅPJ[HUK
the Everyday.
In this step, the map condenses a long period where intense activities of
FRQWHQWLRQ KDYH RYHUODSSHG ZLWK HTXDOO\ LQWHQVH SURFHVVHV RI UHFRQÀJXUDWLRQ
of the urban spaces. Several are the important aspects that emerge from the
integration of this information. FIG: 3.3_15
Enrique Flores, 2011.
Assemblies and occupations of the public space against the background of Source: Blog 4ojos
segregation and increasing securitization16 of the urban space.
Researchers have already commented on one of the most striking features of
the 15M camp, namely their refusal to move in an era of increased praised or
forced mobility. Arguably, a reform on the square of Puerta del Sol is one of the
LPSRUWDQW FKDQJHV SUHYLRXV WR WKH 0 DQG ZKLFK FRXOG KDYH LQÁXHQFHG WKH
possibility of protestors to gather. In the most relevant contribution is not related
to the materials form of the square nor to the presence or not of urban furniture,
EXWWRWKHUHVWULFWLRQRIFDUWUDIÀF7KLVEURXJKWDERXWDQLPSRUWDQWUHGXFWLRQLQ
noise pollution in the square that facilitated that there could be the restriction
The degree to which the spatial practices are connected to the urban morphology
of this part of the centre of Madrid is an interesting point.
7KH SK\VLFDO VSDWLDO FRQÀJXUDWLRQ RI WKH VTXDUHV DQG RSHQ VSDFHV ZKHUH WKH
DVVHPEOLHV ZHUH FRQGXFWHG SURYLGHG IRU WKH HPHUJHQFH RI D VSHFLÀF ZHVSDFH 325
of amplitude, serenity. The space became bigger, denser, or, in the words of a
participant to the assemblies: -- “It’s as if the square became big with our time,,
it is now big, fat and beautiful because it has eaten so much of our time..Because
we spend it here, but also because once you come there are so many interesting
WKLQJVJRLQJRQWKDWLWLVGLIÀFXOWWROHDYHµ
$QRWKHUSDUWLFLSDQWFRPPHQW´,WLVDELWOLNHDODE\ULQWK\RXFDQQRWÀQGWKH
H[LWZHOOUDWKHU\RXGRQRWZDQWWRÀQGLWµ
FIG: 3.3_16
Puerta del Sol. Asssembly.
This phase of the assemblies changed radically once the participants decided to Source: Alvaro Minguito
2012
dismantle the camp and proceed with a migration towards the neighbourhoods,
where local assemblies were to take place. This phase called “Occupy the
Neighbourhoods” (“Toma los barrios”17) had the purpose to render the movement
PRUHORFDODQGDWWHQWLYHWRVSHFLÀFSUREOHPDWLFDQGQRWVRVHOIDEVRUEHGRURQO\
prone to general philosophical debates. This move had certain consequences for
the evolution of the social mobilization. An example is the articulation of the
GLIIHUHQWSODWIRUPVIRUWKHULJKWWRKRXVLQJ DVDPEOHDVRURÀFLQDVGHYLYLHQGD
and the evolution of the PAH into a decentralized protagonist of the urban
struggle.
16 Expression used to the act of policing cities through the constant presence of police forces,
installation of cctv systems and the demarcation of zones of exclusion, among other activities. See
Lippert and Walby (2013).
17 . see: https://madrid.tomalosbarrios.net
$QRWKHUH[DPSOHLVWKHHPHUJHQFHDQGFRQVROLGDWLRQRIWKHGLIIHUHQW´&LWL]HQWLGHVµ mareas
ciudadanas).
326
During this time, large numbers of people, participants or visitors, strolled and FIG: 3.3_19
the Second Patio in Pez St.
practiced the neighbourhoods of the city centre with unforeseen intensity. The Source: Alvaro Minguito 2012
space activated by the camps and the assemblies englobed an area far bigger
than the squares or camp themselves. This performs a strange and interesting
combination of two phenomena, while the camp clearly absorbed people’s
attention, the reconciliation with a certain space through an occupation that
slowly became inhabitation, also allowed participants to turn their attention to
the surrounding spaces. The importance of this cannot be overestimated as the
spatial knowledge accumulated after this period is undoubtedly behind
Patio Maravillas played a relevant role in the preparation emergence and
transition of the 15M movement. It became a logistical and organizational base
form many collectives and civic platforms involved in these events, and continued
to be very actively involved in its transformation.19
The atmosphere and pulse of the series of large demonstrations that persisted
during this period provided a punctual complement to the dense, calm and
continuous time of the squares and the assemblies. In general, the kind of
repertoire of practices of contention clearly surpasses the usual catalogue of
social movements. That time is still perceived as a continuous mobilization by
many participants.
327
FIG: 3.3_18
PLan of the Acampada Sol
(Camp Sol) in Puerta del
Sol. May 15-July
2011. Source: David Bravo
Bordas.
19 . As it becomes clear in the interviews conducted for the following chapter 3.4
FIG: 3.3_17
Map off Spatial Practices of Con-
tention Madrid 2011-2015
Source: the author
328
FIG: 3.3_20
Street views of the surround-
ings of 2 Mayo Square and or-
thophoto of the neighbourhhod.
Sources: Google Street View
2016 and Cartographic SEr-
vices of the Region of Madrid
(Planea) 2015
:[LW 4HSHZH|H +PZWSHJLTLU[ HUK ,]LY`KH`
:VJPVZWH[PHS0U]VS]LTLU[
The forced urban displacement of PM within Malsaña neighbourhood.
During its 9 years of history, Patio Maravillas has had two main headquarters, a
temporary base lasting few months and many other buildings as objectives. There
were attempts of occupation of these buildings, but were evicted within few hours
or days and do not qualify as “base” or HQ. Often the act of defending a given
space from eviction, transforms into a concentration/demonstration in defence
of the right to the city. Marching in the streets of the neighbourhood towards one
of the objectives, the demonstration rapidly evolves into a new occupation. It is
GLIÀFXOWLQWKHVHFDVHVWRGUDZDOLQHEHWZHHQWKHGLIIHUHQWPRGDOLWLHVRIDFWLRQV
and between the sedentary inhabitation of a base and the act of occupation/
appropriation. Thus, I consider the migration of PM as punctual yet integrated
in a series of other activities - spatial practices. The sedentary migration has
become, after these years and with more strength over the last period of 2015-
2016 a distinct and relevant spatial practice in itself. FIG: 3.3_21
This image synthsizes the
everyday trajectories of two
Stable HQ20: differnt members of PM
during 2015
• $FXHUGR-XO\-DQXDU\
• Pez 21. January 2010 - June 2015
Temporary HQ: 329
• Divino Pastor 7. June 2015 - May 2016
Objectives:
• Alvarez Quintero 2015.01.05 - Blitz- This building used to house a centre
RI VSHFLDOL]HG PHGLFDO SUDFWLFHV $EDQGRQHG DQG HPSW\ IRU \HDUV SULRU WR
occupation.
• Paseo del Prado 2015.05.26 (7 hours) -Blitz- more than 3000m2 -
This public building was ceded to the Ambasz Foundation for their new HQ and
Museum. It used to house the National Distance University UNED and It has been
empty and without activity since 2012.
• Palacio de Sueca. 2015.09. 7.200 m2 - Objective-
• Alberto Aguilera 20 2015.10. 2.700 m2 - Objective- Negotiation with
Madrid City Council
• Travesia de San Mateo. 2016.11.11 (12 hours) -Blitz-
7KLV XUEDQ PLJUDWLRQ ZDV SXQFWXDWHG E\ VSHFLÀF DQG UHOHYDQW PRPHQWV RI
transition, marked by evictions, demonstrations and occupations of new
buildings.Another set of spatial practices are constituted by the set of everyday
activities of the participants of Patio. These activities mingle not only with the
personal lifes and activities of participants, but arguably also with the general
rhythm and activities of the area, integrating into the everyday life landscape of
Malasaña.
20 In this timeline, I consider stable that building that has been used constantly for more than 1
year, and temporary if it was used for less than 1 year. Moreover, what I call “objectives” stand for
those building that have been claimed by PM. Some of those objectives have been the object of
negotitions with the authorities, that in some cases have lasted more than 1 year.
FIG: 3.3_22
Demonstration gathered to denounce the eviction of 2nd Patio Maravillas from Pez St. During this
demonstration a new building was occupied by the participants. The sheer accumulation of bodies
perfromed the defence of that space, impeding the police forces to access and evict the building.
Source: Alvaro Minguito 2015
330
FIG: 3.3_23
Sequence of images from the oc-
cupation of the 3rd Patio in Divino
Pastor St.
FIG: 3.3_24
Concentration in support of Patio Maravillas. Source: Alvaro Minguito 2015
331
FIG: 3.3_25 FIG: 3.3_26 FIG: 3.3_27

Police forces surrounded by First Assembly in the 3rd Patio, Bodies defending the space
non-violent activists. Divino Pastor St. Source: Alvaro Minguito 2015
Source: Alvaro Minguito 2015 Source: Alvaro Minguito 2015
The presence of a series of spaces where complimentary groups and activities
take place, help Patio to naturally to spread out over the neighbourhood. This
shows civic engagement in its proper spatialized dimension: Because it takes over
space, spreading out in the neighbourhood. But also, because as it emerges from
testimonies, it is internally spatialized: the sum of the activities are perceived as a
VSDFHDVRUWRIVWUXFWXULQJÀHOGLQPDQQHUWKDWUHPLQGVRI/HYLQ·V /1948])
theories.
These activities have a completely different temporal and spatial focus and
extent. They consist of relatively ordinary activities deprived of the theatricality
or expressive aspects of protest events. They do not address an audience. In
addition, as they usually repeat, creating a pattern of activities, after some
time they begin to be perceived as a seamless continuation with the rest of the
HYHU\GD\ ÁRZ &RQVHTXHQWO\ WKH\ DOVR VHHP WR KDYH GLIIHUHQW HPRWLRQDO DQG
cognitive intensity. The kinds of resources mobilized are different, as well as
the attention focus involved. However, they accompany the development of a
local network of people, provide knowledge about the surroundings, the rhythms
of the neighbourhood, the kinds of residents and their lifestyles, the kinds of
visitors and their habits and preferences. Moreover, they expose participants to
other regimes of co-presence that ensure a certain synchronization or mutual
awareness. This in turn, makes them appreciated in the local community,
and ensures social recognition. For these kinds of constant and low intensity
332
presence in the neighbourhood, the domain of encounter varies. The streets
of the neighbourhood, as well as bars, certain local retail places and even the
headquarters of other associations and platforms become public interiors. The
exposure of the degree of local rootedness and well as the level of proactivity
and other aspects like discretion are subject to scrutiny by the local community
and eventually by outsiders.
$V,WEHFDPHFOHDULQWKHSUHYLRXVFKDSWHUWKHVSHFLÀFVSDWLDOFRQGLWLRQVRIWKH
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composition,21 provide for a variety of conditions of co-presence. Within few
EORFNV VRPH VWUHHWV DUH YHU\ ZHOO FRQQHFWHG DQG DWWUDFW SHGHVWULDQ WUDIÀF RI
passers by as well as visitors searching different services in the neighbourhood.
Other streets, on the contrary, see a more secluded condition and favour low
LQWHQVLW\ ORFDO QHLJKERXUKRRG WUDIÀF 3UHFLVHO\ WKH GHQVLW\ DQG YDULHW\ RI WKH
urban tissue characteristic of that part of the historic Central District facilitate
the presence of various resources. The members of PM can choose to practice
those and get high visibility but little quietness and intimacy, or can retreat to the
inner streets and take possession of quiet intersections that function almost like
squares. To the same extent, these members and other sympathizers can choose
WRHQJDJHZLWKWKHODE\ULQWKLQHJULGPDNLQJLWGLIÀFXOWIRUWKHSROLFHWRIROORZ
and guess their destination.
This is all the more evident in the events that saw participants gather in protest
21 . see chapter 3.2 The Affordances of Porous Urban Space

against the eviction of the the HQ in Pez Street. This demonstration, which FIG: 3.3_28
Plans of the tranformations
derived in migration towards a building that had been an objective of PM, ended in the 2nd HQ of Patio
Maravillas.
up in the occupation and defence of the building in Divino Pastor Street. Source: Jaime Sanz de Haro
2015.
Here, tourists who are attracted to the are and lodged in airbnb apartments.
A physical accumulation of bodies, in nuanced conditions of co-presence. The
intensity of the struggle, its festive and non-violent forms of occupying and
blocking the street, the varied composition of the crowd (in terms of age and
social composition) become striking features that the tourist can observe and
participate to. Through these particular spatial conditions, PM manages to reach
as an audience the same tourists who are unstoppably contributing to the process
RI JHQWULÀFDWLRQ WKDW 30 GHQRXQFHV 1RW RQO\ GRHV LW UHDFK RXW WR WKHP EXW
seduces them into their claims, into their utopia of the city for all. The brilliance
of their strategy resides in the combination of such powerful inclusivity and their
nonpartisan methods and ideas, and the urban porosity they are able to seize
through their spatial practices.
There is yet an important complementary zoom to be added. At the level of

the spaces of the building themselves, the collective of participants made
VSHFLÀFWUDQVIRUPDWLRQWRDGDSWWKHEXLOWVWUXFWXUHWRLWVQHZXVHV:KLOHWKHVH
transformations are limited to the physical structural possibilities, as well as
building regulations of the city, they still manage to show pervasive ideas of
333
accessibility participation and inclusivity.
This document, elaborated by Sanz de Haro (2015) shows a series of important

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building retains certain labyrinthine aspect to it. This, without doubt, partially
LQÁXHQFHGE\WKHNLQGRIVWUXFWXUHDQGWKHW\SHRIEXLOGLQJW\SLFDORIWKHFLW\
tissue of the historical centre. This combined with the fact that many functions
were spread out and combined with the fact that many different of the tasks were
organized in shifts among the members, meant that there can be many chances
of casual encounters of intimate nature. Moreover, this effect known as “casa de
locos”, where one may encounter by chance a group in charge of something, get
to know them and end up involved in some unforeseen enterprise, is an enhancer
of serendipity and is not to be underestimated.
6RIDU,KDYHLGHQWLÀHGWKHLPSRUWDQFHRIWKHVHDFWLYLWLHVDVDFWLYLWLHVWKDWVWLOO
contain an important element of contention and constitute a transformative
involvement in space for those who perform them. Now, I articulate a pertinent
question: What is the role that these activities have played in the emotional
transition and following changes in spatial perception? This remains one of the
key questions of this thesis and is the subject of the empirical study in the next
chapter.
FIG: 3.3_29
The Garden Maravillas (Jardín Maravillas) has reclaimed an empty lot in the neighbourhood for
civic activities, engaging a wider community of activists designers, experts in urban gardening and
neighbours. The image shows the structure designed by Todo por la Praxis and built with the help
of local residents. Source: Todo por la Praxis & Patio Maravillas 2014
334
FIG: 3.3_30 FIG: 3.3_31 FIG: 3.3_32

Project for Jardín Maravilla. Jardín Maravillas after the reclaim. Fragment of Mural in Jardín
Source: Todo por la Praxis 2014 Source: Patio Maravillas 2013 Maravillas.
Source: Patio Maravillas 2015
FIG: 3.3_33
Urban Art has been an active strategy by the collective of Patio Maravillas, with numerous inter-
ventions over the years that have given way to the establishment of a well known urban art festival
supported by the city. The imge shows a mural in Garden Maravillas. Source: Patio Maravillas
2015
335
33
3 35
FIG: 3.3_34
Sequence of the urban art intervention
in the façade of the 2nd Patio in Pez St.
Source: Oatio Maravillas 2013
FIG: 3.3_35
The differnt scales of urban porosity play an important role in the dimension of extimacy of these
practices. Urban porosity works at diifferent scales
336
FIG: 3.3_36
337
FIG: 3.3_37
Both the actions of protest and defence of the occupied space, and the everyday activities of par-
ticipants happen in a porous space that assures a certain publicity ot their actions, helping their
proposal permeate to wider audience not as a particular set of ideas, but as alternatives ways of
practicing the city. The image shows a tourist taking photographs of the non-violent defence of the
newly occupied building in Divino Pastor St Source: Juan Carlos Lucas 2015
338
339
FIG: 3.3_
the porosity of the urban space of the neighbourhood of Malasaña (see Chapter 3.2) allows for an
ecology of encounter and avoidance. Both at the levels of the whole neighbourhood and at the level
RIWKHSDUWLFXODUSHUPDELOLW\RIIDoDGHVDQGEXLOGLQJVVXFKSRURVLW\KDVSURYLGHGRSWLPDOFRQGL-
tions by which the extimacy of the spatial practoces of activists and partcipants have performed a
change of imaginary at the social level. The narrow street space in the neighbourhood is to some
degree extended of supplemented by the public urban interiorsm, like bars, or shops. From these
spaces, the actions are dircetely watched, seen and acknowledged not only by residents but also by
visitors and tourists.
The image shows an isovist study of visibility in the square of Pujol, adjacent streets and certain
public urban interors. Analysis conducted by the author with Spot Paths software. Developed
E\3DEOR0LUDQGD&DUUDQ]D6RXUFHKWWSNWKGLYDSRUWDORUJVPDVKJHWGLYD62)7-
WARE01
3.3.5 Findings and Discussion
In this section, I enunciate the main issues at stake emerging from the
SHUIRUPDQFHRIWKHFDUWRJUDSKLFHQTXLU\LGHQWLI\WKHPDLQÀQGLQJVDULVLQJIURP
the study and discuss them through thematically structured interpellations. As
stated at the beginning of the section, this sub-study, exploratory in nature, has
been undertaken with the intention of providing a rich situated context for the
further interpretation of the analysis of emotional explained and developed in the
following section. However, this endeavour cannot be considered to be neutral
DQGKDVLQGHHGLQYROYHGWKHGHÀQLWLRQRIDSUHFLVHIUDPHDQGDQJRORGLOHWWXUD
as Secchi would call it, with which to aboard the recollection and mapping of
the data. These studied urban practices have, not surprisingly, returned the gaze,
enunciating further emergent issues that have proved relevant for the overall
research.
Regarding the choreographic performativity of urban practices and the potential

of its latent contentious forms.”Theatricality organises and structures research
not on the body itself, but on its movements” (Stavrides, 2010). With this
assertion, Stavrides somehow takes a radical stance. It then proves interesting
to contextualize this focus on movements and not necessarily on the bodies. An
approach of these choreographic elements, can in fact shed light upon the nature
340 of the body itself through a decoding of its practices. In fact, in reference to the
partaking to latent forms of contention, such as the pursuing of an alternative
OLIHVW\OHLWLVLPSRUWDQWWRDOVRDFNQRZOHGJHWKHGLIÀFXOW\EXWDOVRWKHUHYHDOLQJ
qualities of identifying and ascribing certain set of bodily movements. It is
for this reason that one must acknowledge that the performative liminality of
these practices of urban social contention, especially those latent practices that
usually follow after the participation in more eventful expressive protest such
as demonstrations, do not, for the most part, happen in a sort of speculative
vacuum one should expect in the kinds of tribal initiative rites that had in the
ÀUVWSODFHLQVSLUHGLWVHQXQFLDWLRQE\9DQ*HQQHS 2QWKHFRQWUDU\WKH\
come to occur in the concurred and dense environment of the city, where they
are in fact exposed to all kinds of variety of agents that happen to be in co-
presence in the same practiced areas of the city. Actors who are performing such
practices, like those associated to low intensity alternative modes of urban living
of certain members of Patio Maravillas, do not, in general, remain in a catatonic
state that impedes them from realizing this exposure of their actions.
Moreover, I would argue that such awareness does not only occur in full
consciousness, and it also happens in a most embodied and unconscious manner.
This is in coherence with studies showing that how we alter our behaviour in
SUHVHQFH RI RWKHUV =DMRQF /HYLQH 5HVQLFN +LJJLQV 7KXV
most bodies who are practicing and inhabiting those thresholds in where
urbanity manifests with most force, perform a secondary dance of alternating
and ambivalent presence, a sot of a secondary threshold zone between external
space and their performing liminality. Liminal space, conceived a latent practice,
reveals itself as a full more complex space that perhaps previously expected.
It involves a varying degree of equipoise22, balancing constantly between both
sides of her urban experience, since it belongs to both. This delicate dance is
something else, or perhaps something added to what Jane Jacobs (Jacobs, 1961)
famously commented and celebrated. For in Jacobs’ dance of the sidewalk is
the emergent order that comes about from the self adjusting set of individual
or small group actions where exposure to otherness takes on a rather automatic
aspect. In Jacobs’ dance. However, the kind of choreographic trajectories that
I am here referring to also consist of a balance of exposing and concealing, a
ÀQHO\ZRYHQHTXLOLEULXPEHWZHHQH[WLPLWpDQGLQWLPLWpLQZKHUHWKHLGHQWLW\FDQ
indeed reside in both sides.
The notion of extimacy, an English translation of the French neologism (extimité)

coined by the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1959–1960), “indicates the non-
distinction and essential identity between the dual terms of the outside and
the deepest inside, the exterior and the most interior of the psyche, the outer
world and the inner world of the subject, culture and the core of personality, the
social and the mental, surface and depth, behaviour and thoughts or feelings”
3DYyQ&XpOODU 7KHQRWLRQDGGLWLRQDOO\GHQRWHVLQH[SOLFLWPDQQHUWKH
´LQWHUSHQHWUDWLRQ DQG PXWXDO WUDQVIRUPDWLRQ RI ERWK VSKHUHVµ 3DYyQ&XpOODU
2014). It seems then a most adequate concept to capture the performativity of
the spatial practices. Elena Cogato Lanza and Luca Pattaroni (2013) have noted
341
that extimacy develops in those urban spaces which are “porous”. Such spaces,
according to these authors, allow for a certain game of seeing and being seen,
as well as for spaces of physical retrieval. Such conditions, in addition, favour
situations of encounter.
The importance of that balance of exposing and concealing is in fact reinforced

(and better understood) by the contentious nature of their practices. The actions
of these groups I have studied are aimed at subverting a given urban social order,
often bordering if not plunging into illegality. Such contentious transgression
signals the importance of the distance between the two worlds that the subject
is practicing and inhabiting. In simpler words, I am not here just talking about a
person who might be just performing action in urban space that is related to two
or more normally integrated communities, or groups, but on the contrary, people
who are indeed pushing the borders of the practices tolerated by hegemonic
power, precisely at its legal limits. This fact, in my opinion, highlights that
sociality and social processes in general should not be treated as “being”, but
VKRXOGEHFRQFHSWXDOL]HGDVZD\VRIÉHFRPLQJµ +LOOLHU6FKDW]NL
Indeed this equipoise is here associated, though not equated, to Schrödinger’s

principle of uncertainty, for the subject who performs it belongs to both urban
realms. Furthermore, it resonates with an understanding of urbanity as related
to embracing otherness, which implies a projection into the unknown. That very
22 . Meanings of equipoise: (1) balance of forces or interests. (2) a counterbalance or balancing

force. Source: Oxford Dictionary
act of projecting, of reaching out, of seizing, necessarily involves a certain plunge
into uncertainty about its outcomes and future substance of becoming. Such
conditions of change can be understood as properly and only placed or situated
in their material social context. While I fully endorse such a view, I consider it to
be just a side of the picture. The process of becoming itself should not only be
GHÀQHGLQWHUPVUHODWLYHWRWKHFRQWH[WVLWLVSODFHGLQWR%HFRPLQJLVWKHPDWWHU
proper, the substance of action, and what also gives meaning to its context and
its frame as reality. As Schatzki puts it: “
The strong presence that some of the spatial practices studied in this chapter have
in their urban context, and their effect upon the population does not respond,
in my opinion, to a supposedly contagious component of crowd emotions. On
the contrary, they have contributed to a change of mental model or idea by the
residents of Madrid precisely due t their capacity to reframe what reality is. A
change which has had its main vehicle in the extimacy of those spatial practices.
This performative extimacy has drawn observers to become engaged, involved,
to the extent that within themselves, they become active participants to the social
change these practices propose.
342
*VUJS\ZPVU!0UOHIP[PUN[OL;OYLZOVSK
Within the study of practices of space, those of social movements in urban areas
stick out as particularly salient for several reasons. Firstly, they pose a clear
example of transgression of different kinds of borders, constituting an invaluable
object of research in these times of necessary disciplinary reassessment. Secondly,
they constitute a practice that not only works as embodied and distributed
cognitive appraisal of the social climate of the city, but whose sociality holds
the modal germs of the new spaces to come. As such, it can therefore serve as
DSUHFLVHDQGQRQVXEVWLWXWDEOHWRROIRUXUEDQGLDJQRVLV$QGÀQDOO\WKH\VHHP
to present a reunion of different conditions of social co-habitation. This reunion
might hold a potential key for a reconciliation of certain mutually exclusive spatial
regimes, such as communitarian space and public space, that have structured
UHFHQWUHOHYDQWGHEDWHVLQXUEDQJHRJUDSK\ /pY\/pY\ /XVVDXOW
anthropology (Delgado, 2011) and urban sociology (Barbisch & Pattaroni, 2014),
over the spatial dimension of democratic and inclusive societies.
However, considering the frame in order to understand the spatial practices in

their full extent, it has become clear that is necessary to add a study of the direct
experience of these participants.
343
“The social construction of space is accorded material expression as a
person/spatiotemporal unit, while social production is understood as both
the practices of the person/spatiotemporal unit and global and collective
forces. Further, the addition of language and discourse theories expand the
conceptualization of spatializing culture by examining how talk and media
are deployed to transform the meaning of practices and spaces (Duranti,
1992)” (Setha Low, 2014).
The actions of participants to New Urban Practices put forward a particular type
of space. It is a space not only dynamic and in transformation, but inherently
interstitial. These spatial practices provide a different and situated perspective
from which to reconsider Carl Schmitt’s famous passage. “There are no political
ideas without a space to which they can be referred, as there are no spaces
or spatial principles to which no political ideas correspond” (Cavalletti, 2005).
Their political ideas emerge from the (re)constitution of a space through bodily
engagement. Moreover, the tentativeness of their action reinforces a certain
openness in a contingent manner. This openness also emerges from their will and
intentions, thus assuring a double fold of openness to alterity and to uncertainty.
I consider these spatial practices to move beyond the problem of considering

space as mere container or setting (Corsin Jimenez 2003). Here space is not
just mobilized as a “praxis of worldling” (Werlen & Danckwerth, 1997). On
the contrary, New Urban Practices do not just invest urban actors with “space
PDNLQJFDSDFLWLHVµWKH\UHFRQÀJXUHWKHZKROHDVSDUWLFLSDQWVDUHFRQVWLWXWHG
and emerge at the same time as the space.
3.4 Study 3. Emotional
Transition and Spatial
Perception 347
The play’s the thing

wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king
ߊ William Shakeaspeare, Hamlet, act-2, scene-2, 1599-1602
an instant of pure potentiality

