Abstract:

The temporal perspective of urban research has only entered sociological discussion in recent decades, whereas classical sociology was more focused on the spatial organization of everyday routines. These changes are particularly visible in the repertoire of research techniques, ranging from traditional methods to the 'rapid' ones (Low 2017). The issue is how the acceleration of research changes the way we see and interpret the relationships among social actors and how it potentially corrupts our understanding of urban everyday practices.

This paper will examine several cases of new formats of urban planning organization and regulation that have emerged in Central Asia in recent decades, such as zoning regulations, urban planning competitions, master planning, and urban design standards. It aims to deconstruct them and describe them as complex urban research and planning frameworks (Bissenova 2013). The analysis of these frameworks will present them as a collection of rapid research techniques, which provide a structured description of social practices through various forms of representation—mapping, narrating, observation, and photographic fixation—as well as the analysis of legal documents and regulations.

Deconstructing the work of urban research and planning frameworks reveals their role as boundary objects that coordinate urban processes and flows of urban knowledge. As Bijker, Bal, and Hendricks (2009) state, this coordination work relies on tacit knowledge and expertise, which enable decision-making in critical situations but also lead to an accumulation of risks in urban governance. Thus, urban governance will be described as the coordination of risks produced by various urban planning and design frameworks.