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Space. Urban, Rural, Territorial Martinalöw Space. Urban, Rural, Territorial MartinaLöw Abstract: Starting from arelationalconcept of space, Martina Löw discusses findings in spatial sociologyonthe basis of modernity’sforemost spatial types―namely, the city and the territory―and fundamental relational opposites (urban–rural; time– space; territory–fluid space). She givesanoverviewofcurrent sociological debates in Germanywith aspecial focus on the sociologyofknowledge.The article considers research on the intrinsic logic of cities as well as recent concepts dealingwith the dynamization of spatial relations.One major hypothesis is thatthe constitution of space todayischaracterized by anetwork of interdependencies formed by processes of translocalization and polycontexturality,overwriting or underminingtraditional territorial spatial structures,which remain nonetheless relevant. Keywords: Communicative action, place, city,space, social change 1Introduction Space is constitutive for social processes. In the twentieth century,sociologists have been continuallyengaged with the consequences for sociological theory-building as well as empirical investigation that would necessarilyresultfrom this proposition (initiallySimmel, 1997[orig.1903]; or Durkheim, 1915;later, e.g., Lefebvre, 1991 [orig. 1974]and Giddens, 1984). However,compared with time or the physical body, space has playedasubordinaterole in the sociologies of manysocieties or in “international” sociological debates.¹ Within German-languagesociology, this peripheralization of spatial theory has shifted substantiallyduring the 21st century.² Space is generallyunderstood as arelational arrangement of living beingsand social goods in places (Löw,2016;orig.inGerman 2001). Spaceisproduced through the placing³ of social goods and through acts of synthesis (goods and people are amalgamated to spaces by wayofprocesses of perception, imagination, and memory). The following contribution begins by presentingareas of inquiry in spatial sociology Note: Translation from German, including all quotes from German literature,byDavid Haney for SocioTrans—Social Scientific Translation &Editing. An exception is French sociology in the twentieth century (see, e.g., Bourdieu, 1977;Lefebvre, 1991; Rémyand Voye,1981;Foucault, 1991 [orig.1975]; on Frenchsociology,also Delitz, 2017;Löw,2018). Further development of this essaywas supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in connection with the Collaborative Research Center 1265, Re-Figuration von Räumen. In the original German version, the English-languageneologism “spacing” is used for this place- ment practice rather than the German word “räumen,” for the latter has toostrongofanassociation with “to empty” or “to vacate.” OpenAccess. ©2021Martina Löw,published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110627275-033 500 Martina Löw in the context of typicalspaces in modern society,specificallycityand territory along with central relationships (urban–rural, space–time) (section 2).Drawingonthis, it then introduces essential debates in spatial theory.These debates attest to the strong tradition of the sociologyofknowledge within German-languagesociology(section 3). The essayconcludes by providingabrief outlook on the future of spatial sociology (section 4). 2Areas of InquiryinSpatial Sociology 2.1 Urban and ruralspaces The areas of inquiry in urban sociologyand, in particular, the question concerning the development or reinforcement of social inequality through spatial structurations constituteacentral researchareainspatial sociology. Segregation, gentrification, neighborhoods, as well as urban–rural relationships are importantspatial arrange- ments with serious consequences for the formationofsocial inequality.However,the spatial perspective is also relevant for analyzingculturaldifferences, for instance, accordingtoethnicity/race, gender, or sexuality. Segregation refers to spatial structures that have developedsuch that “various social groups primarilyliveincertain zones within acity” (Hannemann, 2019:53). Researchonresidential segregation focuses on investigating the inequitable distri- bution of groups of people accordingtoresidential districts. Häußermannand Siebel (2004) differentiate between forced and voluntary segregation. Segregation becomes problematic for residents when they feel that they have been forced. Forexample, this is the case when“ethnic colonies” (Ceylan, 2006) are formed in cities not because they are based upon the desire for spatial proximitytoother immigrants from the same country of origin but rather because they develop as homogenous neighborhoods as a resultofpeople findingdwellingspaces exclusively through these ethnically-based networks. Aboveall the processes