ߊTurner, 1979
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;

what is essential is invisible to the eye
ߊAntoine de Saint Exupéry, Le Petit Prince, 1943
3.4.0.1 Chapter Overview
In this chapter, I tackle the relation between affective experience -- emotions,
feelings-- and spatial perception -- affordances-- of participants to 15M and
Patio Maravillas. I do this to complement the angle of enquiry on the urban
experience already developed in the previous chapter.1 For that purpose I
conduct an empirical study on two steps. Firstly, I conduct an exploratory survey
on a wider sample (number) of participants and non-participant population. The
objective is to establish whether my initial intuition on the relation between
participation in contentious social practices and change of spatial perception was
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engagement that comes with the participation on a sustained series of social
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(21) with participants to Patio Maravillas and related platforms and associations.
The main methodological focus for this chapter is language, thus changing and
complementing approaches from previous chapters.
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the problematic that motivates this chapter, and elaborate on how emotional
transition and spatial perception relate to the research questions. Following, in
the second section I present the design of this empirical study, and I explain
348 how it is structured. This section sees an explanation of the methodology, the
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method tools and variables chosen for the emotional dimensional analysis as
well as other methodological reference on spatial perception and language. In
addition, I introduce the tools and frames for the analysis of the participants’
spatial discourse. In the third section, I present and discuss the results in light of
the theory, with consideration of their relevance as the answer to the research
questions. I comment as well their limitations and the necessary extension and
complements to this study to be tackled in future iterations.
Finally, in the last section I conclude on the relevance of this chapter alone and in
combination with the previous empirical studies. Here I give the methodological
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assessment, with comments on its shortcomings and remaining unexplored
potentials with regards to the outlook of this research. In addition, I highlight
relevant theoretical questions that remain yet to be given enough space and
thorough treatment in the last remaining part of the thesis.
1 . In the previous chapter I explore the spatial dimensions of the urban practices of contention. I do
so through the consideration of several factors like latency and with regards to their cognitive and
affective resonance.
3.4.0.2 Problematic
The main problematic I address in this chapter is the effect that participation
in spatial contentious practices has on the emotions and spatial perceptions of
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and changes in the spatial affordance perception of participants to New Urban
Practices.
The approach of affective phenomena as dynamic transformations (here called

emotional transition) is consistent with an understanding of affective phenomena
as processes and not as stable and static states. In particular, I will focus on the
transition from negative emotions to positive emotions, where :
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in the environment (social= reunion, encounter feeling of kinship, identity; and
spatial= proactivity, action tendencies).
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emotional transition and spatial perception. The concept of emotional transition
points at the transition from a given affective experience to another. Such
transition is coherent with an understanding of emotions and other affective 349
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controlled setting of a laboratory. Therefore, it is considered possible to happen
between phenomena labelled as pertaining to differentiated categories of
affective phenomena (see Scherer for such a categorization). For instance,
this transition can happen from a passive dislike of certain, which borders on
indifference, which presents very low intensity or arousal, to an sudden rush of
joy. Usually this would be seen as two independent affective phenomena, with
the stronger one happening after, that rush of joy being described as an emotion,
DQGWKXVEHLQJFRQVLGHUHGWREHDERXWDYHU\ZHOOVSHFLÀHGHYHQW+RZHYHULQ
real life, the change in affective experience is usually perceived as a transition
in the continuum of experience. Moreover, these two distinct phenomena can
actually have the same or very closely related objects of focus. These might be,
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PLJKWGLIIHULQWKHLUVSHFLÀFERXQGLQJRIDFRQFUHWHWLPHDQGDFWRUVLQYROYHG
$QG IXUWKHUPRUHERWK DIIHFWLYH SKHQRPHQD PLJKW KDYH D VWURQJ LQÁXHQFH RQ
how we might perceive certain other constant phenomena (for example, both
have consequences in how we perceive our street). For all of these reasons I am
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One of the important aspects to note is that not all affective phenomena have
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still up to an often heated debate among researchers. In fact, as seen in chapter
2.2, appraisal theories, enactive or cognitivist, pose affective phenomena as
evaluative. This implies that they are a sort of assessment, and such assessment
requires an object, be it our own bodily homeostatic processes, the surrounding
environment or even our sense of self shaped by the social context. The fact that
VRPHDIIHFWLYHSKHQRPHQDKDYH DYDJXHUIRFXVFRPSOLHVZLWKRXUÀUVWSHUVRQ
experience and is by no means new. As an example, we can think of the feeling
conveyed by the common expression: “Lately I have been in a bad mood, but
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phenomena, a bad mood for instance, is there before other events and would
actually apply to the judgement of and response to no matter what event is
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and inducing a certain causality a posteriori.
In the case of a series of events adding to a sustained level of emotional arousal

(being vague and constant, or momentary but constantly repeated over a
period of time) we can talk about the generation of an emotional climate that
can be correlated by increasing emotional engagement. While this has already
been tackled through different theories and/or concepts like that emotional
energy (Collins, 1990) or even emotional work (Hochschild, 1979), the spatial
component was clearly missing and has not been satisfactorily addressed so far.
Therefore, another key aspect to be tested is if the action-oriented tendencies
350
contained in spatial perception do couple the positive emotional feeling with
forward-looking activities, such as planning.
This problematic has other important implications on two related aspects which
are also tackled in this chapter. First, with regards to the role of social and
physical environment in the affective and cognitive dimension of participation. I
consider this aspect under the framework of Extended Mind (Clark & Chalmers,
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DQDO\WLFDOPHWKRGRORJ\WKLVLVDGGUHVVHGWKURXJKWKHGLPHQVLRQVRIRIÁRDGLQJ
and scaffolding (Sterelny, 2010).
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of the emergent quality of urbanity. In this chapter I make an assessment of
the possibility to consider urbanity as an affective/cognitive appraisal. In other
words, certain aspects of the urban condition that were previously thought to
be either a property of physical environment, or a property of the behaviour of
urban dwellers. Moreover, urbanity was considered as captured purely through
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emergent quality, resulting from the crossing of the properties of urban space as
2 . See Chapter 2.1.3 for a detailed discussion of different stances on urbanity.

they are made accessible or seizable through urban porosity3. This act of seizing
the possibilities given the urban space, most notably the possibilities to encounter
otherness and alterity, necessarily involve also affective phenomena. Therefore,
I contend urbanity is better addresses and analysed through tools and concepts
attuned to capturing these modalities of engagement. To that aim I resort to
emotional analysis based on self-reports of emotions by the participants, in two
different steps, a survey and in-depth interviews.
It is in the preparation and the analysis of the interviews where I have addressed
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3.3) I can better analyse these answers on the precise perceived experiences
of the participants contextualized in a properly portrayed spatial setting. These
results directly in a more holistic understanding of the subject matter as well as
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Chapter 2.4. These answers are complementary to those found in the previous
chapters in this third part of the thesis.
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modes and ways of practicing space that enact and/or accompany an emotional
351
transition in such cases of contentious social movements in urban contexts?
$%54&DQZHLQIDFWFRQFHLYHHPRWLRQDOSURFHVVHVDPRQJRWKHUDIIHFWLYH
phenomena, to be focus on an event which can be said to be space-bound? In
other more daring words, can we consider space as the event ?
&547RZKDWH[WHQWFDQZHVD\WKDWXUEDQVSDFHLVFRQVWLWXWLYHRIFRJQLWLYH
or affective processes of its inhabitants? Following these theses, how does the
urban environment extend the cognitive and affective capacities? What extents of
urban space are incorporated in what cognitive and affective processes exactly?
To synthesize a global hypothesis that summarizes not only a tentative answer

to these research questions but which was also at the intuited origins of the
research endeavour:
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ecology of encounter and absence that foster the emergence of social forms of
civic engagement. Additionally, in the context of an urban crisis, participants
to contentious social movements engage in a series of spatial practices which
are usually accompanied by an emotional transition. Moreover, participants
in their spatial practices seize urban porosity, which allows for that reunion of
alterity through simultaneous co-presence of heterogeneous spaces, and for the
subsequent change in spatial affordance perception.
3 . See Chapter 2.1.5 for a discussion on porosity and Chapter 3.2 for the empirical study on the
porosity of Madrid and the neighbourhood of Malasaña
The result sees urbanity, understood as a simultaneous, temporary and dynamic
embrace of alterity and the enaction of a new space, as a particular extended
affective/cognitive phenomena, for it is achieved in the concourse of physical
and social elements of the environment. Urbanity, them, can be said to be an
extended emotion.
7DNLQJLQWRDFFRXQWWKHDERYHPHQWLRQHGFODULÀFDWLRQVLWLVLPSRUWDQWWRUHDOL]H
that the research design for this study must allow for its complementarity with
previous studies. In this fashion, the account on emotional experience, being
admittedly partial as it is restrained to measures performed through language
only, can be contextualized and complemented.
3.4.0.3 Methodology
Structure of the Study.
The study is structured in two main consecutive phases. For each phase, a series
RIVWHSVDUHSHUIRUPHGÀUVWWKHJDWKHULQJRIGDWDWKHQWKHDQDO\VLV
1. I conduct a survey in order to identify the probability of this emotional and

352
spatial perception transition among participants to the social mobilization in
Madrid during 2011-2015. The target population for this survey were participants
and non-participants to 15M related platforms. I analyse the surveys collected
through a dimensional analysis.
2. Following, I conduct a series of in-depth interviews with members of Patio

0DUDYLOODVDVWKHSRSXODWLRQRILQWHUHVWLGHQWLÀHGRQEDVHRIWKHVXUYH\,QWKHVH
interviews, I tackle a more nuanced an d detailed analysis of the emotional and
spatial transitions performed by diverse regimes of engagement in contentious
spatial practices.
Limitations.
Implications for the Conducting of the Interviews and the Positioning of the
Researcher.
In this work, a particular importance is ascribed to the construction, or enactment,
of worldviews through different spatial practices, among which also the
discursive practices. This necessarily means that the interaction process between
the researcher and the participant ought to be acknowledged and incorporated
for the design and conduction of the interviews. Direct engagement with the
affective dimension of the urban struggles is absolutely necessary in order to
DFFHVV DQG UHWULHYH LPSRUWDQW LQIRUPDWLRQ 6SHFLÀFDOO\ WKLV LV DOO WKH PRUH
important with regards to being able, and willing, to engage in the dynamic
construction of a mutual identity that occurs during the interviews (like it also
happens in any conversation). Can the research (and the researcher), maintain
their previous identity untainted under these circumstances ?
I would argue both yes and no. Engagement requires and produces certain
vicinity, encounter and understanding of the participants’ problems, claims,
experiences and discoveries. However, it does not need to come with the price
of blindness or uncritical judgement. On the contrary, proper engagement with
the object and subjects of research, while acknowledging that transformation of
the researcher that comes along, is the best guarantee for a fully situated and
UHÁHFWLYHYRLFH
Data and Participants

Survey.
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participants to social mobilization undergo an emotional transition and an
accompanying change in spatial perception. To that effect, I had to address a
wide enough sample with people who had participated in social mobilizations
and people who had not. Therefore, and given the recent widespread atmosphere
RIVRFLDOPRELOL]DWLRQLQWKHFLW\WKHGHÀQHGWDUJHWSRSXODWLRQRIWKHVXUYH\ZHUH
the urban population of Madrid. The participants in the survey were reached
through a variety of means. One of the most successful forms of gathering
UHVSRQVHVIURPDYDULHW\RISURÀOHVZDVWRDVNSDUWLFLSDQWVWRDVVLVWLQWKHVHDUFK
The procedure was the following: I attended a demonstration organized by
353
platforms or collectives related to the 15M, I addressed individuals attending
that demonstration. To those who were interested and willing to complete the
survey, I additionally asked them to share it with people who did not participate
in these kinds of mobilizations. Some survey responses were therefore collected
by hand in the demonstration while some were received by e-mail to an email
address created for that purpose.
Despite these were events unfolded in the centre of Madrid, they addressed the
ZKROHRIFLYLFVRFLHW\DQGERUHVLJQLÀFDQFHDQGV\PEROLVPZHOOEH\RQGWKHVFDOH
RIWKHLUGHÀQHGSDUFRXUV0RUHRYHUWKHVHDFWLRQVDOVRJDWKHUHGODUJHQXPEHUV
of people from the whole region, sometimes the whole country. Therefore, the
chances to get respondents from a variety of origins were enhanced.
A total number of 147 responses were collected. Out of these, 19 were invalid
or incomplete. The method of sampling was quota and convenience sampling
following the procedure described above. While this does not constitute a
representative sample, I believe that the number of answers nevertheless
guarantees, if not certainty, at least an acceptable solid tendency in the
responses. Moreover, the objective of the survey is not to prove that their results
are universal, but to prove that this phenomenon of emotional transition and
DFFRPSDQ\LQJFKDQJHVLQVSDWLDOSHUFHSWLRQH[LVWVLQVLJQLÀFDQWPDQQHU,IWKLVLV
a particularity of the participants, the kinds of events or the qualities of Madrid’s
urban space alone, it is not known.
Interviews.
+HUHWKHWDUJHWSRSXODWLRQZDVPRUHQDUURZO\GHÀQHG$IWHUWKHUHVXOWVRIWKH
survey, I decided to focus on participants to events of social mobilization. However,
VLQFH WKH UHVHDUFK TXHVWLRQV DV ZHOO DV WKH FRPSOHPHQWDU\ ÀQGLQJV IURP WKH
previous studies indicated, it was important to address other more latent forms
of contention. Also, the complementary empirical studies presented in chapters
3.2 and 3.3 focused on the neighbourhood of Malasaña. Those reasons made a
logical conclusion to choose to address primarily participants of Patio Maravillas.
These participants are often also members and participants of other platforms,
associations or collectives closely related to Patio Maravillas. I made contact with
these participants through personal acquaintances and through the mailing lists
DQGVRFLDOPHGLDSDJHV7KHÀQDOOLVWRISDUWLFLSDQWV\LHOGHGVRPHYDOLG
full interviews.
7KHVHLQWHUYLHZVZHUHFRQGXFWHGLQDVHPLGLUHFWLYHPDQQHU 7D\ORU %RJGDQ

7KHREMHFWLYHZDVWRVXJJHVWJHQHUDOWRSLFVDQGUHVSHFWWKHQDWXUDOÁRZ
of discourse in the answers of participants. This proved highly valuable for some
participants raised issues not foreseen in advance. Therefore, even though the
interviews followed a certain loose general guide and list of topics, they also
remained exploratory. This has helped to build up a theoretical and interpretative
frame more respectful to the voices and topics of the participants. In other words,
respecting the voice and the stories of the participants produced a resulting set of
354
variables and relations which combined a top-down theory derived design, with
an emergent bottom-up network of topics. For more information on the precise
tools and sequence of the analysis, please see section on Methodology in section
3.4.2.
Language and Translation

The interviews were recorded while being conducted in Spanish, then translated
and transcribed simultaneously by the author using Dragon Naturally Speaking
dictation software. The translations have been then checked and often corrected
by two researchers with native knowledge of Spanish and high professional
command of English language. I have given special attention to the translation of
language terms describing or denoting emotion or broader affective phenomena.
For that purpose, I have translated the emotion words from Spanish into English
using the Emotion Lexicon developed by the team of Scherer and colleagues.4
This lexicon consists of 129 lexical labels for affective states and emotions in
English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
$SSHQGL[)/DEHOVGHVFULELQJDIIHFWLYHVWDWHVLQÀYHPDMRUODQJXDJHV,Q.56FKHUHU (G
(1988). Facets of emotion: Recent research (pp. 241-243). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [Version revised
by the members of the Geneva Emotion Research Group]. Copy retrieved [01.01.2014] from
http://www.unige.ch/fapse/emotion/resmaterial/resmaterial.html
Tools and Measures
For this research, I borrow diverse methodological tools from different works on
emotion and spatial perception research. These tools are summoned due to their
VSHFLÀFXVHWRWDFNOHWKHUHVHDUFKTXHVWLRQV
Firstly, I conduct an emotional dimensional analysis, based on the analysis of words

collected through both methods of self-report, as well as through interviews. In
both cases I have primed language as a method of feeling expression for its long-
standing use in research and the well-developed methods that make it a reliable
source. While for the survey I have constrained the options of emotion words to
a preselected list, in the case of the interviews I have primed the undirected self-
expression and choice of words by the participants.
For the methods of analysis, I recur to the body of work developed by Scherer
and colleagues over the last decades. This body of work, even if not fully attuned
with the enactive approach, is nevertheless of unavoidable relevance. Clearly,
one of the most useful aspects of the Component Process Model of Emotions
(Scherer, 2005) is the conception of emotion and affective phenomena as a
process and not as states. This idea, coherent with enactive approach of this
thesis, is supported by a series of other related works carried out over the years.
355
The assessment of the emotional dimension includes valence, arousal, and
control. Of special relevance to this aim is the body of work of which a synthetic
YHUVLRQ LV SXEOLVKHG DV ©&RPSRQHQWV RI (PRWLRQDO 0HDQLQJ $ 6RXUFHERRNª
(Fontaine, Scherer, & Soriano, 2013). This work has highlighted the primacy of
the dimensions of valence, intensity and control as the most relevant.
The dimension of control, contextualized in the analysis of the interviews by a

broad qualitative assessment of the whole body of testimonies, stands as a proxy
for action tendencies. This way, the particular stance towards space is revealed
and analysed.
In their research, they used GRID paradigm to improve and further validate, the
Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW), a previous and solid tool for emotion assessment
designed for self-report5 measure of feelings.
5 . Emotion researchers use various paradigms and formats for self-report. Apart from the GEW,
these include
Methods of self-report emotion assessment
The process of asking directly the participants in a study to describe their own
feelings is criticized by Scherer (Fontaine et al., 2013), for people differ with
respect to their verbal ability and richness of vocabulary (e.g. Gohm & Clore,
7KLVUHQGHUVLWGLIÀFXOWWRFRPSDUHUHSRUWVDFURVVLQGLYLGXDOVRUWRUHO\
on their accuracy. For this reason, Scherer comments, psychologists choose to
use forced-choice self-reports.6 However, the information gathered through this
process might be of great value, especially if the objective is to understand the
LQWHUUHODWLRQ RI VXK IHHOLQJV ZLWK D FHUWDLQ ZRUOG YLHZ FRQÀJXUDWLRQ WKDW PD\
explain behaviour.
An alternative method is the dimensional approach. First developed by

psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1897), who relied on introspection to develop a
structural description of subjective feelings.7 The method assesses feelings through
their relative position in a three-dimensional space formed by the dimensions of
valence (positive-negative), arousal (calm-excited), and tension (tense-relaxed).
Most of the current models of this method favour a two-dimensional composition
of valence and arousal
One of the downsides of this method is precisely constraining the answers to the
degree of positive or negative feeling and the degree of felt bodily excitation.
As Scherer points, this does not allow to differentiate intensity of feeling from
356
bodily excitation, being two clearly different constructs.8 For obvious reasons,
any reducing positions in a multidimensional space to a two-dimensional
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ ZLOO PDNH LW GLIÀFXOW WR GLIIHUHQWLDWH EHWZHHQ FHUWDLQ HPRWLRQV
that score similar, like sadness and depression or grief. Another disadvantage is
WKDWWKHVHUHVXOWVDUHGLIÀFXOWWRFRPPXQLFDWH9.
6 . There are two major approaches: (1) the discrete emotion labels approach, and (2) the dimen-
sional rating approach
7 . Scherer further notes that this proposal has had a strong impact, both on the measurement of
feeling (e.g. Schlosberg, 1954) and on the assessment of emotional connotations of language con-
cepts in general (e.g. Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957).
8 . “For example, while intense anger is likely to be characterized by high arousal, intense sadness is
often characterized by very low arousal. Thus, mild sadness and intense sadness could not be differ-
entiated based on a valence x arousal space alone, as the arousal level is low in both cases”.
9 . “It would seem very strange to tell someone that I feel 2.3 positive and 1.6 aroused”.
The Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW) (See FIG: 3.4._a2
Geneva Wheel of Emotions,
v3.0
Source: CISA 2015
In order to facilitate self-report during interviews and surveys, I make use of the 357
Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW). The GEW was designed to combine a discrete
and a dimensional approach in the self-report assessment of emotion. It is
composed of circular arrangement of discrete emotion terms (based on theory)
in two-dimensional space. It has been designed according to the following design
criteria (Scherer, 2005):
1 Two dimensions form the underlying structure of the instrument-

VALENCE and Control/POWER.
2 The instrument uses standard emotion labels from natural languages to
capitalize on respondents’ intuitive understanding of the semantic field of
emotion terms.
3 Emotion terms are displayed in a systematic fashion by aligning them
with respect to the underlying dimensional structure
4 The instrument allows the systematic assessment of the intensity of
feeling.
5 The instrument’s user-friendly graphical design allows the respondent
to rapidly understand the principle and use the instrument in a reliable
fashion.
FIG: 3.4._a1
Geneva Wheel of Emotions,
v3.0
Source: CISA 2015
Relevant aspects in the resulting GEW
1 Choice of dimension. Scherer and colleagues decided to use a two-dimensional

358
affect space including the dimensions of valence (based on pleasantness and
goal conduciveness appraisals) and power/ potency/control (based on coping
potential appraisals) to organize the discrete emotion labels to be measured by
the GEW (see Fontaine et al., 2013, p. 284)
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FULWHULD© KDYLQJEHHQIUHTXHQWO\XVHGLQSDVWUHVHDUFK WRHQVXUHWKHLUXWLOLW\
in the assessment instrument). (2) covering most of the regions or segments of
the two-dimensional space (to be able to map most positions in affective space),
and (3) affording an arrangement of the terms around the rim of the wheel in
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7KHDXWKRUVQRWHWKDWWKLVDUUDQJHPHQWÀQDOO\SURGXFHVDUHVXOWWKDWUHVHPEOHV
the emotion distribution in Plutchik’s (1980) emotion circumplex color wheel,
despite the different origin of his adaptation- oriented basic emotions theories
(Fontaine et al., 2013, p. 284).
Geneva Affect Label Coder (GALC)
GALC proposes to recognize 36 affective states commonly distinguished by
words in natural languages by parsing text data bases for these words and their
synonyms (searching for roots of the words). All classes and the synonyms used
are based on thesauri for English, French, and German.10
The category terms (in GALC) have been chosen as category descriptors on
the assumption that they denote the central meaning of a fuzzy category
that is implied by a much larger number of established words or popular
expressions, including metaphors. The underlying assumption of the current
approach is that the occurrence in verbal reports of any label or expression
considered as being part of the family of affective states (denoted by an
overarching category label) can be taken as evidence for the presence of
DIHHOLQJVWDWHWKDWLVFORVHO\DVVRFLDWHGZLWKWKHIX]]\FDWHJRU\LGHQWLÀHG
by the central concept. I selected the terms that constitute synonyms, near
synonyms, or related emotion family members of the category labels based
on extensive comparison of dictionary and thesaurus entries in English,
*HUPDQDQG)UHQFK HDFKFDWHJRU\UHSUHVHQWHGE\WKHÀUVWWHUPLQ
the row11, is indexed by a number of roots for adjectives or nouns denoting
a related emotional state. Scherer, (2005, pp. 695-729).
I use the Geneva Affect Label Coder to double check the compliance of the
free responses of participants to the questions of the semi-directive interviews.
Since participants are entitled and encouraged to respond to the questions of
359
the interview with their own voice and using their own expression, these raises
the question of the interpretation of such responses by the researchers. This is
especially important for the answers of natural language often combine and
articulate complex emotional processes (often ambivalent) and intricate and
nuanced contexts of personal interpretation.
)RUDPRUHGHWDLOHGGLVFXVVLRQRIWKHGHYHORSPHQWRI*$/&VHH6FKHUHU.5 :KDWDUH

emotions? And how should they be measured? Social Science Information, 44(4), 695-729. GALC
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11 IN annex
Content and Discourse Analysis.
The analysis of the interviews combined quantitative analysis, content analysis
and qualitative interpretative analysis, and was intertwined with a constant
reiteration for explanation and contextualization.
Apart from recent spatial and affective turns in social sciences, which are of
accrued relevance for this thesis, the also recent turn to language cast its own
GLVWLQFWLQÁXHQFHXSRQWKLVUHVHDUFK2QHRIWKHPDLQFRQVHTXHQFHRIVXFKWXUQ
is that language is no simply accepted as descriptive of the world, but as a social
activity that constructs the world. This view is embraced for its coincidence on
the constructionist with an enactive approach favoured for this research.
Analysis of spatial perception.

