Jiehebu or suburb? Towards a translational turn in urban studies

Abstract

Engaging with reflections on improper urban vocabularies, this article proposes a translational turn to foreground dialogues—rather than equivalences—between languages. Drawing on the philosophies of language and hermeneutics, I adopt ‘the fusion of horizons’ as an alternative perspective to redefine translation where different languages encounter each other. To better capture global urban experiences, we should recognise the role of translation that exposes us to strangeness and alterity. This point is elaborated with heterogeneous names of the urban frontier, which inform us how and how far appropriating gaps/distances can initiate creative and unexpected dialogues for more global urban studies.

urban studies, epistemology, hermeneutics, comparative urbanism, urban frontiers, China