Cultural atavism in the face of an environmental disaster : Skopje in the limelight

• Great social challenges of today, and the conflicts arising therefrom, no longer come one by one. What makes them great is their entanglement in one other and across multiple levels. Similarly, spatial conflicts seldom arise in isolation, but result from simmering tensions that may manifest in a more insidious fashion, namely by appealing to intangible values. This chapter looks into one such spatial conflict in Skopje, which by its scope and content transpires as less spatial than ideological, yet which nonetheless affects space in a negative way. How could Skopje, a vibrant Balkan city spared by the Yugoslav Wars, turn into world’s most polluted city and a ‘megalomaniacal Disneyland’ on the canvas of geopolitical disrepute, staggering corruption and ethnic tensions? To explain the situation, this chapter makes use of the concept of cultural atavism. Its preposition is that when a population’s fundamental existential values are threatened, co-existent tame problems may be left behind in pursuit of primordial yet abstract values. Such dispersion of priorities, however, may create a great social challenge in itself. In Skopje, this was characterized by a pursuit of identity politics in the face of much more tangible problems, like an impending environmental disaster.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

spatial conflict

identity politics

great social challenges

wicked problems

cultural atavism

Skopje 2014

Human Geography

Kulturgeografi

Cultural atavism

Great social challenge

Identity politics

Skopje 2014

Spatial conflict

Wicked problem

spatial conflict; identity politics; great social challenges; wicked problems; cultural atavism; Skopje 2014

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