Egocentric-allocentric language.
For the analysis of spatial perception, I have resorted to the analysis of
terminology related to spatial positioning and indicative of spatial engagement.
)RU WKDW SXUSRVH , UHIHU WR WKH GHÀQLWLRQ RI HJRFHQWULF DQG DOORFHQWULF XVH LQ
discourse about space as explored by Tversky (1996) and others (Golledge, Gale,
Pellegrino, & Doherty, 1992; Shelton & Mcnamara, 1997)
In an egocentric perspective, objects are represented or described with

respect to the body, using terms like front, back, left, and right. In an
allocentric perspective, objects are represented or described with respect
360
to each other, using an environmental frame of reference such as north–
south–east–west. Indeed, people often spontaneously choose allocentric
perspectives to describe environments, even those experienced only from
exploration (e.g., Taylor & Tversky, 1996).
Tversky and Hardt (2009) have noted that while egocentric perspective pervades
most classical theories of spatial cognition (Golledge et al., 1992; Shelton &
Mcnamara, 1997) other representations of space are necessary for the purpose
of navigating the world. Also, if we want to communicate about such navigation
and describe spatial features, locations or routes, we need to be able to adopt
other perspectives. The allocentric perspective has arisen from studies where
individuals have shown to form multiple representations of space in the encounter
of an environment (Graziano & Gross, 1994; Mou, McNamara, Valiquette, &
Rump, 2004).
My own use of this element of discourse for referring to space is primarily

intended to capture the degree of self-involvement and sense of appropriation
of the space by participants, and not only their navigating descriptive language.
Emotion analysis. Additional tools
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Service12 as a way of double-check and control my qualitative reading of the
text. Additionally, I have used this tool in order to become aware of the overall
emotional tonality in the text.
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detect three types of tones from text: emotion, social tendencies, and language
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traits used by some psychologists. These include openness, conscientiousness,
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FIG: 3.4._a3
"(% Galc Affectcategories.
Source: CISA 2015
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3.4.1 Study Emotion 1
- Survey 363
3.4.1.1 Research Design and Methodology
Survey Design
The survey consists of 5 sections with a total of 36 questions.137KHÀUVWVHFWLRQ

deals with the level of civic and political participation, as well as with the
agreement and sympathy with 15M participants and their reasons. The second
section deals directly with the feelings of respondents with regards the social
situation before the 15M. The total estimated time for the completion of the
survey is 12 minutes.
I have chosen to introduce the 15M as the event that marks a before and an after
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event of these last years by researchers and by public opinion.
The questions are designed to capture the spontaneous and free response by the
participants. However, since the survey aimed at answering precise questions,
it is directive and requests participants to choose from pre-selected categories
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To that aim I decided to allow for few free response answers intercalated in the
survey. The objective is to reduce certain factor of frustration that arises when
respondents are constrained to choose from preselected answers on topics that 365
elicit strong memories and personal stories. This was reported by respondents
from the test survey phase. While certain biases might still be introduced by the
design of the questions, I have favoured simple straight forward language that
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The survey is slightly longer that the optimal length currently suggested by
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motivation or involvement was certainly key for respondents to engage with
this survey. For that reason, convenience sampling, asking very committed
participants in a demonstration to pass on the survey to their friends and family
ensured that certain level of answers, as well as the participation. This aspect
might also be behind the over-representation of certain postcodes in the survey
results.
,FRQVLGHUWKDWWKHVXUYH\ZRXOGVWLOOUHTXLUHIXUWKHUUHÀQHPHQW,QSDUWLFXODUWKH
length should be reduced, avoiding certain redundancy in questions.
3.4.1.2 Results
In this section I present a summary of selected results fomr the survey. The results
are grouped by the themes structuring the survey. Additional information, such as
the full descriptive statistics can be found in the Annex 3.4 (Scores for emotions).
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13 . See Annex 3.4. for a copy of the survey used in this study.
Political and Civic Participation
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366
Perception of overall and local situation

Potential and Capacities
Change of Perception. City
367
Other Information
2.2 How would you describe your feelings about it?
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Participation in 15M and agreement/sympathy for the movement.
The general scores in perception of the overall situation a feeling of impotence/
incapability before 15M arguably show the perceived strength and violence of
WKHFULVLVDWOHDVWLQWKHDSSUDLVDOVDQG©PHQWDOUHSUHVHQWDWLRQDOQDUUDWLYHVªRI
participants.
Perception of the local situation and offer of opportunities in the neighbourhood

before 15M
Types of emotion transition: generally bad (negative valence) to good (positive

valence). I consider this to be expected given the general social context where
these events of social mobilization took place.
Regarding the perception of the overall situation and feeling of impotence/

incapability after 15M, most participants reported a clear improvement in the
overall situation. In addition, they reported as a very noticeable change in the
perception of their own capacities to overcome the original bad situation of crisis.
With regards to the perception of the local situation and offer of opportunities in
the neighbourhood after 15M,
370
Change of perception of the city. This category registers perhaps one of the most
spectacular scores. While It was initially expected to
Information on respondants.
Sex.
Working Status.
Postcodes of Residence
Postcodes of Work
Age
3.4.1.3 Findings and Discussion
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The results are presented with regards to the main objectives of the survey
and not developed into a comprehensive analysis of all the possible angles of
analysis. The information provided by the answers are rich and in many ways
VXUSDVVH[SHFWDWLRQV7KHPDLQÀQGLQJVFRQÀUPWKHUHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQOHYHO
and degree of participation to activities of urban political contention (activities
contained within the concept of New Urban Practices) and a fundamental change
LQVSDWLDOSHUFHSWLRQ7KHVHÀQGLQJVSURYLGHDQVZHUVWRWKHUHVHDUFKTXHVWLRQV
ZKLFKPRUHRYHUFRQÀUPWKHLQWXLWLRQVRIWKHGHSDUWXUHRIWKLVWKHVLV
The results portray a clear indication of emotional transition over the course
of the last years and in relation to the participation in contentious actions.
Moreover, it is to be noted that this emotional transition is accrued in those
who have participated more actively, arguably as these actions accumulate and
cluster to form a climate of social mobilization. This is interesting as it seems
to indicate that the emotional engagement does not respond to the eliciting
HYHQW DORQH LI ZH GHÀQH HOLFLWLQJ HYHQW LQ WKH VWULFW DQG QDUURZ VHQVH WKDW LV
implied in currently wide-spread models of emotions, like Scherer’s [2005]
&30 ,WLPSOLHVLQVWHDGWKDWWKHRYHUDOOFOLPDWHRIVRFLDOXQUHVWGRHVLQÁXHQFH
the levels of emotional engagement. This is, on the other hand, consistent with 371
recent empirical evidence: “The context in which an emotionally engaging
VWLPXOXV LV H[SHULHQFHG FDQ LQÁXHQFH WKH SDWWHUQ DQG GHJUHH RI HQJDJHPHQW
with that experience”(Marci, 2006). In that case, the combined effect of repeated
participation and the accumulation of levels of arousal over time challenge
SUHYLRXVDWWHPSWVDWFRQWDLQLQJWKHGHÀQLWLRQRIZKDWWKHHOLFLWLQJHYHQWLV
A crucial point here is to differentiate between what the punctual conditions of

collective arousal14, which de Rivera (1992) has termed emotional atmosphere,
form the more pervasive emotional climate (de Rivera, 1992; Páez, 2006).
“Unlike emotional atmospheres, which depend on group members focusing
on a particular event, emotional climates involve the relationships between
group members” (de Rivera & Páez, 2007). The results of the survey suggest,
in combination with the results from the previous empirical studies, that an
HPRWLRQDO FOLPDWH PLJKW LQGHHG LQÁXHQFH QRW RQO\ VRFLDO FRJQLWLRQ DQG VRFLDO
interaction, but also spatial perception and even projective spatial capacities.
In regards to spatial perception, there are two main relevant aspects to consider
in connection with this relation between positive emotions and tendency to
perceive space in terms of potential. First, it regards the accompaniment of
positive emotions with a more proactive and positive attitude that might facilitate
1RWHWKDWGHÀQLWLRQVYDU\DQGVRPHWLPHVEHFRQWUDGLFWRU\EHWZHHQGLVFLSOLQHV,Q+XPDQ
Computer Interaction for Alves-Oliveira, Sequeira, Tullio, Petisca, & Guerra, 2015) propose that
HPRWLRQDOFOLPDWHFDQEHGHÀQHGDFFRUGLQJWRWKHYDOHQFHVWDWHRIDJURXSOHYHOHPRWLRQDWDJLYHQ
WLPH)RUWKHPHPRWLRQDOFOLPDWHLVWKHHTXLYDOHQWRIZKDWGH5LYHUDDQG3iH]GHÀQHDVHPRWLRQDO
atmosphere.
the perception of equal spatial conditions as better, or at least, bearing more
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DVUHVHDUFKHUVKDYHRWKHUZLVHVWDWHGWKHSHUYDVLYHLQÁXHQFHRIHPRWLRQLQRXU
different types of perception, such as spatial perception (Stefanucci, Gagnon &
/HVVDUG ZRUNLQJPHPRU\ +XU,RUGDQ'ROFRV %HUHQEDXP DQG
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Accordingly, the scores of the emotions expressed by participants engaged in

participation show an important change not only in valence (how good or bad an
emotion feels) but also in terms of conduciveness and power/control (the actual
stance towards the control of the events and the feelings linked to the situation).
Secondly, theory supports the evidence of positive emotions being connected

to a social dimension in humans (Fredrickson, 2004; Waugh & Fredrikson,
2006). Moreover, evidence suggests that emotions promote social interaction
(Nummenmaa et al., 2012). However, recently researchers are going further to
suggest that joy in humans has evolved as to being connected to social interaction
(Valiant 2012). Valiant (2012) contends that joy, as opposed to pleasure, which
holds the key to our social tendencies. In his opinion, joy is all about the self,
DQGLWVUHDOUROHLVIDUIURPWKHPRWWRRI´SOHDVXUHLVKRZWKHVHOÀVKJHQHEHFDPH
HPSDWKLFRUJHQHURXVª15, which some theories have popularized in recent times.
Happiness, according to Valiant, is all about you, usually in time present. It is
372
associated with the alleviation or overcoming of a feeling of discomfort and
the sudden, which elicits feelings of well-being. Valiant contends that joy, on
WKHRWKHUVLGHLV©YHU\GLIÀFXOWWRIHHOZLWKRXWWKHSUHVHQFHRIDQRWKHUSHUVRQª
(George Valiant, 2012), making it essentially a social emotion.
In the overall results from the survey the scores of happiness beat those of
joy. This contradicts my initial expectations for higher scores in joy due to the
theorized sociality dimension of participation in the studied mobilizations. Such
observation prompted me to enquire about this in the interviews. The result then
FODULÀHGWKLV+DSSLQHVVFDQEHFRQVLGHUHGDPRUHUHÁHFWLYHIHHOLQJWKHQXVXDOO\
made use of for explanations and narrative reconstructions of positive events.
There, when asked to describe those feelings of happiness, most participants
refer to the relief from the negative feelings they had prior to participation in
Patio or 15M. After researching in more depth with some participants, they
actually contextualize and justify their happiness due to an overall situation.
To conclude, I observe that the limitations of this survey are several. First, the
survey only covers certain aspects linked to the participation in Madrid, without
control for the bias that culture, language and context might provide. Therefore,
the results of the survey cannot be extrapolated to other contexts but with the
KLJKHVW RI FDXWLRQV 7KH UHVXOWV DUH XVHIXO WR FRQÀUP WKDW LQ WKH FRQWH[W RI
Madrid’s exceptional climate of social contestation between 2011 and 2015, a
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15 . in reference to R. Dawkins theories

states and in their perception of the city.
Outlook.
The survey results point in an interesting direction for future research. In
SDUWLFXODUWKHUHVXOWVDERXWSDUWLFXODUSURÀOHVRISDUWLFLSDQWVLQWHUPVRIGHJUHH
of civic and political participation are promising, but due to the scarcity of the
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trajectories.
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would add to more certainty and surely discover relationships that have passed
XQQRWLFHGLQWKLVVXEVWXG\0RUHVSHFLÀFDOO\,FRQVLGHUPRVWUHOHYDQWWRGHHSHQ
RXUXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIDVSHFWVUHODWHGWRSURÀOHVRISROLWLFDOSDUWLFLSDWLRQ16 and
urban lifestyles17WRJHWKHUZLWKWKHSURÀOHVRIHPRWLRQDOWUDQVLWLRQDQGVSDWLDO
perception transition.
373
16 . as developed by P. Ekman. See (Ekman & Amnå, 2012)

17 . as developed by the team at LASUR laboratory. See
3.4.2 Study Emotion 2
- Interviews 375
3.4.2.1 Introduction
While it may seem obvious or self-explanatory, the choice to analyse the
relationship between experience of emotional episodes and change in spatial
perception through the discursive dimension of language remains a non-trivial
one. I have chosen to pursue this line of enquiry in manner complementary to
considering a more minute analysis of emotional terminology in the preceding
section 3.5.1, for reasons of intellectual coherence and triangulation of enquiry
methods. As mentioned throughout the thesis, the consideration of space,
affective phenomena and other important elements in this research through the
categories of action and practice, is echoed in this section by an analysis of the
discursive practices of participants and sympathizers of Patio Maravillas. This
analysis explores the performative dimension of language with regards to affect,
spatial conception, and individual and collective identity.
Language as a symbolic system for communication is seen as a central focus

of the research endeavour of social sciences in order to better understand the
VRFLDO UHDOP 7KHUH VHHPV WR EH YHU\ IHZ ÀHOGV RI DFDGHPLF UHVHDUFK WKDW FDQ
escape the need to tackle language and clarify its relation with it. The study
of emotional processes and even one could say of affective and cognitive
SKHQRPHQD LQ JHQHUDO LV FRQIURQWHG ZLWK WKH GLIÀFXOW WDVN RI DYRLGLQJ GLUHFW
376 correspondence between language as a tool for cognition and communication
and the reality (phenomena) it is referred to. The overcoming of this very issue
RIFRUUHVSRQGHQFHKDVSURYHGDGLIÀFXOWEXWQHFHVVDU\FDXWLRQZKHQDSSURDFKLQJ
such emotionally charge topic of research.
In fact, according to Graham R Gibbs18 one of the main postulates of this turn of
attention to language is that language as a human activity overpasses the simple
aspect of being descriptive of the world. In fact, as it is increasingly understood
within humanities and social sciences, language is, at least19, co-constitutive
of reality and of the world. Moreover, as language can be constitutive of our
vision of the world and our understanding of our role in it, the connotations
for unveiling processes underlying our conception, construction, practice and
of space seem of utmost importance. With this study, I have search to engage
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assure the interest in continuing this line of research.
18 . see: https://youtu.be/F5rEy1lbvlw)
19 . I do not elaborate on debates and polemics around whether language is actually prior to the
construction of the world or actually reality and language are mutually constitutive, that is they are
entangled in a way that both occur irremediably at the same time
3.4.2.2 Research Design
This sub-study has been approached through the recollection of testimonies
of participants to the Polyvalent Social Space Patio Maravillas. In total, 27
individuals were interviewed.
Selection of subjects.
As with many social movements and civic platforms, Patio Maravillas is not
D FORVHG FRPPXQLW\ ,W KDV EHHQ GHÀQHG E\ LWV SDUWLFLSDQWV DV DQ RSHQ DQG
permeable platform that seeks to reach out to many groups (collectives as they
WKHPVHOYHVGHÀQHWKHVHJURXSV DQGLQGLYLGXDOVWKDWPD\VKDUHDYHU\EURDGVHW
of ideas. Or who might just need a space for self-organized nonpolitical activities.
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DJHOHYHORIIRUPDOHGXFDWLRQDQGVRFLRHFRQRPLFVWDWXV7KHVHSURÀOHVDUHDOVR
different in terms of degrees of participation and experience and participation
to political or civic movements. It is precisely this quality that renders it all the
more worthwhile for the sake of studying the genesis of new forms of practising
and conceiving the city, which is the purpose of this thesis.
However, the more or less loose community formed around the activities and
parlours of Patio Maravillas does not reach total genericness, which would
377
The Interview Guide.
Parts. Themes. Emotions ( as process) Spatial perception ( as process)

Focus on emotional transition Focus on changes in spatial perception and
perception of potentials ( affordances)
Part 1. Previous Parcours and First Contact with Patio M.

1.1 Previous degree of politica l participation and civic engagement. Emotions prior How did the city appear,in terms of spaces
1.2 First contact with Patio Maravillas. Emotions from first encounter/particiption Diff. between physical space and total space
Part 2. Practices Emotions and practice: punctual or latent Perception of context

Kinds of activities With regards to oneself The space of the practice itself
- Degree of latency and incorporation into everyday acctivities With regards to others Incorporation into life-space (field)
Kinds of groups, people Facilitating or hindering actions
New circles, new dynamics. Connectivity and communication
Connectivity
Part 3. Space. Evolution of emotions Perception of the spaces

Beginnings Emotions in relation to specific events Evolution perception of the neighbourhood
The use of the building - Threats
Integration into the neighbourhood, and the city - Conquest
Support/content - Integration
Part 4. Model of City

Participation
Governance
Design
How their model compares to hegemonic views
Scale
(See FIG: 3.4.2_a_ LQHYLWDEO\UHVXOWLQGHÀQLWLRQDQGLUUHOHYDQFH$UJXDEO\LWKDVDFTXLUHGLWVRZQ
Interview Guide.
distinctive shape and intentions, message and political power. I argue that this
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among which, discursive practices.
Selection of Population Sample. Criteria

For the selection of the subjects that constitute my sample of the population,
, UHVRUWHG WR ÀOWHU FDQGLGDWHV DFFRUGLQJ WR WZR GLIIHUHQW FULWHULD QDPHO\ OHYHO
of previous political participation and civic engagement, and urban lifestyle.
7KHVHFULWHULDZHUHLQWURGXFHGLQRUGHUWRFRQWUROIRUWKHLQÁXHQFHWKDWSUHYLRXV
political participation and civic engagement, as well their urban lifestyle might
FDVWXSRQWKHFRJQLWLYHIUDPHVDQGSUHGHÀQHGYDOXHVFKHPHV
7KH ÀUVW FULWHULRQ OHYHO RI SUHYLRXV SROLWLFDO DQG FLYLF SDUWLFLSDWLRQ LV EDVHG
upon a taxonomy adapted from Ekman and Amnå (2012). The second criterion,
urban lifestyles, is aimed at capturing the previous spatial practices, values
DQG FRJQLWLYH IUDPHV ,W LV DQ DGDSWHG DQG VLPSOLÀHG JULG DULVLQJ IURP WKH
categorization done by Marie Paul Thomas (2011) at Lasur laboratory in EPFL.
These criteria for selection could only be applied in an incomplete manner due
to lack of comprehensive information on the participants, as well as the limited
number of respondents. In addition, the selection criteria were applied to the
VDPSOHDFKLHYHGE\PHDQVRIDFRQYHQLHQFH©VQRZEDOOªVDPSOLQJ20 which served
378
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7KH ÀUVW JURXS FRQVLVWV RI LQGLYLGXDOV ZKR KDYH ORQJ EHHQ SDUWLFLSDWLQJ WR
Patio Maravillas and have clearly politicized and militant opinions. Moreover,
these individuals seem to also converge in urban lifestyles in broader sense.
The individuals were selected. The second group are people who might have
previous political awareness, but who were not actively engaged in any activity
nor organized group prior to 15M. This group typically starts a phase of more
active engagement and participation in and after 15M. Their urban lifestyles
YDU\JUHDWO\DVZHOODVLQWHUPVRIDJHDQGGHJUHHRI©FRVPSROLWL]DWLRQª21 some
\RXQJHUSURÀOHVEHLQJKLJKO\PRELOHDQGFRVPRSROLWDQZKLOHRWKHUVUHPDLQLQJ
PRUHÀ[HGDQGFXOWXUDOO\ORFDO
In addition, a small group (6) of these participants selected for the interviews
are currently members of the City Council and sit at the Municipal Government
at the highest level under the major. They are members of the winning political
coalition Ahora Madrid (Now Madrid).
Access to subjects.
The access to the subjects was achieved through two means. Firstly, direct
HDFKSDUWLFLSDQWVHOHFWHGWHOOVPHRISRWHQWLDOFDQGLGDWHVWKDWIXOÀOWKHFULWHULDDQGVHUYHVDVDQ
intermediary in the establishing of contact and invitation to participate.
21 . referred to the number of languages they speak, if they have lived abroad and how much they
think they follow trends through international media.
contact with a given number of highly engaged and central participants gave the
opportunity to reach to a wider community thanks to their personal contact. Once
these second degree of participants contacted me expressing their availability I
FRQGXFWHGDÀUVWVHULHVRITXHVWLRQVWRDVVHVVWKHLUVXLWDELOLW\ZLWKUHJDUGVWRWKH
GHÀQHGWDUJHWJURXS
Secondly, a series of messages and advertisements were posted in social media

groups and mailing lists used by the participants and related groups. In these
messages, the main broad requirements, as well as the main broad characteristics
of the study, were stated. Several participants then contacted me directly,
expressing their availability. I then conducted with these subjects the same
ÀOWHULQJVHWRITXHVWLRQVWRDVVHVVIRUWKHLUVXLWDELOLW\ZLWKUHVSHFWWRWKHGHÀQHG
target groups.
Interview Design.
The interviews were conducted in semi-structured manner (Clifford, Cope,
Gillespie, & French, 2016). In concrete terms this means that I developed a
guide with the main issues to be discussed. This guide only contains an initial
elaboration of this issues to be formulated in precise questions at the moment of
each interview.
The order of the questioning varied from interview to interview depending on the
379
path that the participant was taking with her answers and if interesting arising
SRLQWVMXVWLÀHGDQHOOLSVLVRUGHWRXU*LYHQWKHVHQVLWLYHDQGGHOLFDWHDVSHFWRI
many of the issues treated in the interviews, as well as the atmosphere of trust
necessary for talking about emotions, I gave priority to facilitating the natural
ÁRZRIYRLFHRIWKHSDUWLFLSDQWV,WZDVLPSRUWDQWWRJLYHWKHPVSDFHDQGWLPH
for starting their narrative and develop their answers into the message they want
WRFRQYH\7KHDWWHQWLRQWRWKHVHGHWDLOVUHÁHFWVLQWKHGLIIHUHQWSDUFRXUVRIHDFK
interview. In some cases, few of the topics were not tackled in the same depth
and length, and exceptionally few aspects were not touched at all.
Fetr some tests of pilot models of interview structures, I decided to apply a

structure that would allow to rise questions on emotions and feeling, as well as
on spatial perception along the whole interview. Therefore, the interview was
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City . In addition two transversal categories, emotions and spatial perceptions
apply to the four sections, emerging as particular detailed questions when
something of interest arises or these aspects have not been explicitly addressed.
§ (HERE The interview guide.)
Analysis.
Some preliminary analyses were conducted between interviews with the purpose
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planned to last of 1hour approximately, had varied durations between 47 min
and 1:37 min due to a variety of contingent factors. During each interview
session, I took notes on the most important issues coming out in the interview,
as well as the body language used by the participants. Once the interviews were
completed, formal analysis began on the audio recordings and written notes
collected during each participant’s session.
The audio recordings were then transcribed, and translated simultaneously

by me, as well as digitized in word processing software for easier analysis.22
)XOÀOOLQJ WKH UHTXLUHPHQWV HVWDEOLVKHG E\ WKH HWKLFDO UHVHDUFK FRPPLWWHH RI
the EPFL and as agreed upon with the participants, the transcription and notes
were anonymized. All kinds of identifying information, like the names of the
participants were replaced with pseudonyms. However, information about the
locations and the events they referred to was kept intact.
The interviews were introduced in the qualitative Data Analysis Software

