The podcast for Anique Hommels' talk will be online soon.
Using examples from Utrecht and Enschede, and drawing on interviews and archival work, Hommels argued that cultural meanings play a key role in coping with obduracy and vulnerability in cities, as they are embedded in both technological frames (following
Bijker) and in narratives of resilience (following
Vale and Campanella). For instance, the response to the
fireworks disaster in Enschede, Netherlands in 2000 provided an opportunity to make urban planning innovations and construct a positive story of regeneration. Resistance to change nonetheless manifests itself in urban space through the obduracy inherent in the reassertion of tradition and connections with the past.
