ABSTRACT
The scholarly interest in dynamic urban forces-that is, the physical forms, socio-economic conditions, and cultural identities that combine to form the fabric of the modern city-has resulted in a discursive body of work (Donald 1999; Joyce 2003; Tonkiss 2005; Crinar and Bender 2007). In contrast to the vast majority of the literature focused on institutionalized urban design, this chapter explores alternative processes for city making within the framework of “immediate and substantive actions” that serve as “grounds for uncovering opportunity and unleashing potential” of the already existing city.2 It is within the context of the “unleashing of potential” that I will examine two disparate cultural interpretations of sustainability and how both of those interpretations have worked to add to the physical and cultural manifestation of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Specifically, this chapter will examine the practices employed by specific resort/casino developments, and my observations of two groups of everyday entrepreneurs who are situated within the margins of an “other” Las Vegas; the first being an assemblage of mobile car wash vendors, and the second being represented by a socially anonymous group of guerilla marketers. The observations on these two groups are central to my thesis that the link between the ideology of sustainability as it is prescribed by a technocratic, industrial capitalist power structure, and a more flexibly spatialized “logic of sufficiency,” creates a relevant field for investigating the potential impact that “everyday” practices of sustainability can have on an alternative paradigm of city making.