0$;4'$$QDO\WLFV3UR237KLVVRIWZDUHLVSURSULHWDU\,WLVVSHFLÀFDOO\GHVLJQ
for qualitative and mixed-methods research.
The process of analysis of the interviews required the interviews to be coded and
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380
ODEHORU©FRGHªWRUHOHYDQWSDVVDJHVRIWKHWH[W,FRQGXFWHGWKLVSURFHVVLQWZR
main steps. First, in order to identify and locate the use of emotional language
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OH[LFDO DQDO\VLV 7KLV IHDWXUH ZDV XVHG WR LQVHUW D VSHFLÀF GLFWLRQDU\ IHDWXULQJ
the vocabulary of emotion words GALC, developed by Scherer and colleagues24.
Second, I performed manual coding for the interviews upon detailed reading.
This process of coding was informed by a mixture of grounded approach (open
coding) and deductive approach (structured or axial coding)25 . In grounded
approach to coding, particular relevant passages or word are coded with a notion
that emerges as interesting from the text and is not applied a priori. The opposite
holds true for the deductive approach (Saldana, 2015).
7KH VRIWZDUH SDFNDJH 0$;4'$ $QDO\WLFV 3UR DOVR LQFOXGHV D VWDWLVWLFDO
package that was used for descriptive statistics for the results of the interviews
as well as for the results of the survey, as explained in the previous sub-study. .
22 . to that purpose, I used Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking software in combination with
Microsoft Word.
23 . Source: www.maxqda.com/
VHH6FKHUHU.5 :KDWDUHHPRWLRQV"$QGKRZVKRXOGWKH\EHPHDVXUHG"6RFLDO6FL-
ence Information, 44(4), 695-729. GALC is available here: www.affective-sciences.org/index.php/
GRZQORDGBÀOHYLHZ
25 see John Schulz (2012)
381
Emotion Words Scores in Interviews
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Code Scores in Interviews

*-.* 6.23 1 .- 3 0 . 5 1 ./
*-/*" 4-3. /- 2 6 . 3 0 4 /
*-0* 5430 .4 1 .0 6 . / 0 2
*-1*%# 3004 3 .. / 5 1 .4 6 5
*-2* 2040 / . 5 ./ . 0 2 .3
*-3* 5550 .2 - . 5 2 / - 3
*-4* .-41 / 6 ./ . . 3 2 .6
*-5" 2/// 3 .. / .6 - /- . ..
*-6* 456/ .. 0 3 .3 . 5 1 ..
*.-*# 303/ .5 2 3 .2 - 5 0 /
*..* % 3110 .- / 6 3 2 / 2 /2
*./* 1503 3 .. / .. 3 6 3 -
*.0*$ 6.23 1 6 3 0 . .- 1 3
*.1* % 3236 .4 . .. 6 . / 6 6
*.2*" 5.35 / 1 .- 6 . 1 - .3
*.3* 4/-0 / 6 6 6 . 3 2 /
*.4*" 3/21 /- .- . . / 0 / .2
*.5* 5--. .1 5 .4 .1 2 1 0 .-
*.6* # 341/ .1 3 5 .6 2 .1 2 .0
*/-* 4156 .4 - .0 6 . / 4 .3
*/.*" 6//6 3 .. / 5 - .. 5 5
/.0 .0- .20 .6- 15 .11 62 /./
384

*-.* (!%"" - 3 6 - 0 - .4 -
*-/*" ## 1 1 1 - 5 - .6 -
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*-4*$ "$ 0 5 4 / - - .4 -
*-5"%"" - 5 - 1 3 - 2 -
*-6* " ( - 4 6 - / . . /
*.-*#' 0 6 1 - 6 - 0 -
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*./*" # 1 3 - 1 . - . -
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*/-*"$ "% 4 /- 6 1 3 - .. -
*/.*"%"# 0 0 1 - .. - .6 -
3. .26 63 5. .-6 3 /45 0.
List of Code for Interviews and Analysis
Codes.
The main axial codes deduced from Other codes were adopted as induct- The results show the codes of Cogni-
theory were structured around the ed from the interviews. These are the tive Extension, Appropriation, Spatial
following categories: following: Involvement as scoring the highest.
1. Extension Awareness Also Affective Extention and different
Cognitive extension Reasons Scaffolding dimensions Trust and
Affective extension Uncertainty Shared, as well as Spatial Openness
Scaffolding Surprise score in a second rank, with clear
_Trust Actions relevance in all interviews.
_ Entrenchment Refuge/Aid/Resource
_Shared Levels of activity
_Activation/more activity
2. Social _Deactivation/less
Connecting and bridging activity
Social economy
3. Space: Projects
Spatial involvement Important/Identity shaping
6SDWLDOFRQÁLFW Moral principles
Space opennes _Responsibility
Space closeness _Ethics
Niche construction _Indignation
Spatial discourse _Respect
Scale Affective community
Appropriation
Spatial detachment
Space (other)
385
Research Ethics.
During the last years in Spain, and especially since the approval and
implementation of the Mordaza law (Law for Citizen Security) in 2013, the
level of police harassment and burorepression for alternative, countercultural
and militant activism has surged spectacularly. It has done so to such levels
that Amnesty International issued a report in 2014 warning of the loss of basic
democratic guarantees in Spain26 (Amnistia Internacional, 2014). This active
level of repression has not only hit activists or militants, but has reached simple
sympathisers and even journalist27 covering certain events and activities (Olivia
&DUEDOODU-DYLHU%DXOX]
In this context, a special attention to ethics is demanded. This, however, does not
LPSO\WRIRUJHWDPRUHJHQHUDOUHÁHFWLRQRQZKDWLWPHDQVWRFRQGXFWUHVHDUFK
on anti-hegemonic and alternative political and cultural movements. In this
case, a delicate equilibrium is necessary in the balance between revealing and
concealing. The choice of case study was made because I am totally persuaded
of its relevance at various levels, and in regards to various historical, disciplinary,
societal and transcultural contexts. This choice brought about the resolution
to reveal, describe and analyse practices, opinions, emotions, thus granting
visibility, valorisation and well as honest criticism to the doings and sayings of
these individuals and groups. On the other hand, there is a need to conceal
certain other aspects of that information. Most of the subjects interviewed did
386
QRWH[SUHVVHGFRQFHUQDERXWTXHVWLRQVRISULYDF\4XLWHRQWKHFRQWUDU\WKHOHYHO
RIWUXVWDQGVKDULQJWKH\VKRZHGDOORZHGIRUWKHQHFHVVDU\FRQÀGHQFHWRUHDFK
delicate and relevant information.
While I have searched to maintain a certain defensible distance to my subjects and

objects of enquiry, and I have not actively engaged in Freire’s Participatory Action
5HVHDUFK 5HDVRQ %UDGEXU\ 2UODQGR )DOV %RUGD IRU WKLV WKHVLV P\
sympathy to their activities and ideas is clear.28 Having said this, I do not consider
that any on their actions and activities to be reproachable and, to my knowledge,
they did not constitute the denial or violation of any fundamental right of any
individual nor sought to damage any person. After some rumination on the
PDWWHU , KDYH GHFLGHG WR KRQRXU WKDW DWPRVSKHUH RI WUXVW DQG FRQÀGHQFH E\
openly exploring and enquiring their most valuable and interesting testimonies,
while preserving their identities in anonymity.
For that purpose, I have decided to change the real names of the interviewees
and to avoid the reproduction of the direct transcription of the full interviews
in the appendices. The treatment of the interviews is not done one by one by
each interviewee, but instead, excerpts are extracted and grouped according to
7KHUHSRUWLVIUHHO\DFFHVVLEOHRQOLQHKWWSVGRFHVDPQHVW\RUJFJLELQDL%56&-
*,VSDSROLFLQJVSDLQB),1$/BHQEDMD"&0' 9(52%- 0-
/.2%
27 . see here for a non-comprehensive list of arrested journalist: https://15mpedia.org/wiki/Lis-
WDBGHBSHULRGLVWDVB\BIRW&%JUDIRVBDJUHGLGRVBUHWHQLGRVBRBGHWHQLGRV
28 . My stance can be englobed under the premises of Action Research (Argyris, Putnam, & Smith,
1985)
WKHPDWLFOLQHVRIHQTXLU\5HJDUGOHVVWRVD\WKLVGRHVQRWLPSHGHWKHLGHQWLÀFDWLRQ
of certain subjects if efforts were to be made, but does exclude direct and easy
recognition.
3.4.2.4 Results
I this section, I present the results of a preliminary analysis of word frequencies,
as well as other measures. At the beginning of each sub-section, I summarize the
PRVWQRWDEOHÀQGLQJV$GLVFXVVLRQRIWKHPHDQLQJDQGUHOHYDQFHRIWKHÀQGLQJV
FDQEHIRXQGLQWKHQH[WVHFWLRQ©)LQGLQJVDQG'LVFXVVLRQª
Emotion words.
The automated coding using MaxDictio rendered the following results for the
use of Galc emotion words by participants. In the total of 21 valid complete
interviews, emotion words are uttered a total of 5114 times. The results show 387
that a overwhelming majority of the participants refer primarily to emotions that
score high in Valence, and which can be rated as positive emotions in colloquial
language.
In fact, positive emotions are present a total of 1370 while negative emotions are
less than half the times present in the interviews (639).
The most recurrent emotion words are:

Happiness 355
Tension/Stress 268
Admiration/Awe 262
Hope 233
Joy 221
Anger 212
%HLQJWRXFKHG
For a discussion of the meaning and relevance of these results, see next section.
Codes.
The main axial codes deduced from theory were structured around the following
top-down categories:
1. Extension (cognitive and affective scaffolding), 2, Social (connecting and
bridging); and 3, Space .Other, codes, however, were adopted as inducted from
the interviews. For a complete list of the codes used, see the List in page 383.
We vs They wordtrees
388
Patio vs Space wordtrees
389
3.4.2.5 Findings and Discussion
7KH SUHVHQW VHFWLRQ HODERUDWHV RQ WKH ÀQGLQJV RI WKLV VWXG\ DURXQG WKHPDWLF
HOHPHQWV ,Q JHQHUDO WHUPV , FDQ VD\ WKDW WKH LQWHUYLHZV UHYHDO ÀUVW D VWURQJ
coocurrence of emotional transition and changes in spatial perception. These
ÀQGLQJV ÀQG DQVZHUV WR WKH UHVHDUFK TXHVWLRQV ZKLFK PRUHRYHU FRQÀUP WKH
intuitions of departure of this thesis.
About Emotions as Appraisals. Aspects of Moral Emotions

2QHLQWHUHVWLQJÀQGLQJLVWKDWPDQ\RIWKHLQLWLDOIHHOLQJVSULRUWRWKH0DQG
which sparked spontaneous mobilization can be said to belong to the realm of
PRUDO HPRWLRQV .HOWQHU +DLGW VXFK DV LQGLJQDWLRQ FRQWHPSW HWF
shame, etc. Not surprisingly, participants constantly refer to these kinds of
emotions when elaborating on then reasons behind their engagement in protests.
These feelings, usually negative, show to be a powerful motor for participation.
However, hey alone cannot explain the unprecedented surge in social mobilization
in Madrid between 2011 and 2015. Other positive emotions and which imply a
strong sociality component, like joy, mingle in the way of the indignant outburst,
also giving birth to new associations of interest, connectivity recognition and
amusement, which fuel further participation.
391
Moreover, with further participation to protests, these moral emotions like
indignation do not disappear easily and are elicited when talking about the
general situation, the government or the socio-economic order (or the system
as some participants refer to it). However, these emotions slowly give way to
other, more local emotions that seem to imply a more active spatial engagement
and proactive attitude fuelled by positive assessment of the participants’ self
capacities. These are emotions indicating a more aware and active presence of
individuals, concentrated and busy with activities in present time and space.
About Egocentric or Allocentric

7YHUVN\LQKHUDUWLFOHSRVHVDQLQWULJXLQJDQGLQWHUHVWLQJTXHVWLRQ©&RXOGWKHUH
be spatial situations in which people spontaneously adopt another’s perspective
rather than their own, even when not communicating to another person ? In
that study, Tversky shows that indeed a social context induces the adoption
RI DQ DOORFHQWULF GLVFXUVLYH SHUVSHFWLYH $OVR LPSRUWDQWO\ VKH IRXQG WKDW ©WKH
implication of action elicits spontaneous spatial perspective-taking, seemingly in
WKHVHUYLFHRIXQGHUVWDQGLQJWKHRWKHU·VDFWLRQVª
A usual remark to the use of this kind of language seems to be that perspective
taking is usually attributable to task demands (Tversky & Hard, 2009). I see in
WKLVUHPDUNDWLPHO\FRQÀUPDWLRQDERXWWKHNLQGRILQYROYHPHQWWKDWDUHHQDFWHG
by emotions. This resonates with Martinez’s notion of self-management of space
(2015).
Some may be concerned that the perspective-taking may be attributable
in part to task demands. Some participants may have thought the
experimenter wished them to use the person in their responses. However,
the person can be included in the response without taking the person’s
perspective, specifically, using the person as a landmark. The book’s
location could have been described as right or left of the person, with
respect to the viewer’s perspective, in accordance with Levinson’s relative
perspective (Levinson, 1996). Tversky
In the course of the interviews, some participants did seem to talk in allocentric
terms for the situation of non-involvement. For example, Gregorio Almazán
when asked about the perceived change in the city after the election of Ahora
0DGULGVD\V©,GRQRWNQRZZKDWWKH\GR,GRQ·WWKLQNWKH\GRPXFK
actually. The streets are really dirty, the asphalt is in terrible condition, they do
QRWVHHPWRGRDQ\WKLQJª(YHQWKRXJKKHUHWKLVSDUWLFLSDQWGLGQRWH[DFWO\
XVHDOORFHQWULFUHIHUHQFHVKHLPSOLHGLWE\LQFRUSRUDWLQJ©WKH\ªDQGUHIHUULQJ
to the space of the city as their responsibility. I seemed to face, thus, a double
and apparently contradictory use of allocentric perspective. On the one hand,
allocentric may refer to taking someone else’s perspective (Levison, 1996),
but it emerges form the interviews that it may also refer to a detachment from
space, actually conveying a depiction of space from which the participants are
themselves removed.
392
Allocentric language has indeed appeared in many interviews, especially when
participants talked about people for whom they had developed a certain level of
accrued empathy. Can we claim that such almost automatic perspective taking
is in some functional way related to cognitive and affective scaffolding? While
this detailed aspect has not been proved and it would require an independent
VWXG\WKHUHDUHVRPHLQGLFDWLRQVWKDWWKLVFRXOGEHWKHFDVH0RUHVSHFLÀFDOO\
the results of the interviews invite us to speculate on the fact that active
emotional engagement does entail particular affective and cognitive “aids” in.
In other words, without the experience of such emotional transition, the actual
UHÁHFWLYHVWDQFHRQVSDFHDVDPLOHXRIVRFLDOLQYROYHPHQWDQGUHVSRQVLELOLW\
might have just not have happened to that extent in the given context.
With some other participants, the use of egocentric spatial language was
accompanied with direct and indirect references to , and correlated with high
levels of emotional engagement. For instance, when talking about certain
events that arguably had an important impact on the participants (by making
them shift their perspective and/or eliciting very strong emotions related to
their connection with other members or with a larger social group), many
SDUWLFLSDQWVXVHGODQJXDJHWKDWVKRZHGDKLJKXVHRIÀUVWSHUVRQGHVFULSWLRQ
of actions and strongly valenced emotional language.
About Social and Spatial Openness. The City as Interior Space
Participants in the interviews constantly declare that openness was among their
ÀUVW LQWHQWLRQV EHKLQG WKH FUHDWLRQ RI 3DWLR © :H ZDQWHG WR RSHQ D VRFLDO
centre much more open to the usual population of the neighbourhood, people
who are not necessarily politicized, but which nevertheless need what the Patio
FDQRIIHUª297KLVVWUDWHJ\SURYHGFRUUHFWZLWKWLPH$VWKHÀUVWRUJDQL]HUVDQG
participants of Patio Maravillas hypothesized, people who would not normally
join an occupied social centre were prone to enter Patio through the activities
it offered. As these people, who continued with their normal jobs, studies, etc.,
incorporated the participation into their everyday life, they also started to feel
©DWKRPHª2QHRIWKHSDUWLFLSDQWVGHFODUHVª$QGWKHQRQHGD\,ZDVJRLQJWR
Patio, I remember well, and I realized that since some time after I started to take
part in all these activities, I felt like the cty was my home. I mean the streets,
everything… walking through the city and not feeling like you are just out there,
EXWDWKRPHSURWHFWHGDQGZHOFRPHª30.
On the other hand, this strategy takes a life of its own. Participants multiply, their
connections explode, and the swarm of activities around the building require
PRUH VSDFH 7KLV RYHUÁRZ RI SDUWLFLSDWLRQ PLJKW KDYH VRPHZKDW KHOSHG WKH
need to use the streets, the adjacent squares and public spaces. This, however,
does not just apply to the building of Patio Maravillas nor jusrt to its immediate
surroundings. While the highest levels of participation to spatial practices
393
concentrates in the centreof the city (as indicated by the results of the empirical
studies in chapters 3.2 and 3.2). The political transformation happened through
DPRGLÀFDWLRQRQWKHUHJLPHRIVSDWLDOLQYROYHPHQWQRWRQO\DWWKHOHYHORIWKH
building of Patio, but at the level of the city.
About liminality and perceptual and identity transitions with regards to the
city.
As an antistructure, a liminal condition entails the suspension of normal

structural constraints. In this sense, liminality can be seen as in an inverse
relationship with bureaucracy. (Guobin Yang, 2000)
It arises from interviews that participants felt liberating to overcome a widely

extended bureaucratic stance towards the city. This bureaucratic stance seems
to inform a model of the city that deploys ideas of optimal management and
HIÀFLHQF\ DV SHUYDGLQJ WKH JHQHUDO REMHFWLYHV RI D ©SURSHUª FLW\ 2QH RI WKH
WUDQVIRUPDWLRQVWKDWOLPLQDOLW\LVLGHQWLÀHGWRSHUIRUPLQVRFLDOSURFHVVHVUHIHUV
WRWKHVXVSHQVLRQRIQRUPDOVWUXFWXUDOFRQVWUDLQWV<DQJKDVLGHQWLÀHGOLPLQDOLW\
as in an inverse relationship with bureaucracy.
In its pure type, bureaucracy is characterized by (1) the principle of

KLHUDUFK\DÀUPO\RUGHUHGV\VWHPRIVXSHUDQGVXERUGLQDWLRQ DV\VWHP
of abstract rules that govern its operation (3) the spirit of formalistic
impersonality, devoid of any emotional element and (4) by implication,
29 . Interview MAD_07
30 . Interview MAD_14
strict adherence to the above principles instead of human creativity for
DFKLHYLQJWKHKLJKHVWGHJUHHRIEXUHDXFUDWLFHIÀFLHQF\
Could we say that certain urban paradigms involve particular experiential

and relational frames that locate within a bureaucratic model? If so, then
SDUWLFLSDQWVKDYHSURÀWHGIURPWKHOLPLQDOLW\LQWULQVLFWR1HZ8UEDQ3UDFWLFHV
for overcoming this bureaucratic, technocratic and disengaged view. It also
seems worth noting that the change in personal perspective and perceived
order experienced by participants in New Urban Practices, changes their
frame of reference with regards to the city at the same time as it seems to
HPSRZHU WKHP DV XUEDQ DFWRUV %H\RQG WKH IDOVH HPSRZHULQJ VHQVDWLRQ
provoked by the most recent operations of urban design that fall into what
%UHYLJOLHUL KDVWHUPHGÝLOOHJDUDQWLHµ31 , New Urban Practices, do not
participate to that simulacrum32. While the “ville garantie” might sell the idea
of spatial interactivity through apparently playful and interactive aspects of
what in reality are highly securitized and surveilled and segregative urban
environments, New Urban Practices reveal themselves as more pervasive, less
SKRWRJHQLFDQGGHÀQLWHO\OHVVFRQWUROOHG
The city as a practiced lived instantiation of porous urbanity emerges on the

antipodes of such model of the “ville garantie”. This new conception of the city
emerges as playful and often imperfect. Participants holding this image change
394 WKHIRFXVRIWKHLUSULRULWLHV7KH\GRQRWFDUHVRPXFKIRU©RUGHUªDQGVKRZ
a much higher valuation of chance, surprise and playfulness. As if there was
a certain acceptance of imperfection which might come with self-involvement
as citizen and producer of city. Despite apparent similarities, this new role
is situated beyond the horizon of the prosumer33 in terms of engagement,
and bears a different ethics altogether. As such, New Urban practices, as
they reveal themselves in this research, overcome the delimited and “safe”
realm of the urban theme park and introduce a component of uncertainty,
GHÀQLWHO\FRQVWLWXWLQJDÚLVNLHUµDOWHUQDWLYH2QHZKLFKKROGVLQP\RSLQLRQ
the potential to reinstantiate urbanity
About Liminality and Scaffolding

So, for example urban gardening in Jardin Maravillas (in Antonio Grillo).
This activity performs a very active, if low intensity, affective scaffolding.
The activities, which are clearly spatial, involving encounter with others,
movements and management of distances, provide a pervasive soothing effect.
Participants report This is what links emotionally so strongly these participants
to the model of city they advocate through their manifestos. For they associate
this model with the affective states, the joy, the serenity, they experience thanks
31 7KLVWHUPUHIHUVWRDSODQQLQJWUHQGZKLFKFRQVLVWVLQGHWHUPLQLQJDQRUPDODQGSUHGLFWDEOHXVHRI
XUEDQVSDFHE\DQQLKLODWLQJDQ\EOXUULQJRIXVHDQGDQ\SRVVLELOLW\RIH[SHULPHQWDWLRQ
32 6XFKIDOVHVHQVDWLRQRIDXWRQRP\DQGHPSRZHUPHQWGHQRXQFHGE\%UHYLJOLHULFRXOGSDUWDNHLQZKDW
7XUQHUFDOOHG©OLPLQRLGªH[SHULHQFHVDVRSSRVVHGWRWKHWUDQVIRUPDWLYHSRWHQWLDORISURSHUOLPLQDO
GLPHQVLRQRIPDQ\1HZ8UEDQ3UDFWLFHV
33 . Term arised from the merging of professional or producer + consumer. Origineted in the
1980s. Source: Oxford Dictionary. 2017
to those activities and those spaces. In other words, these new urban practices
shape imagination through the heart. And that heart is shared by all of those in
the room.
Regarding the affective community.

