SOC 576 Cultural Aspects of Migration, Urbanity and Gender

Barbora Novotná (344487)

Position paper 2

Jonathan Bach

Easterling, K.: Zone


            In the chapter dealing with zones, Keller Easterling sets out to map the emergence of a
phenomenon that may nowadays be called zones. From several ports and free trade zones, it has
developed into a global phenomenon including business centres, university campuses as well as
hi-tech resorts.

Some of the major characteristics of these areas include the other than state power being exercised
in the area, which Easterling calls extrastatecraft, different kinds of law exemption, the fact
that the zones themselves are well interconnected and present themselves as autonomous urban areas;
they are sometimes called ‘cities’ while usually adjacent to an actual city; and last but not
least, they carry a certain image or lifestyle.

According to Easterling, the architects play a special role in creating these exceptional places by
spatially articulating their exclusiveness and thus actually being their main creators. This is
easily questionable by the fact that an architect always needs and investor and his wish that is to
be fulfilled, by which I do not mean to call an architect a pure tool of creating the zones, but
they are definitely not their inventors.

Although definitely touching the most prominent issues of power legitimity and urban planning
decisions of nowadays, Easterling does not get rid of a conspiracy-like tone of describing the
situation, which has a harmful effect on is otherwise heavy and well formulated argument. One is
able to feel the sharpness of the analysis of zones, which base its power on the lack of
information, without using the word ‘special stupidity’ and other clearly non-academic concepts.


 Easterling, K. (2008). 'Zone.' in Urban Transformation. A. Ruby & I. Ruby (eds). Berlin, Ruby
Press: 30-45.