Asian Alleyways: An Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization

Asian Alleyways: An Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization critically explores Global Asia and the metropolization process, specifically from its alleyways, which are understood as ordinary neighbourhood landscapes providing the setting for everyday urban life and place-based identities being shaped by varied everyday practices, collective experiences and forces. Beyond the mainstream, standardising vision of the metropolization process, Asian Alleyways offers a nuanced overview of urban production in Asia at a time of great changes, and will be welcomed by an array of scholars, students, and all those interested in the modern transformation of Asian cities and their urban cultures.

Marie Gibert-Flutre is Assistant Professor of Geography in the Department of East Asia Studies (LCAO) at the University of Paris. Her research deals with the dynamics of public and private spaces in the production and appropriation of urban space in Vietnam. Her work uses a combination of process-oriented, and social agency perspectives to explore the encounters between state intentions, governing practices, and everyday life during the urbanization process. As Principal Investigator, she manages the Ho Chi Minh City case study of the International SEANNET (Southeast Asia Neighborhoods Network) research program. She has recently published Les envers de la métropolisation: les ruelles de Ho Chi Minh Ville (Vietnam) CNRS Edition, Paris (2019). Dr. Heide Imai is Associate Professor at Senshu University, Faculty of Intercultural Communication, Tokyo Japan. Heide Imai holds a PhD in Urban Sociology from Manchester Metropolitan University and a MA (2005) in Cultural Studies from Oxford Brookes University. Dr. Imai has taught at different universities in Japan, the UK and Germany and has researched widely about vernacular landscapes, cultural identities and urban practices in times of globalization. She is currently working on new projects in Japan, Korea and China and has published widely, including Tokyo Roji (Routledge, 2017) and Creativity in Tokyo (with M. Ursic, Palgrave, 2020).