When asked about the relevance of Patio Maravillas, many participants answer
ZLWK D UHIHUHQFH WR DQ ©DIIHFWLYH FRPPXQLW\ª34. Their constant appeal to this
ÀJXUHDVIRULQVWDQFH©DERXWWKHSDUWLHVDERXWWKHMR\RI3DWLR0DUDYLOODVª7KLV
community, apart from being arguably built upon mutual recognition, as I have
shown previously, it is also characterized by mutual aid. This is instantiated
LQVSHFLÀFDQGFRQFUHWHLQVWDQWVDQGUHODWLRQVUHQGHULQJWKHVHSROLWLFVRIFDUH
far away form abstract and disembodied rhetoric notions. In a moment of the
LQWHUYLHZ , 5 FRPPHQWV ©2U ZKHQ , DUULYH WKHUH DQG WKH\ WHOO PH OLVWHQ
today JR is not well35, so that this day we all are there for him, we have special
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KDVFKDQJHGP\OLIH,ZRXOGQRWNQRZZKDWZRXOGLWEHZLWKRXWLWª,FDQQRW
WKLQNRIDKLJKHURUPRUHSRWHQWDQGSUHFLVHGHÀQLWLRQRIWKHLPSRUWDQFHDQG
extents that affective scaffolding can bear.
The origins of Patio are linked by two prominent members J.R. and A.S. to the
395
formation of a group of friends This group has been part of Patio Maravillas from
WKHEHJLQQLQJLQWKHÀUVWSDWLRLQ$FXHUGR6WLQ:KLOHWKLVDVVHUWLRQVHHPV
to imply a rather closed community and somehow contradict the continuous
DVVHUWLRQVRIRSHQQHVV1RWRQO\WKHLQLWLDOJURXSRI©IULHQGVªWKDWLQLWLDWHGWKH
Patio, but also more recent participants talk about the affective community with
joy and pride. They, moreover, refer to joyful activities, like dancing and parties
as foundational and reinforcing moments of affective engagement, and as
This dimension of trust, this reliance on Patio and its community for the fuel
of more than everyday and ordinary well-being, is noticeable. It signals the
formation of a meaning structure through its relevance for the lived reality of
participants. A change of cognitive frame enabled by affective scaffolding and
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&XOWXUDO ,QÁXHQFH ,QWHUGHSHQGHQFH ,QWHUVXEMHFWLYLW\ ([WHQVLRQ DQG

Scaffolding
Emotions have been widely considered to be highly dependent on cultural
FRQWH[WV'LIIHUHQWFXOWXUHVDUHVDLGWRLQÁXHQFHHPRWLRQSHUFHSWLRQDQGHYHQ
emotion experience or feeling through the context they create in the form of
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34 DPRQJWKHP-5 0$' <0 0$'B $6 0$'B &' 0$'B

35 . Translated by the author from the original expression in Spanish “chungo”, a slang word mean-
ing also slightly crossed, weak, vulnerable.
acknowledged that cultural context may play a role on the expression and
detection of emotion in social contexts, the level and breadth of culture’s
LQÁXHQFHRQWKHHPRWLRQDOH[SHULHQFHDQGH[SUHVVLRQJUHDWO\GHSHQGRQWKH
theory of emotion concerned. Theorists and researchers that favour theories
of basic emotions would clearly tend to only consider the role of culture on
the expressions of emotions, maintaining that the core basic emotions are the
same. On the other hand, it would seem logical that theories and researchers
favouring more constructivistic accounts of emotions, in all its broad range
from dimensional theories to proper culturalistic ones, would tend to consider
that the emotional experience itself is in fact deeply affected and conditioned
E\ WKH VRFLDO FXOWXUDO FRQVWUXFWLRQ RI LGHQWLW\ 7KH ÀQGLQJV IURP WKLV VWXG\
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on wide categories such as linguistic communities and should perhaps be
more attentive to the urban condition of social aggregates. In order to better
illustrate this point, I consider and discuss a recent study with regards to how
WKHÀQGLQJVIURPP\UHVHDUFKFDQKHOSWRDGYDQFHDQGQXDQFHWKHLUUHVXOWV
An example of this sort of generalization that I am seeking to further nuance

is a recent and relevant research in which Grossmann and Huynh (2016)
have studied the expression of emotional complexity in different cultures36 to
show that certain cultures showed higher in both emotional dialecticism and
emotional differentiation. It is noticeable that, according to the researchers,
396
the reason why participants in Russia, India, and Japan scored higher in those
measures, resides in the fact that that people from these countries also tend to
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to the wishes and concerns of others, focusing on the social context and the
emotions of other people in their group, and seeing one’s emotions as originating
WKURXJKLQWHUDFWLRQVZLWKRWKHUSHRSOHLQRQH·VHQYLURQPHQWª 3HRSOH
from Western countries, on the other hand, are more likely to think that their
emotions come from within themselves.
%HFDXVH LQ IDFW VRPHWLPHV WKDW FXOWXUDO LQÁXHQFH LV XVXDOO\ FRQVLGHUHG
through social aspects mediated by language; not only verbal language but
also posturing, body language and many other cultural conventions that
regulate, and in the opinion of some researchers, even constitute the emotional
expression or even experience. However, as my research argues, there are other
environmental dimensions clearly playing a strategic role. Urban conditions
and in particular the level of entrenchment of certain socio-spatial assembles
can be argued to constitute elements in extended affectivity. As such, language
is, so to speak, only the tip of the iceberg, as the material spatial embededness
in a context where certain access and active reunion of diversity does in fact
activate a dynamic, interactive, and emergent intersubjectivity constitutive
36 . First the researchers tracked how many times a positive-emotion word appeared within two
words of a negative-emotion word in a random sampling of 1.3 million English web pages from
GLIIHUHQWFRXQWULHV6LWHVIURP0DOD\VLDWKH3KLOLSSLQHVDQG6LQJDSRUHDOOKDGVLJQLÀFDQWO\
higher rates of mixed emotions than the texts from six other countries--the United States, Cana-
GD$XVWUDOLDWKH8QLWHG.LQJGRP,UHODQGDQG1HZ=HDODQG6RXWK$IULFDFDPHLQVRPHZKHUH
in the middle of these groups.
of human affective phenomena. Moreover, since we consider these aspects as
partaking in the affective-cognitive process, they provide the possibility for novel
affective processes. Thus, certain emotional experiences that can be said to be
only possible in urbanity. Here, an important distinction to make is that urbanity, as
the urban condition that refers to the temporary seizing of connected, interactive
and becoming diversity, developed in part 2, cannot be mistaken by the city. The
city, however, is not only the locus where we can feel that urbanity, but the very
substance with which we feel it. A substance of sociality that functions as it were,
an extension of our very bodies and minds.
A Concluding Note.
7KH VWXG\ FRQGXFWHG DQG SUHVHQWHG LQ WKLV FKDSWHU QRW RQO\ FRQÀUPV WKH
hypothesis of departure, but expands it into more ambitious grounds. Moreover,
FRPELQHGZLWKÀQGLQJVIURPSUHYLRXVFKDSWHUVLWSURYLGHVVLJQLÀFDQWUHOHYDQW
knowledge about the relationship between participation to New Urban Practices,
emotional transition and changes in spatial perception. I note, however, that
ZKLOHWKHÀQGLQJVRIWKLVFKDSWHUWHOOXVPDQ\UHOHYDQWWKLQJVDERXWHPRWLRQDQG
VSDFHWKH\VWLOOFRQFHDOPDQ\RWKHUUHOHYDQWDVSHFWV7KHÀQGLQJVVXJJHVWLYHO\
hint at questions that deserve further research.
Among the elements studied in this chapter, three aspects deserve a note of
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397
SIRN terminology, internal and external representations, and the role of role of
physical structures in the generation of meaning. In terms of scaffolding, it has
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HOHPHQWIXOÀOVRQHGLPHQVLRQ RIWUXVWHQWUHQFKPHQWDQGVKDUHGQHVV DQGQRW
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clearly delimit at this level of analysis. This aspect should require more detailed
and focused study.
However, the overall aspect of scaffolding shows, both in cognitive and affective
dimensions. Even more, in certain roles which are perhaps in the border if not
outside the realm of extension, but which can be said to be functional couplings
or coordinated looped interactions. For example, in terms of the economic
facilitation of new alternative activities and lifestyles. What is sure is that Patio
is a resource for participants at different levels. It has proved to provide funding
through the common management of the income provided by the many self-
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regards to a certain detached and uninvolved local audience, who end up by
accepting Patio as a generator of opportunities.
Even though the role played her by Patio can be considered to be more of an
infrastructural one, I would argue that the different cognitive activities involved
in the coordination, and management. There is, in addition the aspect of the
decision making about the use of remanent funds. Here the coordinated decision
making and the emotional involvement of participants seem to provide for not
only a distributed cognition that yields good results, but also a distributed
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FRJQLWLRQSURYLGHVDGHÀQLWHDIIHFWLYHVFDIIROGLQJWRSDUWLFLSDQWVLQWKHIRUPRI
trust (they are comforted by the decision taken by the collective after intense
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when participants develop the “automatic” incorporation in anticipation of the
fact that the collective has a voice with moral authority. However, cognitive
and affective scaffolding proper are also played at another level, which also
shows with accentuated character in the interviews as covered in the previous
section.
398
4
•
Conclusions:
The City of Extended
Emotions
4.0.1 Part Overview
This part deals with the conclusions of the thesis. It is structured in two chapters.
7KHÀUVWFKDSWHU´$QHZJHRJUDSK\$FDVHRIFRJQLWLYHUHDSSUDLVDOµVHHVWKH
discussion on the impact of the new urban practices in the broader social and
political context of the city of Madrid. I here argue for the consideration of their
role in the cognitive reappraisal of the object city as a social object, through
the consideration of notions of “troublesome knowledge” and “threshold
concept”. This connects previous analyses of spatial practices and emotional
and affordance perception transition with their epistemological social and
pedagogical implications.
The second chapter, entitled “Urbanity as extended affect”, deals with

an assessment of applying the ideas of extended affectivity to new urban
practices, and its implications for reconsidering the urban condition. Based on
WKHÀQGLQJVRIWKLVWKHVLV,HODERUDWHRQWKHSRVVLELOLW\WRFRQVLGHUXUEDQLW\
as an extended form of affectivity, enacted primarily through active spatial
and social engagement. In addition, this chapter addresses this in relation to
contemporary debates on the city of malaise or discontent.
402 It is important to remind the reader that the kind of research conducted and
here summarized was never intended to exhaust neither the object of research,
the urban condition and its affective dimension in contexts of urban struggle,
nor the disciplines, techniques and concepts mobilized for this enterprise.
,QVWHDGWKHPDLQDPELWLRQKDVEHHQWRÀQGDQHZJHQHUDWLYHIUDPHIRUWKHLU
integration. By doing so, I have sought to properly expand the conceptual
and methodological repertoire that might inform a more enlightened and
passionate discussion on the nature of the urban condition and the future of
our cities.
-YVT ;OL +LJVUZ[Y\J[PVU VM [OL
City to Reigniting The Social Production
VM:WHJL
Madrid’s urban landscape, as it happens also in many other Southern European

cities, proves troublesome since the arrival of the crisis. Previous processes
of transformation seem to continue albeit in different forms. The pervasive
rationalizing logic behind operations of functional zoning in modernistic city
planning meant that, for the city, “occasional, accidental, and unintended
actions were lost and with that the urban public life, which was taken earlier
more or less for granted” (Franzén 2004, in Legeby, 2009). This phenomenon,
acknowledged already by many other urban thinkers, for example, Richard
6HQQHWW DQG +DQV 3DXO %DKUGW FRQWLQXHG WR VRPH H[WHQW LQ
the largely mono functional city extensions1 undertaken under the auspices of
the 1997 Madrid’s General Urban Plan. If the territory was initially perceived
as a resource from which to extract wealth through speculative construction,
this has now evolved into a new phase. Nowadays, the urban territory
is again seen as an extractive resource, but this time exploited through its
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of securitization, burorepression and active repression of alternative urban 403
sociality seems to combine with the already pernicious dynamics of growing
social inequalities and enhanced precariousness to produce a loss of integrated
or cohesive social diversity. As a result, urban space also suffers a steady
deterioration alongside its social composition and follows the decried trend
that turns the city into an archipelago of enclaves.
This loss, I shall argue, is not only limited to the material living conditions
of the inhabitants of Madrid (and other cities across Europe, where similar
dynamics may take place), but also constitute a loss at the cognitive, and thus
also affective, level.
However, in this context, the strength and vitality of the new urban practices
that have emerged from the 15M and which have had Patio Maravillas as a
privilege protagonist, clearly represent a striking response to that deterioration
of public city life. The dense rich and mixed tissue of the compact city takes
its revenge and proves again a fertile ground for urbanity, almost a stock, as
it were. As if through the emergence of such new social movements the city
tissue (here understood both in its entangled physical and social dimensions)
would heal, capable of regaining lost levels of urbanity through the actions and
space producing practices of collectives like Patio Maravillas.
1 . colloquially known as “PAUs”.

3PTP[H[PVUZVM[OL9LZLHYJO
Before I begin with the elaboration of the conclusions, it is important to

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Hereby, I summarize these limitations and the potential future complementary
approaches that could surmount them in future iterations and extensions of
this research enquiry.
7KHVWXG\RIXUEDQSRURVLW\WKURXJKDFRPELQDWLRQRIVSDWLDOFRQÀJXUDWLRQDQG
spatial composition means was performed at the scale of the full city in order
to grasp the structural conditions framing the emergence and development of
social movements and platforms like Patio Maravillas. This scale of analysis has
brought about certain limitations in detail, especially for the street network
analysis performed with Depthmap. An alternative analysis, incorporating the
accessible interior spaces of public buildings and other open structures, could
have added. The computational power, as well as the inaccessibility or lack
of sources for reliable cartography of all of those interior spaces. In certain
maps, I have included the interior spaces of public buildings. This information
was found shortly before the completion of this thesis (with posteriority to the
conduction of the analysis with Depthmap), which made it impossible to be
404 incorporated to the digital model of the street network.
The study of the spatial practices does not take into account the full spectrum
of the activities performed by the sum of the activists of Patio Maravillas.
Accordingly, the full breadth of such practices is missed and, with that, the
surely relevant insights they might reveal under the appropriate research
frame. A potential complement and future development in this direction could
SURÀWIURPWKHLQWHJUDWLRQRIWKHSRVVLELOLWLHVJUDQWHGE\7,&VDVZHOODVWKH
increasing capacities to deal with and analyse large amounts of data. This could
be, for instance, crossing of individualized sensing enhanced with geolocation,
and large contextual Big Data analysis. Such methods could yield important
new angles for the full understanding of what the really latent dimension of
RXUFRQWLQXRXVÁRZRIHYHU\GD\DFWLYLWLHVVD\VDVIRUPVRIOLYLQJDERXWWKH
FRQÀJXUDWLRQRIRXUFRJQLWLYHDQGDIIHFWLYHIUDPHV0DQ\FKDOOHQJHVOD\DKHDG
of this, not least the ethical dilemmas and problems arising from such invasive
method. Moreover, it remains an open question whether this way would actually
yield interesting and relevant results. In my opinion, this will only happen
if it is applied together with the appropriate epistemological and analytical
framework. Such framework should avoid, so to speak (reinterpreting of the
traditional saying), to be unable to see the forest for the trees due to excessive
attention to the trivial, nor unable to see the trees for the forest. The latter can
happen due to an overwhelming dominating grand narrative that prevents us
from truly seeing and understanding individual situations and phenomena in
their full epistemological breadth.
Finally, the third empirical study, conducted on the emotional transition and
changes in spatial perception. The limitations of the survey have been already
exposed. On the other hand, the analysis of emotional transition and the
accompanying change in spatial perception of participants to social movements
as conducted with a combination of emotional dimensional analysis and
discourse analysis methods. The approach does analyse discourse from the
perspective of symbolic. It does not analyse discourse on the base of previous
nor takes into account the previous educational and social backgrounds of in
order to see how these might have shaped certain prevailing discursive traits
and areas of prioritary perceptual attention. In addition, the analysis I have
conducted in this chapter relies mostly on the measures originated from self-
reports of emotion, having avoided other methods required for an objective
external evaluation of bodily changes associated with certain emotional
processes.
In addition, perhaps the most important limitations of this thesis are caused
by the chosen research design. In this research, I have decided to concentrate
on participants of urban social movements, in particular those in relations
with Patio Maravillas. In consequence, I have not focused on other groups
RIDFWLYLVWVQRURWKHUSURÀOHVRIFLWL]HQVDSDUWIURPWKHUDQGRPUHVSRQGHQWV
to the survey. In any case, the number of respondents to the survey remains
below the number that would have guaranteed a full representative sample.
405
$QRWKHUSRVVLEOHDSSURDFKEDVHGRQWDUJHWLQJE\SKDVHVÀUVWDUHSUHVHQWDWLYH
population sample of the full population of Madrid, and then of diverse chosen
target groups would have assured full statistical and probabilistic integrity.
'HVSLWHWKHDERYHPHQWLRQHGOLPLWDWLRQV,EHOLHYHWKDWWKHEHQHÀWVSURYLGHGE\
my bid for a mixed methods approach that has combined quantitative analysis
of structural conditions, such as the street network, with full emphasis on
situated qualitative analysis, like in the study of spatial practices and emotional
transition through self-reports, overcomes the limitations and guarantees the
YDOLGLW\DQGUHOHYDQFHRIWKHÀQGLQJV
4.1 A New Geography. 407
A Case of Cognitive
Reappraisal
Common is the sun and the air, common should be the land.
What comes from the people should return common to the people.
ߊJose Luis Lopez Alvarez,Himno de los Comuneros de Castilla 1521, 1972
There are things which are neither public nor private,

but which concern all of us.
There are forms of management that do not pertain
to the State nor the Market.
ߊMadrilonia Collective, La Carta de los Comunes:
Para el cuidado y disfrute de lo que de todos es, 2011
*OHUNPUN[OL-VJ\Z9LOHIPSP[H[PUN
Social Centrality
This chapter of the thesis elaborates on one of the most striking aspects of
the new urban practices. That is, how the workings and doings of the social
movements and groups who have been part of the social effervescence the city
of Madrid 2011-2015 have managed to perform a cognitive reappraisal of the
object Madrid and its situation. In the next passages I discuss on the phases
that have led to this result, as well as the implications to reconsider notions of
right to the city.
*VNUP[P]L9LHWWYHPZHS
,QWKHVHÀYH\HDUVWKHFLW\DQGLWVLQKDELWDQWVKDYHZLWQHVVHGWKHDEDQGRQPHQW
DQGFDQFHOODWLRQRIVLJQLÀFDQWSODQVIRUELJLQIUDVWUXFWXUDOLQYHVWPHQWVDQGFLW\
extensions. They have also experienced the radical change of the institutional
model of the city put forward by the municipal authorities governing Madrid.
For obvious reasons this change of model is directly linked to the access to
PXQLFLSDO SRZHU E\ D FRDOLWLRQ RI YDULRXV SDUWLHV DQG LQGHSHQGHQW ÀJXUHV
408 called Ahora Madrid (Now Madrid). I consider this phenomenon as the
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of the social imaginary of Madrid among its population.2 Thus, this process
is not here analysed through the more traditional discussion on the actual
political strategies, electoral outcomes and political languages usually framed
within the political sciences, but, instead consider it as a successful case of
cognitive reappraisal. In other words, the overall climate of contentious
activities of urban struggles created by a limited number of social movements
and participants (New Urban Practices), have performed a very potent change
in the urban imaginary of the city of Madrid. Here, cognitive reappraisal is
QRWRQO\XQGHUVWRRGDVDQRSHUDWLRQLQYROYHGLQHPRWLRQDOUHJXODWLRQGHÀQHG
as “the use of deliberate and effortful processes to change a spontaneous
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and conception of a cognitive object. In simpler terms, the change of what we
think about when we think about the city. In the case of Madrid, I argue that
WKLVHIIHFWLYHFKDQJHKDVEHHQPDUNHGE\DUHFRQÀJXUDWLRQRQWKHVSDWLDOIRFXV
The studies conducted for this thesis have shown that the emotional labour
mobilized during the particularly performing spatial practices of alternative
urban living, renamed in this thesis as New Urban Practices, have effectively
changed the imaginary of the city. This process, moreover, challenges the long-
standing idea that the environment is something out there to be perceived
2 . Admittedly, this can be said to be temporary, as political preferences change and evolve rapidly
in our times. However, under the perspective defended and postulated in this thesis, this does not
weaken the argument but strengthens it.
and processed by our senses and our brain. Instead, if we adopt a more
RSHQGHÀQLWLRQRIWKHVHQVRU\TXDOLW\ZHFDQGLVFRYHUDGLIIHUHQWDQGPRUH
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by Rapoport: “the sum of the symbolic, perceptive, cognitive properties, as well
as many other characteristics that a given group considers desirable ... how a
given group perceives and values the world where they live and how this vision
and these values affect their actions” (Rapoport, 1976)
Furthermore, the relevance of addressing the conception of a new imaginary

and discourse on the city is made relatively clear when we consider that,
people usually think about alternatives in a spatial, if not territorial, way. “they
propose an alternative social organization, an alternative space, an alternative
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comes about through an emotional transition facilitated by the participation
into a set of spatial practices.
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[V:VJPHS*LU[YHSP[`
The exact extents of such change in urban imaginary by virtue of cognitive

reappraisal may vary from individual to individual. In general terms, and based
409
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with the spatial focus in terms of location and social meaning.
As I have portrayed in the empirical study chapters of Part 3 (3.1, 3.2, 3.3
and 3.4), during the years prior to the explosion of the real estate bubble,
Madrid was promoted as a city in a process of expansive growth. This process
developed its own “aura” often represented in the media and by the ruling party
through images of the large urban extension plans under way and the appeal
to famous starchitects names. Arguably, as the city grew, the population of
Madrid seemed to surrender to the overwhelming scale of the powers involved,
which had an effect of making residents perceived themselves and their agency
as small and powerless (see chapter 3.4). This changes radically au fur et a
mesure the climate of social contestation rises, people start to engage in large
spontaneous events of protest and it all turns into a structure organic set of
interrelated neighbourhood and thematic organizations. These organizations
slowly but surely make their way into the everyday rhythms and activities of
VRPH DFWLYLVW DQG V\PSDWKL]HUV 7KHLU FRQVWDQW DFWLYLWLHV SURÀW IURP FHUWDLQ
social exposure thanks to the strategic locations chosen in the centre of the city
as well as the exposure granted by the media (thanks to the spectacularity of
their actions, like Stop-Evictions, for instance).
As the peripheries remain uncompleted, half-empty and cut away from the rest
of the city, the centre regains its privileged status as the centre of most activities.
%RWK RSHUDWLRQV RI JHQWULÀFDWLRQ DQG WRXULVWLÀFDWLRQ DV ZHOO DV WKH SURWHVWV
and alternative activities of social movements help public attention focus on
central districts. At the same time, the active spatial engagement accompanies
the emotional transition (see chapter 3.4) of those who participate in these
PRYHPHQWV DQG DFWLYLWLHV ERRVWLQJ FRQÀGHQFH DQG D VHOIPDQDJH DWWLWXGH
towards space. Not only a reterritorialization of urban space takes place
through these high or low intensity phases of urban struggles, but also the
constitution of a newly enacted we-space, providing identity and increasing
social awareness and the levels of civic responsibility felt among participants.
Why was this so important? Zhang has already exposed how “different
UHSUHVHQWDWLRQVRIDSUREOHPFDQKDYHGUDPDWLFLPSDFWRQSUREOHPGLIÀFXOW\
even if the formal structures are the same”. This is all the more true for most
aspects of dealing with a city, be it as imaginary, as everyday environment or as
objects of infrastructural operations, requires from both “internal and external
representations” (Portugali, 2004). I contend that the new framing of that
problem, helped by the synergetic coupling between certain innovative external
representations in the form of practices like assemblies, had a cascading effect.
The emphasis on participation placed by new urban practices meant that the
synergetic modus operandi of such practices got enhanced, with the result of
that new concept of the city emerging from the interaction and “enslaving” the
internal representations. The same, albeit with different intensity and rhythms,
can be speculated of how a large part of the population of Madrid adopted such
410
imaginary and opted for voting for Ahora Madrid as new governors of the city.
;OL*P[`HZ6IQLJ[VM;YV\ISLZVTL
Knowledge
I am part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world,
whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
-- Tennyson ‘Ulysses’
Real learning requires stepping into the unknown,

which initiates a rupture in knowing...
By definition, all TC scholarship is concerned (directly or indirectly)
with encountering the unknown.
6FKZDUW]PDQS
411
;OL*P[`>OPJO>HZ+PɉJ\S[[V2UV^
The Urban as Troublesome
In this section I want to assess and discuss this element of the conclusions
under a complementary notion, which might enlighten some aspects and
KHOS XQYHLO DQG FODLP WKH DSSURSULDWH SHGDJRJLFDO UHOHYDQFH RI WKH ÀQGLQJV
of this thesis. This notion is that of troublesome knowledge (Jan H.F. Meyer,
Ray Land, & Caroline Baillie, 2010). Knowledge can be troublesome for many
different reasons (Perkins 2006), it can be alien and foreign, it can also be inert
RUWDFLWHYHQFRXQWHULQWXLWLYHFRQFHSWXDOO\GLIÀFXOWRURYHUWO\FRPSOH[7KLV
GLIÀFXOW\KDVDOVREHHQIRXQGWREHSXUSRVHIXODVLWEULQJVDERXWFKDQJHVWKDW
DUHGLIÀFXOWDVVLPLODWHDQGKHQFHLVWKHLQVWLJDWRURIQHZOHDUQLQJDQGDQHZ
ontological possibility.
New ontological possibilities is what is brought about by new urban practices of

which Patio Maravillas is but one example. The consequences of comprehending
a threshold concept is usually a transformed internal view of an object or of the
world. In the case of the participants studied, the changes encompass a subject
matter (in this case the city), their immediate surrounding landscape (their
neighbourhood or community), or even world view (their stance towards
social issues and even their ideology).
The development of research on troublesome knowledge is linked to the

