Urban Transcripts (Nov 2020)
Land | Editorial
Abstract
“What is well known, precisely because it is well known, is not known. In the knowledge process, the commonest way to mislead oneself and others is to assume that something is well known and to accept it as such.” – Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit “. . . the main battle in imperialism is over land.” – Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism The biblical figure of Nimrod, the king of Babel, provides an interesting figure for urban development studies. He was both a hunter and a constructor of cities. His prey was in human form, which he found tilling the fields in the territories surrounding the city. The city was an enclosed space where Nimrod set about constructing his famous tower by putting to work his newly captive labour force. For the king of Babel, all that existed outside the city served only to enrich and empower it. In other words, urban influence and power depended on a formal territorial differentiation between internal and external spaces. Moreover, this example shows that land is more than just a territorial phenomenon. In the figure of the King, it relates questions of territory to sovereignty and the power that determines what can be built and where, and for what use?
