Thinking About Urban Materiality

Abstract

The introductory chapter outlines the primary themes of the book and identifies the key theories of materiality that inform the work. In attempting to develop a comprehensive analysis of urban materiality, I argue that no single theoretical perspective will suffice, and that a range of diverse theories is integral to such a study, diverting from the singular theoretical approaches adopted in many academic studies of materiality. Accordingly, I consider a broad range of diverse theories that are particularly salient to this investigation, identifying their strengths and limitations. First, I consider Marxian notions of urban metabolism, the textual and representational focus on objects inspired by the cultural turn and the influential actor-network accounts that focus on the relationalities of materials. I subsequently explore assemblage theories before considering new materialist theories of urban vitalism. I then discuss phenomenology and post-phenomenology and further contextualise the account by identifying useful areas of geological thinking to emphasise that stone is entangled with the Anthropocene. I conclude by drawing on object-oriented ontologies to underline the limitations of all these theories and acknowledge the many unknowable, ineffable and inexplicable elements of materiality that we confront.