TRYSPACES at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting

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In March 2023, three TRYSPACES members (students and professors) will be presenting their latest research results at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, in Denver. They will present their research in the same panel, titled “Diverse cities, diverse public spaces: appropriation and negotiations of everyday urban spaces” covering different topics about public spaces mainly in Hanoi, Vietnam.

“Mirroring the material and political production of a city, public spaces lie at the heart of cities’
transformations, revealing multiple societal issues and challenges. Public space research is still facing conceptual challenges given the large array of definitions varying across geographic (global South-North), political, and socio-economic contexts (Carmona, 2014; Gehl and Matan, 2009; Qian, 2020).

This session explores the role of public spaces in the making of neoliberal cities (and beyond), by focusing on the social and economic roles of public spaces. While public spaces and the activities they host contribute to people’s livelihood and to the economic functioning of cities (Brown, 2006; Kim, 2012), these spaces are also sites of urban planning operations and policies, such as pedestrianization and urban revitalization, which generate different consequences such as gentrification and the exclusion of certain populations (Yiu 2011; Madanipour, 2013; Rossini and Yiu, 2020). To navigate these changes, public space users constantly appropriate and transform these spaces by using different approaches, ranging from public mobilization, negotiations of the citizen’s right to the city, to informal (if not illegal) methods of occupying public spaces.”

Here is the presentations from TRYSPACES’ members that will be in this session:

1. “Public spaces in a pandemic: surveillance and resilience in an industrial city of socialist Vietnam” by TRAN Khac Minh and PHAM Thi Thanh Hien (Département d’études urbaines et touristiques, Université du Québec à Montréal)
2. “Rhythmanalysis of pedestrian streets in Hanoi (Vietnam): a spatial-temporal reading of public spaces” by DANG Huu Lieu, PHAM Thi Thanh Hien (Département d’études urbaines et touristiques, Université du Québec à Montréal), and Julie-Anne BOUDREAU (Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)