Link to Session Platform

Chairs(s):

Ute Lehrer, 

; ,

Description:

High-rise buildings have become a global phenomenon due to technological, legal and financial innovations (Hayden 1977; van Leeuwen, 1988; Harris 2011; August 2021), and they can be found in the center as well as on the outskirts of cities (Stewart 2007). Over the past twenty years, their appearance as well their height has intensified globally. Because high-rises enable ‘building-up’ instead of ‘building-out’, and with that provide localized increased density, they are seen as an instrument for guiding sustainable urban growth (Meyer 2012, Barr 2016).
The most recent waves of high-rise expansion represent a kind of ‘spatial fix’ through which massive quantities of capital are directed into the built environment, with high profit extraction, particularly where rent gaps exist (Blanc and White 2020; Graham 2015; Hackworth 2011; Nethercote 2018, 2019; Robinson 2019; Wachsmuth & Weisler 2018). Therefore we witness widespread ‘condofication’ (Lehrer & Wieditz 2009) – a process of urban transformation akin to new-build gentrification, dramatically changing the physical and socio-economic landscapes of the city. This has been accompanied by the gradual emergence of ‘condoization’ (Lippert 2020) or ‘condo-ism’ (Rosen and Walks 2014) as a central development strategy prioritizing density and downtown high-rise living (Kern 2010). Simultaneously, older apartment towers have become attractive spaces of investment for predatory financialized landlords like real estate investment trusts (REITs) (August & Walks 2018; Risager 2021).

Vertical urbanisms and verticality have been theorized in terms of unique social relations, politics and dwelling practices that are implied by high-rise living and shaped by vertical urbanization (Baxter 2017; Baxter & Lees 2008; Graham 2016; Graham and Hewitt 2013; Nethercote 2018). Scholars suggest a need to attend to everyday, experiential dynamics in the spaces where vertical life takes place (Harris 2015; Nethercote & Horne 2016). The production of large-scale vertical housing has given rise to new ways of living and a range of urban lifestyles, with large numbers of people in proximity, generating unique potentials for creating community in towers (Lehrer 2016). However, we also witness a kind of ‘capsular’ society in which one’s unit is one’s fortress, and separation and hyper-individualization are key (De Cauter 2004). Indeed, the development of modernist tower neighbourhoods was originally oriented towards the ‘remaking of people as well as environments’ (Graham 2016, 182), and more recent scholarship understands the verticality of the high-rise form to powerfully shape how residents produce unique affective experiences (Barr 2018; Dorignon & Nethercote 2021; Hadi, Heath & Oldfield 2018; Shilon & Eizenberg 2021). As verticality has become an important dimension of cities, our consideration of urbanity must now account for the complex spaces that high-rise buildings present (Graham 2016; Panacci 2012).

This session brings together scholars who have been working on various aspects of high-rise living. This includes Grisdale and Walks claiming Toronto as the “high-rise kingdom”; White et al. are looking at planning, design, development and governance of high-rise buildings in the UK; Wachsmuth’s contribution is problematizing the relationship between high-rise buildings and AirBnB’s; Perrott and Lehrer investigate amenities in high-rise buildings; and March and Lehrer look at the social construction of public space in high-rise buildings.

Non-Presenting Participants Agenda