Times Square

Durante la mayor parte del siglo XX, a los libertarios estadounidenses se les consideraba —y se consideraban a sí mismos— defensores del capitalismo. ¿Era ésa una visión exacta de lo que eran los libertarios del siglo XX? Si es exacta, ¿es eso algo bueno del libertarismo, o un defecto que debería enmendarse y evitarse?
Bueno, depende. Concretamente, depende de lo que entiendas por "capitalismo". Ya he dicho algo sobre esto antes*, y mi amigo Gary Chartier ha abordado ésto en su artículo Embracing Markets, Opposing “Capitalism” en el Bleeding Heart Libertarians, pero creo que merece la pena volver a tratarlo con más detalle. (En parte porque puede servir de introducción a mi punto de vista sobre las cuestiones de los mercados liberados, los privilegios económicos, la justicia social, etcétera; y en parte porque algunos de los comentarios sobre la entrada anterior de Gary me llevan a creer que un acercamiento a la cuestión de la definición podría ayudar a aclarar la comunicación). Pero antes, demos un pequeño rodeo — hasta la ciudad de Nueva York.

Although territory has mainly been used in a political context, this thesis revisits the term to show how it can be multifaceted in a broader geographical context, and used to understand cultural and urban issues. The key argument of the thesis is the conceptualisation of the pedestrian street as a pedestrian territory and the application of this concept to iconic pedestrian streets that are tourism and entertainment destinations with unique historic and locational value, revealing the drivers and powers used to transform such territories in the last few decades as traveling practices of globalisation, neoliberalism and tourism. Theoretically, relationality is used to investigate sociocultural patterns between the pedestrian territories of Las Ramblas, Times Square and Istiklal Avenue and methodologically, comparative territorialism is used to distinguish between human and place cultures and identities. Both theoretical and empirical findings were used to chronologically track the t...

Zacznę od prowokacji. Ile razy więcej jest warta marka I❤NY niż Wschodzący Białystok? Próby oszacowania tej dysproporcji dają monstrualne wyniki. Chodzi mi o siłę marki  mierzoną jej rozpoznawalnością. Tysiąc razy? Może kilkanaście tysięcy... Tak, wiem - cóż to za zestawienie? Zupełnie nieuprawnione ze względu na historię, skalę miast itd. Weźmy więc coś bardziej podatnego na porównania. Rynek Kościuszki i Times Square. Sytuacja niewiele się zmienia, ale
w zasadzie nie chodzi mi o udowadnianie czegokolwiek. Bardziej o zastanowienie się co wpływa na fakt, że stojąc po raz pierwszy na tym jednym z najsłynniejszych placów świata, masz nagle miękkie nogi i czujesz się jakbyś zobaczył jeden z siedmiu cudów. A tymczasem... Times Square to brzydkie miejsce. Wiem co mówię. To koszmar europejskiego działacza ruchów miejskich.

Since the early 1900’s Broadway has been called the ‘Great White Way’ because of the proliferation of its light-studded movie marquees and advertising signs, but this was in fact a misnomer as the area was often in blazing color. From Oscar Gude’s Heinz Pickle Sign of 1891 to Douglas Leigh’s EPOK animation and monumental signs of the forties, this chapter discusses Times Square/Broadway’s colorful electrical signs, arguing for an expanded understanding of animation’s historical role in the turn to color in visual culture. It contends that electrical billboards or ‘spectaculars’  were intermedial forms of animation, marshalling sensual and affective experience that linked color, glass and light stimuli in mesmerizing immersive imagery.

This article examines efforts to order Times Square during the first five decades of its existence as a high profile commercial centre. Between 1892 and 1954, New York City powerholders launched a number of clean up campaigns that sought to minimize the working class attributes of the district and to transform it into a mainstream consumption space. These campaigns targeted commercial sex, gay nightclubs, burlesque theatres, street vendors, "disorderly" people, and honky tonks. The strategies used to order Times Square included exclusionary zoning, moral campaigns and restrictive licensing, as well as the enforcement of curfews, building codes, anti-loitering legislation, and indecency statutes. Despite these efforts, the working class character of Times Square persisted, even though the operation of many working class establishments was disrupted and the freedom of ordinary people to frequent the district was compromised. Ironically, the 1954 rezoning of Times Square, which outlawed the opening of new arcades, engendered the rise of sex shops.