ABSTRACT
Focusing on different spaces of urban politics, this chapter explores the dynamics of place politics research. Place politics involve explicit and implicit references to geographical norms or grievances in the form of 'place-frames'. Such place politics may seem parochial and limited in potential transformative scope, given the often-restricted scope of urban territory enrolled in any given place conflict. The politics that happen at city halls have an order and set of expectations governing their conduct at that specific place. Place frames capture a particular kind of urban politics in which the conflict itself is over different place imaginaries; and people collectively act to try to shape the outcome of the place conflict to satisfy their imaginaries and expectations. Place frames can also be evident in what some people call NIMBY, or not-in-my-backyard, activism. Urban politics are always constituted through multiple places and spatial processes, and thus are really more 'place-positioned' than place-based.
