Material agencies of survival: Street vending on a Roman bridge
The material fabric of a city is never neutral. It speaks to the opportunities of access and usage that some are given at the exclusion of others. Scholars of the everyday have analyzed how city residents counter oppression by appropriating and transforming spaces. Less attention, however, has been given to how not only people, but also material things have agency in producing opportunities for insurgency. This paper examines how people and materialities imbricate, co-producing geographies of survival on Ponte Sant'Angelo, a bridge in Rome where diverse immigrants eke out a living by selling trinkets. Interviews and observations revealed that both seniority on the street and immigration status divide vendors into three groups, each with a different degree of power over other users of the bridge. At the same time, Ponte Sant'Angelo, a physical entity made by permanent built forms as well as contingent elements such as water levels and car traffic, generate five distinct areas, each with a different degree of attractiveness in the eyes of diverse vendors. Differences across vendors and material elements intertwine with one another. The nitty-gritty of the city, its seemingly banal materialities, partner with vendors as they negotiate power and counter exclusion. These circumstances call for expanding scholarship of the everyday, exploring how multiple, interdependent agencies shape urban patterns of oppression and resistance.
- Record URL:
- Record URL:
-
Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/02642751
-
Supplemental Notes:
- © 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
-
Authors:
- Piazzoni, Francesca
- Publication Date: 2022-4
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Web
- Features: Figures; References;
-
Serial:
- Cities
- Volume: 123
- Issue Number: 0
- Publisher: Elsevier
- ISSN: 0264-2751
- Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02642751
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Bridges; Built environment; Cities; Immigrants; Sales; Streetscape
- Geographic Terms: Rome (Italy)
- Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Society;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01839517
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Mar 23 2022 10:53AM