Miguel Yuste Martin

Vita

Thema

Democratic Placemaking: Reinstating the Political in the Lifeworld

"The human being is epistemically displaced in modern societies, as (s)he increasingly lives in less political, grounded and genuine-dialogue-based places. In the present hypermodern era, influenced by modernity and postmodernity, human beings care little for their world, the other and the places
they live in. These times are also characterised by a crisis of democracy based on the lack of trust in the democratic institutions, a simultaneous excess of hybris and behaviourism, and instrumental rationality. In political science and theory there seems to be a broad consensus on the crisis of Western democracies. Although aiming to re-enliven democracy, recent analyses and proposals have focused rather on the institutional dimension, whilst leaving out from their focus democracy as a way of life. On the other hand, phenomenology does provide a theoretical analysis of the lifeworld, its potentials and its limitations, which can facilitate an innovative perspective on the topic, but however tends to not have a translation into actual practice. Humanistic geography has the potential to unite the two perspectives through theoretical and performative concepts such as place and placemaking. The aim of this work is to analyse three concrete settings from a political phenomenological lens in order to propose a guideline of material, human practices and meaning modifications to face and counteract the epistemic displacement and the current crisis of democracy through democratic placemaking."