GHÀQLWLRQRIDGLVWLQFWFDWHJRU\RIFRQFHSWVWKDWDUHRIWHQLQYROYHGWKUHVKROG
concepts3 7KUHVKROG FRQFHSWV EHDU FHUWDLQ VSHFLÀF FKDUDFWHULVWLFV QRW
found in all concepts.4 5HVHDUFKHUV GHÀQH WKUHVKROG FRQFHSWV WKURXJK WKH
following characteristics: integrative, transformative, irreversible, bounded,
re-constitutive, discursive and troublesome. Justifying their name, threshold
concepts are performative. They function in a similar way than that of a
portal, a liminal space, “opening up a new and previously inaccessible way
of thinking about something” (Jan H.F. Meyer et al., 2010). Furthermore,
OLPLQDOLW\ UHVRQDWHV ZLWK 'HZH\·V LGHD RI WUDQVDFWLYLW\ WKDW
´HYHU\ H[SHULHQFH HQDFWHG DQG XQGHUJRQH PRGLÀHV WKH RQH ZKR DFWV DQG
undergoes. . . . For it is a somewhat different person who enters into them” (p.
35). This is exactly the kind of process portrayed by the cognitive reappraisal.
,QIDFWWKHQHZFRQFHSWLRQRIWKHFLW\DVFRPPRQVDOVRUHPDLQVGLIÀFXOWWR
explain for those participants who say to have undergone such transformation.
They usually refer to ideas of social connection and participation, but without
WKH\ KDYH GLIÀFXOWLHV WR FRQYH\ WKHLU WUDQVIRUPHG ZD\ RI XQGHUVWDQGLQJ
interpreting, and viewing the city.
Despite the temptation to portray this new comprehension of the city

acquired by participants of New Urban Practices as revelatory, I shall argue
that the transition was performed as a slow but sure construction. And, at
the same time, a sort of enactive reconstitution and reordering of certain
elements. In that sense, the process of re-learning a city participates not
412
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whatness of a thing” -- , but also from the slow and careful construction
made up of the accumulation of everyday actions and relations.
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7KLVUHFRQÀJXUDWLRQZDVLQP\XQGHUVWDQGLQJDFDVHRIZKDWKDVEHHQGHHPHG
DVWUDQVIRUPDWLYHNQRZOHGJH6FKZDUW]PDQ 7KLVVSHFLÀFWSHRIOHDUQLQJ
LV LGHQWLÀHG WR FKDQJH WKH FRQWHQWV RI WKH ÀHOG RI FRQVFLRXVQHVV ´(OHPHQWV
formerly not found in any domain of consciousness, possibly including
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RFFXS\WKHWKHPDWLFIRFXVRUUHVLGHLQWKHWKHPDWLFÀHOGDQGVRPHHOHPHQWV
formerly found there are now relegated to the margin.” (Schwartzman 2009)
Finally, I would like to stress that despite the serious treatment here give to
the acquisition of such troublesome knowledge by participants of 15M and
3DWLR0DUDYLOODVLWZDVDOOQRWWKDW´GLIÀFXOWµ,QIDFWPXFKRIWKHDFWLYLWLHV
involved were perceived and approached by participants with joy and certain
playfulness. Despite the arguably serious implications of their actions, and
QRWWREHFRQIXVHGZLWKWKHFRQFHSWRIWKUHVKROGVDVGHÀQHGE\6WDYULGHV 6WDYULGHV
Although inspired by the same image of liminal transition, both concepts have distinct separate
developments.
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SXUSRVHVRILQWHOOHJLELOLW\,KROGWRDGHÀQLWLRQRIFRQFHSWWKDWLVERWKSUHFLVHDQGJHQHUDWLYH´D
unit of thought or element of knowledge that allows us to organize experience” (Donald, 2011)
despite the fact that some periods were perceived with “anxiety”5, many other
moments were actually lived as if intersecting the hectic and impersonal
modern urban lifestyle with a plane of playfulness.
9LJVUZ[P[\[PVUVM:LSM!5L^0KLU[P[PLZPU>L:WHJL
This process of learning has been noted to bear certain ontological implications.
Pelletier (2007) has posed learning as a change in subjectivity. Or in other
ZRUGV XQGHUJRLQJ WUDQVIRUPDWLYH FDQ EHDU VLJQLÀFDQW DQG ORQJODVWLQJ
FRQVHTXHQFHVIRUWKHOHDUQHUPRUHVSHFLÀFDOO\IRUKHUYLHZRIWKHZRUOGDQGRI
herself. Ray Land (Ray Land, 2009) puts it in other words:”...the engagement
by the learner with an unfamiliar knowledge terrain and the ensuing re-
conceptualization may involve a reconstitution of, or shift within, the learner’s
subjectivity, and perhaps identity. “
7KHÀQGLQJVRIWKHWKHVLVVHHPWRFRQÀUPWKLVSRLQWZLWKPRVWUHVSRQGHQWV
strongly linking their personal evolution to a new way of seeing their spatial
and social context, as well as their own relative position therein. “...the
engagement by the learner with an unfamiliar knowledge terrain and the
ensuing re-conceptualization may involve a reconstitution of, or shift within,
the learner’s subjectivity, and perhaps identity. “(Ray Land, 2009)
413
*UDVSLQJDFRQFHSWLVQHYHUMXVWDFRJQLWLYHVKLIWLWDOVRLQYROYHVDUHSRVLWLRQLQJ
of self in relation to the subject. This again stands in coherence with the
theories of Turner, further developed by Stavrides about the liminal phase in
societies. Moreover, it is also in agreement with the information that arises
from the interviews, in which some participants link their participation in the
Patio and the related activities as “something without which “...(I) would be a
different person”.6
Such process might indeed produce certain degree of discomfort, as with any
substantial transformation in life. This discomfort does not emerge clearly
from the interviews, but what arises clearly is some disorientation with regards
to previous forms of urban living: “ Somehow, after a while of being sucked up
into the hectic pace, you now certain periods were really busy.. I felt strange
going back to ‘normal life’.. I felt out of place, as if I did not know what to do
of myself..”Or another participant who states: “..now I see other people and
the kind of lifestyle they follow and I cannot genuinely understand it, It is
not a dislike, it is as if it is something from another planet, in a way I cannot
understand it”7
5 . interview with J. Rueda. ref

6 . ref interview
7 . ref interview
9LNHYKPUN[OL*VNUP[P]L7LYMVYTH[P]P[`VM7YHJ[PJLZ!
Latency and “Recursiveness”
Researchers pose that the need for the learner to grasp threshold concepts in
recursive movements means that they cannot be tackled in a simplistic ‘learning
outcomes’ model (Ray Land, 2009). Moreover, the kinds of approaches that
expect that ‘by the end of the course (or the activity) the learner will be able
to....’ Are said to undermine the complexities of the transformation a learner
undergoes.
Consideration of threshold concepts shakes to some extent the linear, outcomes-

based approach to how this happens in time. Also, while this implies certain
repetition or recursiveness, the sequence might not be linear nor the learning
might always follow a clear number of repetitions.
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this work has had for my evolution as a researcher and as an architect.
Active engagement with this topic of research, as well as with its subjects
and particpants (including the city of Madrid), has made for an intense
and transformative experience. I believe this is relevant for it provides an
additional dimension that might help elucidate the extents of the meanings of
414 this work. Such a transformed view or landscape may represent how people
‘think’ in a particular discipline, or how they perceive, apprehend, or experience
particular phenomena within that discipline. Archiecture and urbanism have,
like other disciplines and areas of knowledge, the capacity to shape the eyes
and mind of the educated. This my be due to what we coul call, the discipline’s
FRJQLWLYHSUDFWLFHVWKHPRVWSURPLQHQWEHLQJWKHLQÁXQFHWRGLUHFWDWWHQWLRQ
DQGFRQÀJXUHWKHSHUFHSWLRQDQGUHÁHFWLRQRIWKHVFKRODUDQGWKHSUDFWLFLRQHU
%\LQÁXHQFLQJSHUFHSWLRQDQGDWWHQWLRQWKH\DOVRVKDSHWKHLPDJLQDWLRQDQG
deliniate a horizon of possibilites. Engaging in the protests and events of 15M
SURYLGHGPHZLWKDÀUVWDQGLQWUXLJXLQJHQFRXQWHU6XFKLQWXLWLRQJDYHELUWK
to the what became a doctoral research, and provided me with an thread
of enquiry that questioned the ways I believed the city, and urban space, to
LQÁXHQFHRXUVRFLHWLHV:KDW,KDYHHQFRXQWHUHGDQGFRPSUHKHQGHGWKURXJK
this research, the affective extended dimension of urbanity as generative of
space and sociality, pertains to this category of threshold concepts. Once you
understand it, the rest of the connection appear natural if not obvious. To
imagine a different way of conceinving urban spaces is possible, even for those
whose training and practice have long shaped their senses and capacity for
UHÁHFWLRQ,WMXVWUHTXLUHVLPDJLQDWLRQDQGDFWLYHVLWXDWHGHQJDJHPHQWMXVWDV
what New Urban Practices, like Patio Maravillas, have proposed through their
actions.
4.1.3 Note on the City to Come
The Relation of New Urban Practices to the Right

[V[OL*P[`
Mark Purcell has clearly warned us from simply translating the activities
of these movements into a direct application of Lefebvre’s right to the city.
Lefebvre imagined the right to the city entirely differently: as a cry that
initiated a radical struggle to move beyond both the state and capitalism. In
this respect, there should be no temptation to claim that these New Urban
Practices that are the object of study for this thesis have managed to guarantee
that right. Instead, my conclusion is that by they have managed to re-shape
the very way these rights are granted. Through direct spatial and emotional
engagement New Urban Practices in Madrid invite citizens to move away from
a position of passive expectation. They do not even conceive that the little of
what is left of the welfare state might still be able to grant them any degree of
sophisticated and effective spatial justice. Instead, they perform, they connect,
they build and they imagine their city, based on networks that cut accross
WLJKWGHÀQWLRQVRIIRUPDOLW\RULQIRUPDOLW\DQGZKLFKDUHPRPHQWDQHRXVDQG
situational arrangements of affective engagement. By doing that, they pose the 415
right to the city as a declination of urban social action.
(*LY[HPU+LS\ZPVU
When after years of intense activism and mobilization, the outcome of the
PXQLFLSDOHOHFWLRQVRIÀQDOO\FRQÀUPHGWKDWDSROLWLFDODOWHUQDWLYHWKH
electoral list named “Ahora Madrid” resulted elected. This was welcomed with
enormous expectation for a radical rupture and change to happen. From both
ends of the political spectrum, everybody awaited a radical rupture with the
policy of the exiting governing team and, as a consequence, a sort of extremely
noticeable change in the everyday life and landscape of the city. Many of the
sympathizers and participants to the various social movements and platforms
around the constellation issued of 15M and the Mareas, held high hopes for a
radical change to come when Ahora Madrid took power of the City Hall.
µ:HOOWKHFLW\LVJRLQJWRFKDQJHUDGLFDOO\\RXNQRZ",WLVQRWWKDWGLIÀFXOW
already by stopping the corruption and the alignment with a powerful lobby of
banks and construction companies of the previous government, the change will
be spectacular. It is impossible to do it as bad as the previous”--
Equally spectacular or even more was the change expected by detractors of

Ahora Madrid. On the one hand, the left-leaning sympathizers and even centre-
oriented citizens expected an improvement of the social aspects and the care
for the quality of the lived everyday urban landscape, such as cleaner streets
and better facilities supporting recreation and social services. On the other
hand, most of the right-leaning voters expressed their fears and conviction that
such a government would bring outright catastrophe.
However, when interviewed, a good deal of citizens from both groups cannot
conceal something. Behind the expected varnish of favouritism or detriment
of the symbolic politics of Ahora Madrid municipal government, the realization
that not so many things had changed in their everyday experience of the city.
Their lives in the city very much continued just like before.
There are many voices that have blamed the weakening of the social
mobilization around social movements and other forms of civic associationism
for this diminishing of social protest. While this might indeed be true, the
ÀQGLQJVRIWKLVWKHVLVSRLQWDWDUHODWHGEXWGLIIHUHQWFDXVH2QWKHRQHKDQG
part of Ahora Madrid’s political program for changing the governance of the city
passes through enhancing a more decentralized and local process of decision-
making and management of resources.9 While this strong bid for participation
DQGORFDOPDQDJHPHQWVHHPVWRFRQÀUPWKHHPSKDVLVRQDVHOIPDQDJHPHQW
attitude towards space” that came with New Urban Practices, it has taken a
long time to evolve and get implemented only partially. On the other hand,
the access to municipal power concentrates the decision power in few people
and separates and alienates participants from their previous regimes of direct
416
involvement.
In sum, a series of processes both caused by and independent of the actions of

the Municipal Government have, to a larger extent, deactivated the necessary
DIIHFWLYH HQDFWLRQ WKDW DOORZV IRU D FOHDU LGHQWLÀFDWLRQ ZLWK WKH SODFH DQG
the assumption of responsibilities. Thus, they have delayed the increased
levels of participation and civic engagement that both Ahora Madrid and its
sympathizers initially expected.
:LWKLQWKHÀUVWNLQGRISURFHVVHVEHORQJVWKHUHIXVDOWRJUDQW3DWLR0DUDYLOODVD
new base in the form of long requested transfer of empty public building in the
centre of the city. Many are the barriers that prevented this from happening.
)RU LQVWDQFH WKH FXUUHQW OHJLVODWLRQ PDGH LW H[WUHPHO\ GLIÀFXOW $OVR WKH
separation of powers prevents any interference of the municipal power in
judiciary procedure any member of Patio might be involved in, unless the
accusation is the city government itself. However, the possibility for the transfer
of an undersized facility was always there as many participants involved in tis
6XIÀFHDOVRKHUHWRUHIHUWKHUHDGHUWRWKHFRQWLQXRXVKDUUDVPHQWRIWKH0XQLFLSDO*RYHUQ-
ment by powerful Media groups, according to whom, the City of Madrid is constantly in verge
of plunging into an apocalytical abbys if it continues to grant its citizens a sovereign voice and
active role in the planning and making of the city. The Central Government has moreover con-
WULEXWHGWRWKLVER\FRWWE\EORFNLQJHVVHQWLDODSSURDYDOIRUWKHFLW\·VQHZÀQDQFLDODQGHFRQRPLF
policies that prioritise social budgets and a substantial reduction of the debt. See the article of F.
Caballero in Eldiario.es from 06/04/2017.
9 . The list of measures, such the Planes de Barrio, participatory budgets, etc, can be consulted on
the website of the City Council: www.munimadrid.es
process and with professional knowledge of the law have profusely expressed:
-- “They could indeed let us just use the building, this one or another one, there
are plenty, they could do it if they wanted, but it requires courage”10.
However, despite continual requests from the collective of the Patio Maravillas,
still not one building has been granted and the collective remains in its dormant
or waiting phase. Recently, Patio Maravillas has attempted the occupation of
new building in San Mateo St. This occupation, lasted only despite its initial
success, aborting the possibility of this collective to again deploy its activities
DURXQGDÀ[HGEXLOWVWUXFWXUHLQWKHQHLJKERXUKRRGRI0DODVDxD
Different collectives and social platforms, among which Patio Maravillas, have
QHYHUWKHOHVVSURÀWHGIURPWKHFKDQJHRIDWWLWXGHLQWKH&LW\&RXQFLOWRPDNH
progress on this matter. Together with other social movements, they created
the Red de Espacios Ciudadanos11 (REC, Network of Citizen Spaces) and in
2015 they started a process of recollection of information and analysis of the
different experiences that had taken place in Madrid. This process ended with
the draught of the Marco para los Bienes Comunes (Frame for the Commons)12
This document was intended to coordinate the frame for the facilitation and
development of self-managed social spaces with the help of the City Council.
The document is presented a tool to seize this historic opportunity and facilitate
the democratization and normalization of this collaboration. With this bid for
417
direct engagement of citizens in the self-organization and management of their
urban public spaces, REC contributes to the further elaboration of the change
RIPRGHOWKDWLQVSLUHV1HZ8UEDQ3UDFWLFHV,QDGGLWLRQLWFRQÀUPVVRPHRI
the assertions of this thesis. The city is yet to happen.
10 . Interview with NM, 15.15.2016. Madrid

11 . http://www.espaciosciudadanos.org
12 . available here: http://www.espaciosciudadanos.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Mar-
co-Comun-v1-4.pdf
4.2 Urbanity as Extended
Affectivity
419
Anger, shame, hate, and love are not psychic facts hidden
at the bottom of another’s consciousness: they ... exist on this face
or in those gestures, not hidden behind them
-- Merleau-Ponty, 1961, Sense and Non-sense, p. 53
4.2.1 The City as Cognitive and
(ɈLJ[P]L9LZV\YJL
In this thesis, as one the main subject matter, I have considered the performance
of affective phenomena as effective ways of articulating, an alternative socio
spatial order through mobilizing urbanity as a potential extended emotion.
As a subsequent part of this general objective, I have also put into question
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emotions, which sees the emoting body as “affected” by external causes and
stirred by internal uncontrollable passions or affections. My own stance has
been to try to reconcile, bridge and confront the undeniable eventful focus of
emotions with more latent and performative practices associated with other
affective phenomena like moods. Moreover, this is paralleled with a similar
reconsideration of the explosive, violent and irrational nature of protests as
ODIROOLHGHVIRXOHV %URFK E\FRQWUDVWLQJLWZLWKWKHVORZHUDQGVRIWHU
practices of contention through alternative lifestyles.
Considering the combined results of the three different empirical studies

420 under the light of the theoretical premises of the thesis, I can say that the
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next passages I elaborate on how the city emerges as a cognitive and affective
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;OL*P[`HZ*VNUP[P]LHUK(ɈLJ[P]L9LZV\YJL
In her recent book, “The Feeling Body: Affective Science Meets the Enactive
Mind”, Colombetti (Colombetti, 2014) proposes the idea of primordial
affectivity. In her proposition, primordial affectivity can produce certain
phenomena, like diverse states of mind, that emerge from both less and more
than an individual’s nervous system. She derives consequently two hypotheses
that follow from such concept. On the one hand, she proposes that primordial
affectivity is enacted by the whole body, not necessarily depending on just and
only the nervous system13. The implications of this assertion are large and go
deep to contradict the foundations of most strands of neuroscience. One of
the main implications is that since the full body is responsible and engaged in
this autopoietic enactive “sense-making”. Perhaps too daringly, when we talk
about a social body, built upon material bodily and language based interaction
as its main intersubjective world-making, we are introducing the possibility of
this body to bear primordial affectivity. Such speculation brings me directly to
the second of Colombetti’s hypotheses, which is her bid for socially extended
13 . “is not meant to depend on the nervous system alone. Rather, it is enacted by the whole
organism, and indeed even by organisms that lack a nervous system” (p. 21).
affectivity :
Importantly, an organism can become coupled to another one (or other

ones) via continuous reciprocal influences. In this case, we can talk of
emotion forms instantiated by two (or more) organisms together in their
coupling, with attractors that pull all organisms simultaneously into a
specific interactive pattern. (Colombetti, 2014, p. 70)
These two hypotheses mark the ground for what has been the adventure of this
thesis : to consider the city as a potential effective extension of our cognitive
and affective capacities.
7KLVWKHVLVVKRZVWKDWXQGHUWKHFLUFXPVWDQFHVGHÀQHGE\WKLVUHVHDUFKWKH
city has behaved as an important cognitive and affective resource for the social
movements and civic platforms around 15M and Patio Marvillas. In fact, I
believe this thesis delves on the processes by which the doings and sayings
of these social movements and platforms have integrated such resources in
RUGHUWRFRQVWLWXWHZKDW,KDYHGHÀQHGDV1HZ8UEDQ3UDFWLFHV+HUHXUEDQ
VSDFHTXDOLÀHVDVDUHVRXUFHWKDWLVFRQVWLWXWLYHRIWKHXUEDQFRQGLWLRQ,QIDFW
urban space, comprised of both social and physical environment, provides for
a certain reunion and encounter of alterity, from which a particular feeling
emerges: urbanity. Urbanity is thus considered an affective phenomena (with
421
certain features that may qualify as an emotion and others more like a mood)14,
with clear cognitive aspects in coherence with an enactive stance. Urbanity is
proposed here to be an extended emotion, for the external components that
concur are indeed constitutive and not accessory. , The qualities of an urban
space might be the same, but we cannot feel the same in a non-urban space.
This is not just a perception in the sense of the assessment of certain sensorial
stimuli that register the aspects of an environment, It is, I argue, much more
than that. This is detailed in the several following points.
As an enactive extended emotion it is a proactive embracement of space

(physical and social, that is to say, objects, people and the space they create).
This means that urbanity prompts us not only to properly acknowledge the
space and its concurrence, but induces a certain attitude towards it. This
attitude, most importantly, is not only a certain passive assessment, but an
embodied cognition through an active set of action tendencies. These action
tendencies are direct bodily reactions that direct our perception and prepare
the following actions and movements. This predisposition, this preparation
for the action, the physical movements and the following potential material
interaction is an embrace of the presence of space. In phenomenological terms
, it constitutes a reaching out, an embracement. This embracement implies
that as an extended emotion, urbanity is a vector of intentional and directed
interaction. As such, it also shapes the way in which we appraise, understand
,WVFODVVLÀFDWLRQLQWKHWHUPVVSHFLÀHGE\WKHGLIIHUHQWLDWLRQRIDIIHFWLYHSKHQRPQDRIFHUWDLQ
theories of emotions like Scherer’s Component Process Model, is not smooth nor un-problematic.
see further down for more on this aspect.
and conceive space.
,Q FRJQLWLYH WHUPV XUEDQLW\ LV D IXOO\ÁHGJHG DSSUDLVDO $JDLQ , FRQWHQG

that it surpasses what narrow minded conceptions of appraisal might be
able to capture. As an embracement, it is also an acknowledgement, a taking
conscience of. I consider urbanity as holding the key for further complex and
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further articulation and elaboration of what a society is.
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GRQHDFFRUGLQJWRWKHUXOHVWKDWDSSO\WRWKHFODVVLÀFDWLRQLQWKHWHUPVVSHFLÀHG
by the differentiation of affective phenomena of certain theories of emotions
like Scherer’s Component Process Model, is not smooth nor unproblematic. I
consider this not to be surprising, as urbanity is an emergent quality at another
level of complexity altogether. Just as Scherer’s (2005) CPM models different
SKHQRPHQDLQWKHFURVVLQJRIVSHFLÀFFRPELQDWLRQVRIGLIIHUHQWSURFHVVHVRI
diverse components (cognitive, physiological, felt experience, motor system,
etc), a modelling of the component processes that may partake in urbanity
should consider the external component processes. For obvious reasons, the
manner in which these combine and couple cannot be expected to be the same
DVGLYHUVHSURFHVVHVZLWKLQDXQLÀHGRUJDQLFOLYLQJHQWLW\
422
(U(UZ^LY[V[OL*P[`VM4HSHPZL
Grâce à la fatigue, le monde était grand et débarrassé de ses noms

-- Peter Handke, Über die Müdigkeit
$V , LQWURGXFHG LQ WKH ÀUVW SDUW RI WKH WKHVLV PDQ\ VFKRODUV KDYH UHFHQWO\
revived interest in considering the emotional and affective regimes that the
contemporary global city seems to impose on its residents, wherever their
place of residence. This angle of analysis has become a valuable manner of
performing a critique on contemporary hegemonic socio-economic world order
through its felt mental and bodily effects. By doing so, these scholars place the
emphasis on a situated and experiential dimension of the world as lived and
as felt, and away from strictly external rationalizing frames that render social
reality as governed solely through the numbers of the big scale.
Within these theories, the concept of tiredness merits a special mention.

