Total Urban Mobilisation

109 Pages·2019·1.393 MB·English

by  Krzysztof Nawratek

TOTAL URBAN
MOBILISATION
Ernst Jü nger and the
Post-Capitalist City
Krzysztof Nawratek
Total Urban Mobilisation
Krzysztof Nawratek
Total Urban
Mobilisation
Ernst Jünger and the Post-Capitalist City
Krzysztof Nawratek
University of Sheff ield
Sheff ield, UK
ISBN 978-981-13-1092-8 ISBN 978-981-13-1093-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1093-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018948147
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For Kasia and Olga
P
reface
This short book comes from a relatively long thinking process. Its aim is
to instigate a discussion. It is partly manifesto, partly polemic, partly intel-
lectual provocation. My main intention is to reach beyond Marxist, or
Marxist-related urban theory and approach the question of the post-capi-
talist city from a different, more inclusive-focused (not conflict-focused)
perspective. My previous books, especially Holes in the Whole, Introduction
to Urban Revolutions (2012), and Radical Inclusivity. Architecture and
Urbanism (2015), have touched upon religion, mostly in the contexts of
Christian and Jewish messianic traditions, in an attempt to focus on mech-
anisms of inclusions, rather than on conflicts and antagonism. This book
does not explicitly engage with religion or postsecular thinking (this is
going to be my next project), but the reader can probably sense that
Hegelian idealism has strongly influenced the author.
I trained as an architect and urban planner, and have worked as both an
architect and an urban designer. I teach theory of architecture and urban-
ism, as well as train students how to design buildings and urban spaces.
Therefore, even if the book is focused on urban (and political) theory, the
practicality of architectural production influences deeply the way I think
about urban spaces and the city as such. The main argument of this book,
coming directly from my space-oriented thinking, is that spatial and tem-
poral separations could be seen as essential aspects of “the inclusivity
machine”. The existence of the wall separates people, but exactly because
of this separation, people are free to engage in different activities. The wall
is not a problem, if there are doors and windows. Therefore, one can say
that this book is exactly about walls, doors, and windows. It is about
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viii PREFACE
inclusive mechanisms helping to protect diverse, separated, urban subjects,
and looks at how they co-exist and co-operate. This book is about being
together, being “in” and “with-in” the world.
In a global context, Ernst Jünger is still seen as a slightly obscure, right-
wing writer and thinker. He is, of course, broadly known in Germany and
his work has been influential in Continental Europe (especially in circles of
the French New Right) but his seminal work, Der Arbeiter (published in
Germany, in 1932) has been published in English very recently, in 2017.
I hope that this publication, combined with an important work on the
relationship between Ernest Jünger and Martin Haidegger (Blok, 2017),
makes him better known in the English-speaking world.
My book is not really about Jünger’s ideas on the post-capitalist city
(there obviously are none!), but it takes Jünger’s way of thinking, his “ste-
reoscopic view”, as a method to see and think about an urban phenomena.
Jünger gives us an opportunity to think about a post-capitalist, progres-
sive, and inclusive city, rooted in a conservative worldview. This is possible
because Jünger’s conservatism is about protecting the Earth, protecting
humanity, protecting creativity, protecting the future. I argue that, in an
unexpected way, his thinking could shield us much better against xeno-
phobia and contemporary neo-fascist ideological tendencies than any
socialist or liberal ideologies.
The book is about the possibility of a post-capitalist city. I fully embraced
Jason Moore’s, Naomi Klein’s, and many others’ diagnosis of capitalism
killing the planet. If we, as a species, have any future, this future must be
post-capitalist. There are anti-urban tendencies among left-wing and con-
servative thinkers, but my position is strongly pro-urban. I see (to some
extent, following Pierre Manent) the city as the main achievement of
human civilisation. As I have argued in City as a Political Idea, the city is
a space where humans learn how to be with each other, how to be humans,
really. Without cities, there is no humanity. Therefore, if we have any
future as human beings, the future is in post-capitalist cities.
Sheff ield, UK Krzysztof Nawratek
a
cknowledgements
Every idea comes from interactions. Therefore, if we have ever met, if I
have heard you speak, or I have read any text you have produced, traces of
your thinking are present in this book. Thank you.
There are some people who influenced my work more directly: my
Master of Architecture students from Plymouth University, my students
and colleagues at the University of Sheffield. There are also several people
who read and commented on early versions of this book who I am
extremely grateful to: anonymous reviewers asked by the publisher to
comment on my book proposal and then on a submitted manuscript,
Michel Bauwens, Łukasz Drozda, Bogdan Ionescu, Maciej Kowalski,
Karol Kurnicki, Michał Pospiszyl, Mikołaj Ratajczak, and Kuba Snopek. I
am also very grateful to Kasia Buś-Nawratek, who read the book thor-
oughly and helped to make it more friendly for readers.
I am also grateful to Joshua Pitt, who enthusiastically reacted to the
book proposal.
Despite the assistance I have received from others, all errors are mine.
ix
c
ontents
1 Mobilising the Urban 1
2 T erritory, Space, Place, and Beyond 11
3 T he Spatiality of (Post-)Capitalism 23
4 T he House and the City as Capitalist/Post-Capitalist
Hybrids 29
5 Top-Down Revolutions. Negative and Positive Autonomy 37
6 ‘The Horizon of the Whole’ (Against Totalitarianism
and Reductivism) 47
7 Borders, Interfaces and Infrastructure 55
8 Nomadism and Partisanship 69
9 Assemblages, Series, and Empire 79
1 0 City of Agency 91
Index 99
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l d
ist of iagrams
Diagram 1.1 W eaving post-capitalist narratives. (Designed by:
Krzysztof Nawratek and William Chew) 9
Diagram 2.1 T erritory, space, place. (Designed by: Krzysztof Nawratek
and William Chew) 21
Diagram 3.1 M oney as a reductive translation. (Designed by: Krzysztof
Nawratek and William Chew) 28
Diagram 4.1 H ouse as a capitalist/post-capitalist hybrid. (Designed by:
Krzysztof Nawratek and William Chew) 35
Diagram 5.1 F luid hierarchy. (Designed by: Krzysztof Nawratek and
William Chew) 45
Diagram 6.1 R adical contextualisation. (Designed by: Krzysztof
Nawratek and William Chew) 53
Diagram 7.1 I nfrastructure and transcendent context. (Designed by:
Krzysztof Nawratek and William Chew) 68
Diagram 8.1 P artisan as a gateway. (Designed by: Krzysztof Nawratek
and William Chew) 78
Diagram 9.1 G estalt and All-under-Heaven. (Designed by: Krzysztof
Nawratek and William Chew) 88
Diagram 10.1 T rigonometry beyond dialectic. (Designed by: Krzysztof
Nawratek and William Chew) 98
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