Metropolitics

The Logistics City: Insights from Africa

Hélène Blaszkiewicz & translated by Oliver Waine — 2023-09-29T05:00:00Z

What might a city dedicated to logistics look like in Africa? How does it connect with global goods flows? These are the questions addressed by Hélène Blaszkiewicz, based on the case of Kasumbalesa, a small town straddling the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia that has become a major logistics center.
“Your parcel is available at a pick-up point!” It's a familiar and reassuring message, one that many people living in large Western cities will have received at some

- From the Field / logistique, Afrique, commerce, frontière, pays du Sud, transports

Made in China, Sold in West Africa

Anne Bouhali & Nora Mareï & Mamadou Dimé & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-05-31T05:00:00Z

From a small border post between Senegal and Mauritania, Anne Bouahli, Nora Mareï and Mamadou Dimé follow the journey of goods from Europe and China, as well as locally produced merchandise, with a view to examining and analyzing the different forms that globalization is taking in these little-studied areas.
Along the Tangier–Nouakchott–Dakar coastal corridor, the Rosso crossing on the Senegal River is both a border and a discontinuity in terms of transit. As the missing link in the

- From the Field / commerce, borders, mobility, globalization, Africa, West Africa, China, Morocco, Mauritania, Global South, Senegal

The Flea Market of Marseille

Michèle Jolé & William Kornblum — 2016-05-17T05:00:00Z

Marseille's flea market (“marché aux puces”) lies at the heart of a vast urban renewal project that could end up wiping the market off the map for good. Michèle Jolé and William Kornblum, who have both adopted Marseille as their hometown, explore the loss that the transformation of this veritable institution would represent for the city's residents and, more generally, for the northern neighborhoods (“les Quartiers Nord”) of Marseille.
“The more we gain distance from the center, the more the

- From the Field / public space, urban renewal, market, Marseille, retail, commerce, informality, urban project

Occupy Mall Street?

Anthony Maniscalco — 2015-04-21T04:50:00Z

The quintessential suburb is home to the shopping mall, an indoor space of anchor departments stores, small specialty shops and food courts. This multi-tiered site of commerce is sometimes repurposed as a senior exercise track, a meeting place for holiday festivities, or YouTube-inspired flash mobs. However, as Tony Maniscalco explains, coordinated efforts and legal precedents have curbed the possibility of freedom of expression and assembly at shopping malls.
When the suburban shopping mall

- Debates / consumption, public space, United States, property, suburbs, retail, commerce, shopping mall, First Amendment, assembly, supreme court