It usually describes a bodily and mental state of exhaustion. However,
UHVHDUFKHUVSURSRVHWRVHHLWVSHUIRUPDWLYLW\DVFDWDO\VWRIDÀHOGRIUHVLVWDQFH
to the hegemonic social and spatial order of capitalist production. Within the
experience of contemporary metropolitan life, where tiredness and exhaustion
are usually consequences of their accelerated hyperactive lifestyles, they can 423
be said to hold the potential to perform in a very potent way. Tiredness and
fatigue are commonly addressed and labelled as a pathological condition, a
sort of imbalance or illness that requiring its sufferers to recover a soon as
possible “ in order to join again that insensate spiral of production” (Peran,
+RZHYHU IDWLJXH PD\ DOVR FRQVWLWXWH D PRPHQW RI LQÁHFWLRQ ZKHUH
WKHERG\WDNHVDGLVWDQFHDEOHWRDZDNHDUHÁH[LYHDQGFULWLFDOVWDQFHRQWKH
everyday habits and rhythms. As such, fatigue may ignite an emancipatory
process through its nature as the instant of pause and detention, potentially
turning it into a “capable tiredness” (Peter Handke, 1996)
Handke, in his book “Über die Müdigkeit”, elaborates on tiredness not only as
a sign of our times, but also as a operative and powerful component of life.
While tiredness builds unsurmountable walls between men, it is also capable
of breaking the bonds that hinder communication, destroys resistance and
reluctance. Fatigue thus, also “opens ... and spares a passage for the epic of
all beings” allowing not only for a gathering, but also for a reconstitution (in
French «remembrement» p.54) and therefore proximity and overture.
Seen in this manner, fatigue becomes a mode of understanding the world,

D SRZHUIXO FRJQLWLYH DQG DIIHFWHG IUDPH ZKLFK LQWHQVLÀHV WKH JD]H DQG
sharpens perception. Tiredness transforms images in sensations, revealing the
hidden meanings in our tired contemporary living, making us understand the
unsuitability of these through rough malaise and prompting us to act upon the
world. Fatigue can then very well be behind a particular molecular revolution
that begins a strike that politicizes malaise (Perán). Such strike, such revolt
gives birth to the movements that constitute the new urban practices I put
forward as the object of this thesis. However, the conditions that turn malaise
into revolt and the genesis of an alternative at social scale do not always
concur and are not always the same. I think I have shown in this thesis that
those conditions require a decanted, complex and rich urban tissue, which
articulates urban porosity allowing for the seizing of an ecology of encounter
and avoidance responsible for the birth of alternative social practices in the
city.
Thrift (Thrift, 2004) has posed that “there is more to the world that is routinely
acknowledged in too many writings on politics and this excess is not just
incidental”. I would add that this is not only constrained to the writings on
politics but apply to many research on the city. I hope this thesis has been able
to tackle this and “read the little, the messy and the jerry-rigged as a part of
politics and not just incidental to it”.
,QDJUHHPHQWZLWK7KULIWWKXV,KRSHWKLVZRUNKDVDGGHGDVPDOOEXWVLJQLÀFDQW
contribution to those dangerous and “exciting times” (Thrift) we live in, by
helping to bridge the different and often confronted scholarly traditions and
cultures of cities (Portugali).
424
I think we live in exciting times because these two ‘traditions’ have
become mixed up, most especially in experiments in thinking about the
politics of encountering the spaces of cities which we are only at the start
of laying out and working with. (Thrift, 2004)
To conclude, the city that New Urban Practices put forward, seems to me an
inspiring alternative to these chronic pathologies of nothingness denounced by
'HVYLDWDQG5HQGXHOHV ,WLVDFLW\WKDWEUHDWKHVIUHHGRPDQGZKLFKLV
not anymore the machine for the production of malaise, but a reason to dream,
and a companion for play.
5
•
Outlook:
Towards the Urban Prototype
La vie urbaine n’a pas encore commencé
-- Henri Lefebvre, Le droit à la ville, 1967 429
The word experimental is apt, providing it is understood not as a

descriptive of an act to be later judged in terms of success or failure, but
simply as an act the outcome of which is unknown
ߊJohn Cage, Silence,1961
Chapter Overview
This part “Outlook: Towards the Urban Prototype” constitutes the last one
of the thesis, and it is conceived as the elaboration of the outlook of this
WKHVLV·VÀQGLQJV$FFRUGLQJO\WKLVSDUWFRQVWLWXWHVDQRSHQLQJWRWKHIXWXUHRI
the research and its direct implications for professional practice and citizen
participation.
7R WKDW DLP , RSHQ WKH ÀHOG WR VSHFXODWLRQ DQG SURSRVDO DQG , GHDO PRUH
directly with a potential extrapolation to prescriptive action of the concepts
GHÀQHGLQWKHSUHYLRXVFKDSWHUV,QFRQVHTXHQFHWKLVGDULQJFKDSWHUVKRXOGEH
understood in light of the tradition of proposals, visionary projects or manifestos
that have traditionally shaped the disciplines of urban planning, urbanism and
architecture. It is not my ambition to craft a fully encompassing manifesto nor
a normative set of rules, but to dare to think the discipline beyond its current
epistemological, methodological and legal corsets.
This part is not divided in different chapters but presented as one chapter
divided in 3 sections.
430
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After this, what model emerges for the future of the city? Can I say that what
appears to emerge from the chaotic sum of the events, actions, and phenomena
analysed in this thesis is a model? And, moreover, is this a model that only
applies to very particular type of large, dense southern European cities, or on
the contrary that could be applied and adapted to more general categories of
the city?
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movement held the concept and the practice that squatting was an end in
itself, already by the events of 2011 onwards this has changed. With Patio
Maravillas it becomes clear that the squatting of certain built structures is not
ends but means. It makes clear that the interest is in having access to a support,
to infrastructure in order to build space and city through social integration
and participation and not through identitary delimitation of a territory. The
structures remain open, welcoming other uses (necessarily compatible, this is
clear), and the real squatting happens at the scale of the city. This is a strategy
of seduction through practice, through familiarity, through appealing to basic
needs and awaken aspirations. Social struggle becomes spatialized social
awareness, and the city becomes a sort of interior space, fully inhabited by
those who activate it. Utopia emerges here as a concept from these processes
that constitute a real evolution that matches its 21st-century contemporary
condition. In consequence, urban utopia is embraced, conceived, and produced
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processual and dynamic pulse for urban future that emerges from these new
urban practices.
Omnia sunt communia!1
[Man] will adapt to hydrocarbons in the air, detergents in the water,

crime in the streets, and crowded recreational areas. Good design
becomes a meaningless tautology if we consider that man will be
reshaped to fit whatever environment he creates. The long-range question
is not so much what sort of environment we want, but what sort of man
we want.
~ Robert Sommer, Personal Space, 1969
431
Robert Sommer once posed that the question that planners faced was clear:
“integration versus segregation”. Even though this question was posed many
years ago, it still bears relevance. The contemporary fragmentary urban derive
captured by Secchi’s “New Urban Question” and commented in this thesis for
the case of Madrid can be said to be gaining momentum. However, researchers
and designers are nowadays almost unanimously convinced that integration
is the right direction for design and policy. However, as Julienne Hanson has
warned we must keep in mind that these qualities of integration, permeability,
etc. are global qualities and not local. With this she warns us of a too simplistic
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and design features turned towards the local dimension.
It is important to note that with this thesis I am not uncritically celebrating the
virtues of communitarian living. Undoubtedly, the idea of community as much
as that one of society has been incredibly operative for social thought over the
last one and a half centuries. However, both concepts are also the source of
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HPHUJLQJ IURP XQÀW DQDO\VLV ,Q WKH )UHQFK WUDGLWLRQ RI VRFLDO WKRXJKW WKH
concept of community has been seriously targeted as standing for the worst
expressions of intolerance, and regressive forms of culture reactionary to
1 . Motto of the political group within the coalition Ahora Madrid participated by
members of Patio Maravillas. It literally means that all things are held in common. Allegedly
dating back to Thomas Aquinas, it’s most associated with Thomas Müntzer, a radical theologian
who became a rebel leader during the German Peasants’ War of 1524–1525.
innovation and progress.
It is relevant here to recall how Julienne Hanson (2000) comments on the

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the promises and assumptions of much early modern housing had failed to
materialize. Such reason was that “the architectural gesture of turning away
from the surroundings of a newly designed housing project in order to orientate
the housing around a central ‘village green’, a move that was intended to
represent the beating social heart of the community of new residents, seemed to
achieve the opposite outcome of driving people apart. My thesis suggested that
to equate ‘living in the round’ with a natural and unselfconscious expression of
community was a misrepresentation of the archaeological record”.
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and pulsing community can be as dangerous as the idealization of a neutral,
objective and emancipatory society. Thus, neither the village green nor the
idealized public space can be any more valid models and should be overcome
ZLWKQHZDQGIHUWLOHÀJXUHVRIWKRXJKW+RZHYHUFRQWUDU\WRSUHYLRXVDFDGHPLF
SUDFWLFH , VXJJHVW WKHVH ÀJXUHV VKRXOG HPHUJH IURP DQ DFWLYH DQG VHQVLWLYH
situated analysis of those new urban practices capable of proposing them, and
VKRXOGQRWEHGHÀQHGDSULRULDVDQH[HUFLVHRIYDLQLQWHOOHFWXDOSURZHVV
432
The rehabilitation of community that I propose comes hand in hand with its
problematization. It is not, I insist, a blind celebration, but a call to endorse the
politics that are found in the encounter and recognition of the other.
Finally, it will be argued that it is essential for architects and urban

designers to understand how social ideas about inequalities in power
and control get built into our frameworks and assumptions, and why, in
the final analysis, architecture cannot be divorced from politics.
~ Juliene Hanson, Urban Transformations: A History of Design
Ideas, 2000
43
434
4 34
Beyond the Fuss and the Mess:
The Prototype
43
435
35
436
,FRQWHQGWKDWWKHDQVZHUWRWKHQHHGIRUWKRVHQHZÀJXUHVRIFRPPXQLWDULDQ
and societal space are contained in the potential of New Urban Practices. Beyond
the apparent mess and chaotic display of tentative and miniscule actions, these
practices hold a strong proposal. However, I contend this proposal is not exactly
just a concept, an ideology or an idea of engagement and spatial justice.
I believe these practices put forward a yet more fundamental contribution that
is relevant to new ways of making city. Such contribution, I believe, belongs
in their procedural and methodological dimension. Their manners of doing, as
well as their emphasis on practice, experience, engagement and situation that I
have covered in this thesis, deserve the effort to be analysed and conceptualized
in order to render it appropriable and utilizable.
To capture this proposal, I propose to borrow the concept of the prototype as it

has been recently vindicated and theorized by researchers in anthropological
research. By prototype, I do not mean here neither the cognitive theory
proposed by Eleanor Rosch (1975) in the 70s not the commonly understood
PHDQLQJWKDWUHIHUVWRWKHÀUVWYHUVLRQRIDPDFKLQHRUGHVLJQ+RZHYHULWPD\
be not so far from both examples.
By prototype I refer to what Alberto Corsín Jimenez and Adolfo Estalella

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437
society. Prototypes should be in a permanent process of amelioration and
PRGLÀFDWLRQZLWKDVHWRIFRGHVDQGDODQJXDJHWKDWHYHU\ERG\FDQJHWWRNQRZ
so that it remains accessible to everybody or to as many people as possible.
Such permanent openness that sustains also a community of people involved,
so that while they create and manipulate the prototype, they create and change
that community. These authors usually propose the open source software as
the best example, for it is a technology in permanent development, and which
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to such process of perfecting by the participation of anybody.
$VVXFKWKHSURWRW\SHDVQHZHPHUJHQWÀJXUHLQVRFLDODQGFXOWXUDOVWXGLHV
(Jimenez & Estalella, 2014), provides a hinge for understanding the nature of
the proposal these new urban practices put forward. The reason for that is that
the prototype is an apt concept to capture at once the situated frame for the
construction of a new pragmatic social action as well as the derive. It does so
by placing the emphasis on practical and recursive action over an object, the
city, which becomes an accessible artefact. Prototypes
Corsin Jimenez & Estalella argue that throughout the period that started with
the 15M mobilizations both the words vecino and barrio (neighbour and
neighbourhood) acquired a new social and political meaning and relevance
(Jimenez & Estalella, 2014). They blame for this primarily the assembly, which
as a social form capable of revitalizing certain forgotten forms of neighbourly
politics, it has, on the way, reinvented classical urban topoi (Jimenez &
Estalella, 2014).
The method and tools mobilized by the assembly is not just an event nor a
simple symbol of the 15M and many other similar movements. Despite the
usual complains about the uselessness of such parliamentary gatherings, the
lamentations about their slow endless and often labyrinthine dialogues with
too many voices, the assembly performs a powerful cognitive and emotional
transformation. Through these seemingly dysfunctional methods of dialogue
and more dialogue, the participants are arguably included, recognized and
slowly empowered not only for having a voice, but learning how to use it.
The rhythms and spaces enact relationships among them that qualify them
as neighbours and not just as residents of the city. This imperfect and often
chaotic baptism of citizenship is also an encounter and an embrace, usually
lived with enthusiasm and strong positive emotions. This set of relations are
also cognitive devices, as they allow the city as an artefact and generator of
knowledge, to be understood (Reed, 2008)
In fact, these devices, like the very act of assembling neighbours--”of convoking
a neighbourhood assembly, and of bringing and holding a disparity of relations
WRJHWKHULQWKHSROLWLFDODQGVRFLDOÀJXUHRI´WKHQHLJKERXUµKDYHPRUHRYHU
been vindicated as extremely valuable sources to address the “possible forms
that an urban commons may assume in the neoliberal metropolis” (Jimenez &
Estalella, 2014)
438
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Context
Among the ruins of a depleted model of expansionism and the masquerade of
a failed civic equality no longer effectively supported by the state, emerges this
prototype as unstable, intervenable and hackable geography. The prototype is
near to the urban imaginary vindicated by Delgado, placing the emphasis of
the practice of social relations of reproduction and adding to them the spatial
dimension.
This notion comes close to that of social form as coined by Raymond Ledrut
(1973). He possesses that social form structures experience at every moment,
engendering both behaviours and real images, for imaginaries are not
representations but representational schemes, or schemes of representation
/HGUXW .
Despite the close vicinity with the notion of urban imaginary or social form
(as kinds of operative cognitive frames) we should beware of reducing the
notion of the prototype to banal marketing image, or to a cliché image of urban
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spaces, but also changing the subjects and informing a new diversity to be
drawn and sedimented over the dense European city through much needed
new governance structures. For the category of the prototype, space is practice.
7KHUHIRUH LWV SHUIRUPDQFH DV XUEDQ LPDJLQDU\ HPSKDVL]HV WKH VLJQLÀFDQFHV
of actual social relations as put in practice and experienced, not merely
contemplated as negotiating assets.
By this bid for practice, even if sometimes imperfect, chaotic and far from
the serene image of “the project”, these New Urban Practices provide the
VXEVWDQFH WH[WXUDO ÁHVK\ DQG FRQFUHWH WR XUEDQ H[SHULHQFH DV DQ DFW
and not just as a passively perceived abstract meaning. Sometimes based on
the emotional eruptions of the multitude and its moral economies, and some
other times in the deliberative and dialogical slow tempo of the assemblies.
These New Urban Practices re-state and reconcile temporarily the incomplete
yet embodied publicité and extimacy2 of collective action, together with the
intimacy and reclusion necessary in contemporary urban living. Articulated
DURXQGHFRORJLHVRIHQFRXQWHUDQGDYRLGDQFHZLWKRXWFHQWUHÀ[HGLPDJHQRU
organic core, these moments of urbanity and citizenship seem to be key to the
articulation of the incoming future of the European metropolis within the new
horizon of the city as commons.3
Urban space is embodied by participants to these new urban practices as much

as the city itself is an extension of their affective and cognitive capacities.
Just as the scene of urban decay is measured by the coupling of control and
IHDUWKHÁRXULVKLQJRIWKHDVVRFLDWLYHPRYHPHQWDQGWKHGLUHFWLQWHUYHQWLRQV
in search of an embodied spatial justice best signals the vitality of public life.
In particular, the actions of Stop-Evictions emerge powerfully in the collective
imaginary as a hinge into a new intervenable geography of collaboration and
439
direct intervention. The incommensurable and often abstract entity of the city
as a whole reconciles again with the dimension of the everyday experience,
DQGWKHUXVKRIKHWHURJHQHRXVDQGQRQDIÀOLDWHGLQGLYLGXDOVWKDWJDWKHUWRDFW
to respond, to debate. Public space is again reconstructed, tentatively, by the
crossing of popular assemblies and the physical supports of streets and squares
that provide, once more, the base for a dense liquid commonality in freedom,
which is the base for urbanity. What the Urban Prototype promises is but an
interactive and engaged manner of living in the city, offering an articulation of
the Sennet’s “Open City”
2 . As Pavon Cuéllar (2014) reminds us, after the work of Jung, extimacy is no longer
contrary to intimacy, but actually it contains it.
3 . David Harvey «The Right to the City» International Journal of Urban and Regional
Research 27, 4 (2003) pp 939-41.
442
44
4 42
FIG: 5_1
La Ingobernable.
Source:Alvaro Minguito 2017
443
443
444
4
4444
FIG: 5_2
. La Ingobernable.
Minguito 2017 Source:Alvaro Minguito 2017
445
FIG: 5_5
La Ingobernable.
446
FIG: 5_4
La Ingobernable.
447
FIG: 5_7
La Ingobernable.
448
448
44
FIG: 5_6
La Ingobernable.
449
FIG: 5_8
La Ingobernable.
Latest Events
,QWKHZHHNVSUHFHGLQJWKHÀQLVKLQJRIWKLVWKHVLVDFWLYLVWVUHODWHGWR3DWLR
Maravillas have just occupied a building[1] situated on the one of the
main axis of the city.[2] The new collective declares itself nevertheless
autonomous and responds to the name of “La Ingobernable” (The
Ingovernable). The building chosen is property of the city of Madrid was
ephemerally occupied previously in one of the express try out to occupy new
buildings while Patio Maravillas was based in Divino Pastor. The previous
Muncicipal Government had signed an agreement with the foundation of
starchitect Emilio Ambasz, who expressed their interest in setting up their
HQ. However, the building has remained empty for years, denounce the
collective responsible for the occupation.
The occupation did not happen in isolated manner. From some time,
activists members of Patio Maravillas and also members of the political
group Ganemos Madrid (member of the coalition Ahora Madrid in power
in the city Hall) had been preparing a new civic platform, called 129, for
the development and organization of grassroots neighbourly movements.
This collective, which is charged with the ambition to organize local groups,
is intended to guarantee that a bottom-up structure can both complement 451
and control the Municipal Government. While the outcome of these actions
remains still uncertain as of the date of completion of this thesis, this new
action shows that the new urban practices remain alive and “de actualidad” .
As for the day of the completion of this manuscript, the collective of “La
Ingobernable”, remians occuppied and has attracted hundreds of proposals
IRUDFWLYLWLHV7KHUHVSRQVLEOHVWDONRID´GHVERUGHµ RYHUÁRZ FRQÀUPLQJWKH
demand for such spaces and the vitality of New Urban Practices in the city.
>@´&UyQLFDVGHOD,QJREHUQDEOHµ7H[W3DEOR(ORUGX\3KRWRJUDSK\ÉOYDUR0LQJXLWR
Source: Saltamos, May 2017
https://saltamos.net/cronicas-la-ingobernable/. Accessed: 15.05.2017
[2] This street Avenida de la Castellana, runs north-south and structures the centres of the city,
connecting with Paseo de Recoletos and Paseo del Prado
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Appendices
509
Appendix 3.1
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Distrito 01 - Centro Map of the lo
of «infravivie
071
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092 QRWIXOÀOOFULW
inhabitability
15 Source: EMV
14
16
11 13
02
12
021
Barrios
11 - Palacio
12 - Embajadores
13 - Cortes
14 - Justicia
15 - Universidad
16 - Sol
Dirección General de Estadística
513
The Historical
Central Distric and
its admisnitrative
subdivisions (2015).
Source: Madrid City
Hall. Department of
Urbanismo and Urban
Planning.
In the preceeding
page, the resulst of
the percentage of
urban population as
measured by the World
Bank.
514
The area comprised by

the Historical Central
Distric and the Urban
Extensions of the
19th century againts
the current extension
of the city. The map
includes the location
of vulnerable areas of
Madrid (2015).
Source: Madrid City
Hall. Department of
Urbanismo and Urban
Planning.
Madrid.Vulnerable
Neighbourhoods and
Urban Vulnerability.
Sources: Spanish
Ministry of Public
Works.
515
516
Pedestrian areas in
the Historical Central
Distric of Madrid
(2015).
Source: Madrid City
Hall. Department of
Urbanismo and Urban
Planning.
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Appendix 3.2
523
5 4
52
524
525
5 6
52
526
527
528
529
Note: The individual numerical scores for all the measures of all the street
segments produce aexteremely space consuming list. For that reason, I do not
include them here. However, these result are safely stored and available upon
request.
530
531
532
53
32
Madrid. Map with the results of the combined

measures of Integration and Choice at readius of
1600 metres.
533
5
5333

3200 metres.
Madrid. Scatter
plot of the bi-
variate correlation
between measures of
Integration and Choice
at readius of 400
metres, for each of the
selectd urban tissues.
Detailed scores of each
of the street segments
are stored safely and
available upon request.
534

1600 metres.
535
536
537
Madrid. Malasaña
All lines (fewest lines).
Map with the results of
the measure of Visual
at angular radius 3 .
538
Madrid. Malasaña
Visibility Graph
Ananlysis. Map with
the results of the
measure of Visual at
global radius.
540
541
542
543
544
Appendix 3.3
547
548
Note: These documents pertain to an alternative study that served as perparatory (and complementary)
for the the studies perfomed in chapter .3.3 Spatial Practices.
This study consisted in the eprformance of an walk with participants of NUP through the centre of the
city. During this walk, I had participants respond to a questionaire in which they indicated the ellicited
emotions they were feeling as we passed through different areas of the city. The walk took place in
an atmosphere of colloquial converstaion about their trajectories of participation in NUP since 2011.
7KHVWXG\XVHGVLPLODU\HWPRUHEUXWHYHUVLRQRIWKHHPRWLRQDOGLPHQVLRQDODQDO\VLVÀQDOO\IHDWXUHGLQ
chapter 3.4. The main hypothesis was to test the effects of a particular emotional climate that would
have accumulated over the course of the last years of intense social mobilization. The intention was also
to relate this emotinal dimensional scores with the distance to buildings or services that are considered
facilities, therefore enquiring into the relationship between social accessibility and emotional ellicitation
in urban space.
54
549
49
Madrid. Squares and
connected pedestrian
areas which bear
potential as locus of
extimacy in practices
of urban contention
550
Madrid. Area covered

by the CCTV system of
the Municipal Police.
551
55
5 51
Madrid. Spatial
Trajectories of urban
contention. Patio
Maravillas
Appendix 3.4
553
ranslation)
1. Participation profile and 15M
1. 1.1 Please indicate your degree of participation in political activities

Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Nothing A lot
2. 1.2 Are those activities more formal (like political party membership) or more informal
(like spontaneous mobilizations and non-affiliated campaigns)?
Mark only one oval.
More formal
More Informal
Both
554 Other:
3. 1.3 Please indicate your civic participation to public and community life through
associations clubs, etc
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
High I I
participate
Low ( I do no really participate,
actively in
even if I am a member of some
many different
club)
associations
and clubs)
4. 1.4 Please indicate your degree of participation in 15M

Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Low High
5. 1.5 Please indicate in what activities related to 15M you have participated
Check all that apply.
Demonstrations
Assemblies
Sit-ins
Caceroladas
Grito Mudo
Mareas
Asambleas de barrio
Other:
6. 1.6Please tell us about the sympathy you hold for the 15M and its participants (1= I
detest them, 3= I do not care, 6= I like them)
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5 6
I detest I like them and I care for

them them
7. 1.7 Please tell us about how much you agree with the reasons and claims of 15M (0=
not at all, 3= I do not know, 6= a totally agree) 555
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5 6
2. Emotions and Perception BEFORE

Thank you your answers so far. Please now try to remember the situation before the 15M and
place yourself in those days. Now please anwer the following questions
8. 2.1 Please tell us how did you find the overall situation before the 15M
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Bad Good
9. 2.2 How would you describe your feelings

about it?
10. 2.2.1 Please indicate in the wheel
Mark only one oval.
Option 1
11. 2.3 Did you find impotent about it or capable to overcome the situation?
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
I felt I could really

There was nothing I can contribute to make the
really do to change the situation better or at
situation least find solutions for
me
12. 2.4 And the situation in your neighbourhood?

Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Bad Good
13. 2.5 And the situation in your neighbourhood in terms of feelings?