of gentrification reinforce segregation, meaning thatre- newal measures and/or changes in ownership in popular, often central urban districts entail increasing rents and forcethe departure of poorer segments of the population from these quarters (Breckner,2010). However,this process by no means occurs in the same manner in all cities(Hoerning, 2016,onBrazilian cities). In the case of Berlin, for example, we find but little evidence of displacement towardsthe city’speriphery. Rather,residents often remain in the sameurban district but move to poorer-quality or smaller apartments to avoid paying higher rent.Wheneverthe supplyofeconomical apartments in adistrict is exhausted, Berlin residents have so far still been able to find housing in other districtsthat are equivalent in character to their last place of resi- dence (Bernt and Förste, 2018). Comparable courses of action are no longer an option in manyother cities such as Hamburg and Munich (Breckner,2010). Space. Urban, Rural, Territorial 501 In general, it can be shown that, in terms of income, homogenous districts have a negative effect on lower-income populations, whereas aheterogenous composition has apositive effect.Rabold and Beier(2013), for example, investigated the influence of neighborhood role models within urban districtsinHanover.They demonstrated that,inpoorer urban districts with high potential for conflict,the probability that youth consider violence acceptable rises by afactor of 14.JürgenFriedrichs (2014) showed that, in many German cities, the majorityofhouseholds classified as poor are found in in urban districts that are not categorizedaspoor (i.e., less than 20%receive social-welfare benefits).This has positive effects insofar as it can be demonstrated that people from lower-income groups in these sociallymixed districtsare morefrequently employed and develop fewer chronic illnesses than in comparable groups in poor urban districts. However,Talja Blokland (2008) warned against overvaluing such re- sults since the proximityofresource-poor and resource-rich households does not necessarilylead to the development of mutual networks, let alone to the dissolution of class boundaries. Nina Schuster (2010) alsoshowed thaturban districtsinBerlin with predominatelypoor populations can nevertheless be very culturallyheterogenous―in terms of their ethnic composition, for instance, but alsoand aboveall through the encounters between the LGBTsubcultureand migrant cultures. Since the spatial perspective considers placements alongside one another (just as the temporalperspective examines them one after another), it is unsurprising that spatial sociologytreats relations between urban and rural areas as well as among cities as importantareas of investigation. Urban–rural comparisons are difficult in this respect since we are witnessing an increasingurbanization of society as awhole, so that urban and rural lifestyles are becomingmore similar.What was once called avillageistodayoften located on the fringes of ametropolitan area, providing afamilylocation for commuters that is better described as asuburban areathan arural one (Frank, 2003). Nevertheless,onthe level of lifestyles there certainlyare recognizable differences between urban and rural areas in German-speakingcountries.Considered within the terms of milieu analyses,there exist “the conventionalists in the tradition of the petite bourgeoisie, and family-ori- ented homebodies often living in precarious social conditions,typicallyinsmall towns and villages” (Otte and Baur,2008:110). AccordingtoAnnette Spellerbergas well (2014), traditional and home-oriented lifestyles tend to be more prevalent in rural areas.Urbanization has an inherent tendencytowards the centralizationofcities, which cannot incorporate every place. Peripheral areas in particularsuffer from weak economic structures and demographic change, significantlyreducing opportunities for participation among the remaining population (Beetz, 2008). Cities are increasingly being investigatedthrough the lens of differentiated social formations and constructs of meaning (Berkingand Schwenk, 2011;Löw,2013). In work carried out under the heading of the “intrinsic logic of cities,” intrinsic logic is understood as aheuristic. In this sense, intrinsic logic is not meant as acharacteristic of acity that can be located, maintained, and cultivated; rather,the authors operate under the assumption that this intrinsic logic represents aperspective thatisuseful for 502 Martina Löw politics, planning,and science in order to understand how cities shape life in a specific way, that is, how they influenceideas, constructions of reality,practices,or emotions(Frank et al., 2014). Among the manyintrinsic-logic studies of cities, only one
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