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Building Paranoia: The Proliferation of Interdirectory Space and the Erosion of the Spatial Justice
Could contemporary urban environments actually be bad for our state of mind? Building Paranoia works as both a documentation and critique of intensifying reactions to hysterical urban fears. Author Steve Flusty's act of naming different types of paranoid space leads him to a compelling discussion of the manipulation of the built environment toward a greater public good. Another thought-provoking new publication from the exciting new L.A. Forum series.
60 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1994
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October 23, 2025
Flusty habla de los Interdictory Spaces, espacios dinamitadores de la vida en comunidad.
“It leaves one breathless to remember how quickly defensive space, originally a tactic for the further liberation of society's disadvantaged, was "consumed," or turned in on itself and reconstituted as a strategy to "control" space in global enclaves of privilege”.
“Expanding private encroachment into the public realm is catering to, and exacerbating, paranoid demands by gradually decomposing communities into fortified agglomerations of proprietary spaces. In the process, sections of the city have become a patchwork of contiguous interdictory spaces, subjecting citizens' mobility and permissible range of behavior to ever more restrictive oversight and control. The cumulative spatial and aesthetic effects of paranoid privatization are already being manifested across broad landscapes, turning the streets into prickly space hemmed in by crusty and slippery edges”.
“This perceived insecurity has inspired urban paranoia manifested as belligerent territorialistic reactions on the part of more privileged groups against less powerful and more marginalized sectors of society. Publicly accessible spaces are made progressively harsher”.
Y, por último, “Security at present seems to be defined as privately arranged and purchased physical safety, often based upon the precept that one need not be totally secure, simply more secure than one's neighbors. This has generated a defensive arms race in which simply locking one's door is not enough”.
Eso sí, se me ha hecho muy difícil seguir sus ejemplos dado que Estados Unidos es el monstruo final en la construcción de ciudades.
“It leaves one breathless to remember how quickly defensive space, originally a tactic for the further liberation of society's disadvantaged, was "consumed," or turned in on itself and reconstituted as a strategy to "control" space in global enclaves of privilege”.
“Expanding private encroachment into the public realm is catering to, and exacerbating, paranoid demands by gradually decomposing communities into fortified agglomerations of proprietary spaces. In the process, sections of the city have become a patchwork of contiguous interdictory spaces, subjecting citizens' mobility and permissible range of behavior to ever more restrictive oversight and control. The cumulative spatial and aesthetic effects of paranoid privatization are already being manifested across broad landscapes, turning the streets into prickly space hemmed in by crusty and slippery edges”.
“This perceived insecurity has inspired urban paranoia manifested as belligerent territorialistic reactions on the part of more privileged groups against less powerful and more marginalized sectors of society. Publicly accessible spaces are made progressively harsher”.
Y, por último, “Security at present seems to be defined as privately arranged and purchased physical safety, often based upon the precept that one need not be totally secure, simply more secure than one's neighbors. This has generated a defensive arms race in which simply locking one's door is not enough”.
Eso sí, se me ha hecho muy difícil seguir sus ejemplos dado que Estados Unidos es el monstruo final en la construcción de ciudades.
Displaying 1 of 1 review