556
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Sad Joyful or Happy

about it?

Mark only one oval.
Option 1
16. 2.7 Now the questions are a bit more specific. How did you find the social situation in
the city?
17. 2.8 How did you find the appearance of the
neighborghood?
18. 2.9 Did you find that the neighbourhood was offering enough services and facilities?
Mark only one oval.
Yes
No
Maybe
19. 2.10 Did you find the neighbourhood offered possibilities?

Mark only one oval.
Yes
No
Maybe
20. 2.11 Please describe
557
3. Emotions and Perception AFTER

Thank you your answers so far. Please now try to remember the situation before the 15M and
place yourself in those days. Now please anwer the following questions
21. 3.1 Please tell us how did you find the overall situation after the 15M
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Bad Good

about it?

Mark only one oval.
Option 1
24. 3.3 Did you find impotent about it or capable to overcome the overall situation?
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
I felt I could really

There was nothing I can contribute to make the
really do to change the situation better or at
situation least find solutions for
me
25. 3.4 And the situation in your neighbourhood?

Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Bad Good
26. 3.5 And the situation in your neighbourhood in terms of how it felt?
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Sad
558 Joyful or Happy

about it?

Mark only one oval.
Option 1
29. 3.7 Now the questions are a bit more specific. How did you find the social situation in
the city?
30. 3.8 How did you find the appearance of the

neighborghood?
31. 3.9 Did you find that the neighbourhood was offering enough services and facilities?
Mark only one oval.
Yes
No
Maybe
32. 3.10 Did you find the neighbourhood offered possibilities?

Mark only one oval.
Yes
No
Maybe
33. 3.11 Please describe
559
34. 3.12 Would yu say that your view of the city has changed?
Mark only one oval.
Yes
No
Maybe
35. 3.13 You would say that the city has

Mark only one oval.
Got worse
Remained the same
Improved
Other:
36. 3.14 Now you know the city

Mark only one oval.
Less or worse than before

The same
More or better than before
Other:
37. 3.15 If you think about Puerta del Sol, you
feel...
38. 3.16 Please indicate in the wheel
4. Emotions in the 15M/related events

Now I would like to ask you about the moments when you participated in 15M or other related
events/activities like the mareas, Patio Maravillas or PAH
39. How would you describe the general atnosphere in this event/activity
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
Bad Excellent
40. And in terms of how it felt? and how people were feeling
Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
560
Bad, sad or angry Good, happy or optimistic
41. Please indicate in the wheel

Mark only one oval.
Option 1
5. Other Information
Please fill in the following information. The questionaire will be dealt with total respect for privacy,
for that reason we don't ask your name or detailed personal information
42. 5.1 Gender

Mark only one oval.
Male
Female
Other
Prefer not to say
Other:
43. 5.2 Postcode

44. 5.3 Age group
Mark only one oval.
15-20
20-25
25-30
30-35
35-40
40-45
45-50
50-55
55-60
60-65
65-70
70-75
above
Other:
561
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Note: Only some selected items of the descriptive statistics work on the ansers
for the survey are presented here. The rest of the crosstabs are available upon
request.
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
Detailed Table of Contents
Abstract i
Resumé iii
Acknowledgements v
Pre-Scriptum vii
Table of Contents ix
List of Figures xiii
Part 1. Introduction 1
—Storia— 5
—Thesis— 7
1.1 Background Context & Main Elements 20

The Emergence of a “New Urban Question”. The Discovery of New Urban 20
Practices
The Irruption of the Affective into Contemporary Models of the city. Taking 21
Affect Seriously
The Relevance of the Mutually Constitutive Dynamic Between the Spatial and 23
the Social.
1.2 Approach & Disciplines: Epistemological and Methodological frames 24
580
A Tentative Answer: An Enactive Approach of the Urban Condition Through 25
Affect and Emotion
1.3 Structure 26
1.4 Findings 27
1.5 Relevance 28
1.6 Dialogue 31
&ODULÀFDWLRQRQWKH8VHRI$IIHFWLYH7HUPLQRORJ\ 33
Part 2. The Urban Cognition: Between Agency and Structure 39

2.0.1 Overview and Context: Background Context and Questions 42
2.0.2 The Evolution of the Cultures of Cities 43
2.1 Space to Affective agency 47
2.1.1 Chapter Overview: Background Context and Questions 48
Background Context and Questions 48
Structure 49
2.1.2 What Space. Social, Physical and Situated 50
Brief Note on Space 50
Space as Place 52
Situatedness 53
2.1.3 Exploring the Urban Condition 55
Life in the Metropolis, Cognition and Social Structure 55
Elusive Urbanity 60
Between Community, Difference and Justice: Beyond the Public Sphere 71
7KHFLW\EHWZHHQFRQÁLFWDQGLQQRYDWLRQ 75
&LW\DQG&RQÁLFW 75
City and Innovation 78
2.1.4 Perception. Perceiving the urban environment. 83
Spatial Perception and cognition 91
The Embodied Urban Atmospheric: from Buzz to Ambiances to Affect 92
Spatial Conditions of Co-Presence 95
Architecturally Constrained Sociality. Between co-Presence and Movement 98
Of Enclaves and Thresholds 106
Porosity 105
2.1.6 Conclusions Chapter 2.1 110
2.2 Emotion to Space. 113

2.2.1 Chapter Overview 114
2.2.2 Theories of Emotions. The Role of Space and Agency 115
2.2.3 Emotions as Action Tendencies 126
2.2.4 Emotions: Physiological or social? Universal or Cultural? 132
2.2.5 Emotion in Social Interactions 133
2.2.6 Enactive Emotions 137
2.2.7 Conclusions Chapter 139
2.3 Overcoming the Divide. Embodiment, Affordances, Dynamic Interaction and 143
581
Extension
2.3.2 Ecological Affordances 145
2.3.3 Distributed Cognition 150
2.3.4 Embodied Cognition, Embodying Emotion 153
2.3.5 Extended Mind, Extending Emotions 158
Criticism. The Limit of Extension. 160
Socially Extended cognition 160
Scaffolding 161
We-space 163
Extending Emotions 165
Material Scaffolding 166
Interpersonal Scaffolding 169
2.3.6 Complex Emergent Order: Participatory Sense Making and SIRN 170
2.3.7 Conclusions Chapter 175
2.4 Problematization: Research Questions and Hypothesis 179

2.4.1 Chapter Overwiew 180
2.4.2 Three Positions of Departure 180
From Power and Structure to Situated Engagement 180
Urbanity. Cognizing Heterogeneity 181
Enactive Approach to Agency 182
2.4.3 Mobilized concepts 186
2.4.2 Research Questions & Hypotheses 188
3 Madrid. New Urban Practices 195

3.0.1 Part Overview 198
Abstract 198
Backgorund, Structure & Objectives 199
8UEDQ6FHQHU\RI&RQÁLFWDQG&RRSHUDWLRQ 205
World context and the case of Madrid
3.1.1 World upsurges 206
3.1.2 Luttes Urbaines as a Theme. Ingredients for an Analytical Frame 208
Resource Mobilization, Political Process and Dynamics of Contention 208
3.1.3 Emotions and Social Movements 213
3.1.5 About Spatial Practices 215
3.1.6 On the Choice of the Case of Madrid 222
3.1.7 Introduction to the Case of Madrid 224
Place of Spain and Madrid in the World Financial Crisis and 224
Recession
Going Global 225
Metropolitan Expansion Model 226
3.1.8 New forms of Social Effervescence 235
3.1.9 Patio Maravillas and Malasaña 240
582
3.2 Study 1. Urban Porosity 247

3.2.2 Problematic 249
3.2.3 Methodology 253
Empirical Study Design 253
Data and Participants. Urban Landscape and Sampled Samples 255
Tools and Measures. 270
8UEDQ&RQÀJXUDWLRQDO0HDVXUHV 270
Urban Compositional Measures 276
3.3.4 Analysis and Discussion 280
1. Comparison of Urban Tissues 281
2. Porosity Study of Malasaña 285
3.3.5 Conclusion: The Affordances of Porous Urban Space 294
Outlook
3.3 Study 2. Spatial Practices of Contention. 301

3.3.2 Problematic 309
3.3.3 Methodology 305
Data and Participants 307
Tools and Measures 308
3.3.4 Analysis of Results and Discussion 315
3.3.5 Findings and Discussion 340
3.3.6 Conclusion: Practicing the City, Inhabiting the threshold 343
3.4 Study 3. Emotional Transition and Spatial Perception 347

3.4.0.1 Chapter Overview 348
3.4.0.2 Problematic 349
3.4.0.3 Methodology 352
Data and Participants 353
Tools and Measures 355
3.4.1 Study Emotion 1 - Survey 363
Research Design and Methodology 365
Results 365
Findings and Discussion 371
Outlook 372
3.4.2 Study Emotion 2 - Interviews 375
Intoduction 376
Research Design 377
Results 387
Findings and Discussion 391
4. Conclusions: The City of Extended Emotions 401

4.01 Part Overview 402
583
4.0.2 From Dismantling the City to Social Production of Space 403
4.0.3 Limitations of the Research 404
4.1 A New Geography. A Case of Cognitive Reappraisal 407
Changing the Focus, Rehabilitating Social Centrality 408
The City as Object of Troublesome Knowledge 411
Note on the City to Come 415
4.2 Urbanity as Extended Affectivity 419

The City as Cognitive and Affective Resource 420
An Answer to the City of Malaise 423
5. Outlook: Towards Urban Prototype 427

Chapter Overview 430
5.1 What Model for the Future? 430
5.2 Beyond the Fuzz and the Mess: The Prototype 435
Latest Events 451
Bibliography 453
Appendices 509
Detailed Table of Contents 580
Curriculum Vitae 585
Dario Negueruela del Castillo cv2017
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Professional course
2013-present Doctoral Researcher,
Institute of Architecture and the City,
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, Switzerland
2014-present School Lecturer,

School of Architecture, Civil & Environmental Engineering,
2014 Academic Visitor,

Interatheneum Department of Science, Project and Territorial Policy,
Polytechnic University of Turin POLITO, Italy
2011 Research Assistant.

Cultural Landscape Research Group. Department of Architectural Projects.
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid ETSAM.
Polytechnic University of Madrid UPM, Spain
2007-2012 Founder and Partner,

Ná architectural office, Madrid, Spain
2004-2005 Teaching assistant. International Master in Architecture.

Department of Public Building. Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism.
Delft Technical University, The Netherlands
Education
2013-present Ph.D
Doctoral Programme Architecture & Sciences of the City
Institute of Architecture and the City,
2011 MPhil./ D.E.A, Theory and Criticism of Architectural Projects.

Thesis: Cognitive role of Structures of Public Space in the Complex City.
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid ETSAM.
Polytechnic University of Madrid UPM, Spain
2006 M.Sc, Architecture and Urbanism

Delft Technical University, The Netherlands
2002 B.A, Architecture and Urban Design,

University of Westminster, London, UK
1998 C.O.U, Colegio Estudio, Madrid, Spain

Darío Negueruela del Castillo. C.V. 2017
Publications
Book Chapters
2015 The City as a Prototype. A Frame for Pragmatic Social Action.

In C. Bianchetti, E. Cogato Lanza, A. Enver Kercuku, A. Sampieri, & A. Voghera
(Eds.), Territories in Crisis. Architecture and Urbanism Facing Changes in Europe
(pp. 222–234). Berlin: Jovis
Conference Proceedings
2015 Affect as Spatial Affordance of Urban Difference

In M. Barcelloni, C. Cavalieri (Eds.) Horizontal Metropolis a radical project.
Conference proceedings of the Latsis Symposium, VIII international PhD seminar
U&U. Lausanne: Lab-U. ISBN978-2-8399-1747-6.
2014 Social Movements and the Evolution of the City: the Practice of Social
Innovation as Emotional Cognition of Urban Space. In Karol, J.; Aón, L.; Martini,
I.; Pistola, J.; Salas Giorgio, R. (Eds.), UPE 11 Conducir las Transformaciones
Urbanas. Un debate sobre direcciones, orientaciones, estrategias y políticas que
modelan la ciudad futura. 1st edition- E-Book La Plata: Universidad Nacional de La
Plata. ISBN 978-950-34-1133-9 - CDD 307.12.
2012 The City, European Identity and the Process of Urban Malaise. The Cognition
of the Urban System. The case of Madrid.
In Pinto da Silva, Madalena (Ed.), EURAU12 Porto | Espaço Público e Cidade
Contemporânea: Actas do 6º European Symposium on Research in Architecture and
Urban Design. Porto: Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto. ISBN
978-989-8527-01-1
2012 Analysis and Visualization of the Spatial Dimension of the Social Production
Systems Within the Frame of the Europe-Arab World Relationships in the
Euro-Mediterranean Area. With D. Gazapo. de Aguilera, and L Jalón Oyarzun . In
D. Gazapo. de Aguilera, L Jalón Oyarzun and D. Negueruela del Castillo Xchange
And Coordination Of Postgraduate Education And Research On Cultural Landscape
And Heritage. Madrid: Mairea Libros. ISBN: 978-84-940020-4-5
Manuscripts in Preparation
(Forthcoming) From Embodied to Extended. Urban Cognition and its evolution. In S. Koseki, J.
Portugali & D. Negueruela del Castillo Cognitive plenum: Embodied Situated and
Extended Agency. Thesis on Cognition Space and Societies. EPFL University
Press/Routledge
(Forthcoming) Engagement and Spatial Competence. In C. Dionne, S. Koseki and D. Negueruela

del Castillo (eds). Explorations in the Studio. EPFL University Press/Routledge
(Forthcoming)
(Forthcoming) Agency and Urbanity. In Agency/Agents of Urbanity. M. Doyle & D. Negueruela

(eds) Thematic Issue. Contour Journal. (Forthcoming)
Web-Based Publications
2
2014 Inhabiting the borders. Editorial. In What is Research in Architecture? Contour

Journal. ISSN: EPFL. 2014
Other Publications
2013 Introduccion al Urbanismo. In #15 tratado. 255 Journal of the Architectural

Students’ Association, num 15. ETSAM.
2013 Juego cartografico. In Mapas y barcos 255 Journal of the Architectural Students’
Association, num 9. ETSAM. 2013
2013 Arenga del fracaso. In Exito & Croquetas. 255 Journal of the Architectural
Students’ Association, num 8. ETSAM. 2013
Research Grants, Fellowships & Funding
2016 Swiss Federal Institutes Board (Summer School Funding)

EPFL-ETHZ Summer School on City and Cognition
Course production
CHF 20'784
2015 Swiss Federal Institutes Board (Summer School Funding)

EPFL-ETHZ Summer School on the Anthropology of Complexity
Course production
CHF 13'266
2015 Doctoral Programme in Architecture and Sciences of the City & Institute of
Architecture (Funding)
International PhD Colloquium Agency/Agents of Urbanity
Colloquium organization
CHF 3'000
2014 Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (Promotion Grant)

Transport and conference fees to the 2014 International Symposium of the
International Urban and Environmental Planning Association – IUPEA, La Plata
University, Argentina.
CHF 1'300
Conference Activity/Participation.
Panels Organized
2015 Agency Agents of Urbanity.

International PhD Colloquium. EPFL. Lausanne, Switzerland
Papers Presented
2016 New Urban Social Movements, Situated Practice and the

Affordances of a Porous Urban Tissue
Working Seminar Bernardo Secchi (Sep 27)
Fondation Braillard &United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). Geneva
2015 Affect as Spatial Affordance of Urban Difference
3
Symposium Latsis EPFL, VIII international PhD seminar U&U

Horizontal Metropolis a radical project (12-13-14 October), EPFL SwissTech CC
2014 Social Movements and the Evolution of the City: the Practice of Social
Innovation as Emotional Cognition of Urban Space.
Steering Urban Transformations. 11th International Urban Planning and
Environment Association – IUPEA- Symposium
Universidad Nacional de La Plata. La Plata, Argentina.
2013 From experiential simulacra of atomized consumers to the enactive (embodied)

space of the multitude in urban centres. Urban proto-emotions in urban
complex systems.
4th International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Emotional Geographies
1-3 July. University of Groningen, The Netherlands
2012 The City, European Identity and the Process of Urban Malaise. The Cognition
of the Urban System. The case of Madrid.
EURAU12 Porto | Public Space & Contemporary City. 6º European Symposium on
Research in Architecture and Urban Design.
Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
Research Experience
2013-2015 Territories in Crisis
Politecnico di Torino POLITO & EPFL
School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering / EPFL
Doctoral researcher
Principal Investigator: Prof. Cristina Bianchetti (POLITO)
2012 CH2048
School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering / EPFL
Doctoral researcher & phase 1 coordinator
Principal Investigator: Prof. Dieter Dietz
Teaching Experience (Full course)

2016 PhD EPFL-ETHZ Summer School, City & Cognition
Doctoral School / EPFL
Workshop instructor
2015 PhD EPFL-ETHZ Summer School, Anthropology of Complexity

Workshop instructor
2014 PhD course, Apprendre la thèse

Seminar instructor & coordinator
2014 B.Sc ENAC Week, Cartographie: Portrait urbain

School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering / EPFL (Spring 2014)
Instructor & Lecturer
4
2013-2014 M.Sc urban research studio, CH2048

Department of Architecture / EPFL (Spring 2013. Fall 2013)
Studio director
2011 Athens course, Mapping as fiction

Theory and Criticism of Architectural Projects.
Thesis: Cognitive role of Structures of Public Space in the Complex City, Escuela
Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, UPM, Spain
Lecturer and Coordinator
2011 M.Sc Architectural Design Studio, Diploma Unit professor Gazapo

Master in Advanced Architectural Projects.
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, UPM, Spain
Teaching assistant
2009-2010 PhD course, European Collective Housing, Unit professor Gazapo

Theory and Criticism of Architectural Projects.
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, UPM, Spain
Teaching assistant
Teaching Interventions
2015-04-21 Lecture. Cartographie, portrait urbain
BSc Interdisciplinary Workshop Le'piéton'vecteur'd’urbanité
School of Architecture Civil and Environmental Engineering/ EPFL
Spain 2007 Lecture Survival of the Space Boxes

Professional Master in Prefabricated Construction.
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, UPM,
Certified pedagogical training

2016 Instructional Skills Workshop
Teaching Support Centre / EPFL (2014)
Three-day training
Academic Jury
Spring 2014 M.Sc architecture & construction of the city, professor Angelo Sampieri
Department of Architecture / POLITO
Guest Jury (external)
2013- 2016 B.Sc architecture studio, y1 studio Dietz

Department of Architecture / EPFL
Guest Jury (internal)
20111-2012 M.Sc in Advanced Architectural Projects, professor Dario Gazapo

The Complex city (professor Javier Ruiz)
Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid / UPM
Guest Jury (internal)
5
University Service
2013-2015 Doctoral Commission Architecture & Sciences of the City
Doctoral students delegate
2015-present Urban Sciences Circle Weekly Reading Group

School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering/EPFL
Geography Module, CUSO-West Switzerland Universities Conference
Principal investigator, coordinator
2011-2012 Doctoral Commission Architectural Projects.

Doctoral School / ETSAM, UPM
Doctoral students delegate
Service to Profession
2010-2012 Finance Secretary and Member of Executive Board.
Spanish Union of Architects. SARQ ()
Editorial Boards & Publication Management

2013-present Contour Journal
Editor
2010-2012 Fundamentos
Journal of the Spanish Council of Boards of Spanish of Architects
Editorial Board Advisor
Awards and Honors

2007 Public Promoted Housing Architectural Competition.
Ooo
First Prize. € 20'000
2006 Shinkenchiku International Architectural Competition.

Wall-less house
Honorary mention. CHF 2'000
Media Coverage
2007 Shinkenchiku International Architectural Competition.
Wall-less house (2006). Honorary mention.
Shinkenchiku International Magazine
6
Software skills
AutoCAD/3dStudio Max
MAXQDA
ArcGis/QGis
Adobe Suite
Microsoft Office
Languages
Spanish: native
English: fluent
French: fluent
Italian: good
German: good (B1)
Serbo-Croatian: basic
References
Vincent Kauffman, Full Professor of sociology
EPFL ENAC INTER LASUR
BP 2245 (Bâtiment BP)
Station 16
CH-1015 Lausanne
Switzerland
tel: +41 21 69 37296
email: vincent.kauffmann@epfl.ch
Dieter Dietz, Associate Professor of architecture

EPFL ENAC IA ALICE
BP 4121 (Bâtiment BP)
Station 16
CH-1015 Lausanne
Switzerland
tel: +41 21 69 38001
email: dieter.dietz@epfl.ch
Juval Portugali, Full Professor of Human Geography

Department of Geography and the Human Environment
Tel-Aviv University
Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
Tel:+973(3)6408661
email: juval@post.tau.ac.il

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The City of Extended Emotions

THÈSE NO 7729 (2017)

ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE

POUR L'OBTENTION DU GRADE DE DOCTEUR ÈS SCIENCES

Darío NEGUERUELA DEL CASTILLO

acceptée sur proposition du jury:

Prof. C. R. Binder Signer, présidente du jury

-·DERUGH O·DQDO\VH GHV Nouvelles Pratiques Urbaines j 0DGULG j WUDYHUV WURLV

Figures: Pag_ Figures: Pag_ Figures: Pag._

3.1.1_a2 201 3.2_a20 276 3.3_33 329

Caminante, son tus huellas

This is a story about the birth of the city.

Individuals participating in episodes of urban political contention (such as

Indignation, Desperation, Rage

Joy, Elation, Relief. Celebration

Social unrest, professional crisis as well as uncertainty in academia. This thesis

In addition, this is combined with a renewed interest in materialistic philosophical

2 . Translated by the author from the original in Spanish

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Therefore, the objective of this thesis must be approached through a two-

An approach allowing to account for the mutually constitutive relation between

Additionally, in order to better understand some of the fundamental qualities

A Tentative answer: An Enactive Approach of the

On the other hand, I identify certain forms of contentious social movements

7 . xenophilia is conceived as the diametrical opposite to xenophobia (fear/loath of otherness or

6* . In both the Weberian and the Marxist strand (Khan 2012)

This thesis emerges from the combination and careful interweaving of

In coincidence with Portugali’s efforts, my intention with this thesis is also to

*SHYPÄJH[PVU VU [OL <ZL VM (ɈLJ[P]L

My own stance with regards to this debate is that affective phenomena is

Affectivity as I understand it and discuss it in this chapter goes beyond

State of action readiness is a central notion in emotion. Its extension

Undoubtedly, however, this research owes to the methodological apparatus

It would seem to me worth stressing that the passions are so inextricably

The Urban Cognition:

Over the future, everybody deludes themselves.

So far, on both vectors I locate an overlapping and convergent area that is

Finally, in chapter 2.4 Problematized Operationalisation: Research Question and

 )HJRNYV\UK! ;OL ,]VS\[PVU VM [OL

The cultural approach professed by Portugali results from a combination of Snow’s

One ambition of this research is to reconsider a discussion of urban space

Moreover, added to this notion of space as something produced and relational

Notwithstanding the theoretical and practical pertinence of the topic, the

Muntañola, departing form a phenomenologist interpretation of this statement

material substrate upon which the individual expresses herself.

Interestingly, in the wake of increasing possibility of natural and man made

In academic research, there is an ongoing debate on whether space should be

This situatedness is furthermore been considered to concern not just the

From the perspective of situated cognition, the focus remains necessary

One of the most radical potential consequences is to postulate no “distinction

L’architecture a disparu qui œuvrait à l’échelle locale et qui, quelles que

His observation was that these changing conditions, understood as forces of

The psychological foundation, upon which the metropolitan individual-

Additionally, the increasing division of labour inherent to the metropolitan

The city structuring social relations.

The work of Walter Benjamin deserves especial mentioning. Benjamin (1996a,

Weber (1966/1921) offered an evolutionary explanation where the modern city

11 . The expression is orginally developed by S. Jonas in (2000)

According to Wirth, the increased complexity of the social structure and

Go up on to the wall of Uruk and walk around. (...)

The awareness of this inherent polysemy is more or less acute depending on

Research Into Urbanity

1. Henri Lefebvre: “urbanity as central heterogeneity and simultaneity”

:LWKLQ UHFHQW FRQFHSWV SRURVLW\ %HQMDPLQ /DFLV 'HKDHQH

)HJRNYV\UK! ;OL ,]VS\[PVU VM [OL

&DPSRV&DVWLOORDQG+LWOLQ GHÀQHFRSUHVHQFHDV´WKHSHUFHSWLRQRIPXWXDO

$OWKRXJKWKLVSRLQWLVKLJKO\FRQWURYHUVLDO6SLYDN LQKHUHVVD\©&DQWKH6XEDOWHUQ