Rhythmanalysis: Place, Mobility, Disruption and Performance

This collection brings together new and original research on the concept and practice of ‘rhythmanalysis’ in urban sociology as a means to analyse the relationship between the time and space of the city. It offers a context and introduction to rhythmanalysis and presents a range of studies which use it to analyse – and animate - urban life across Europe and the Americas. Originally proposed by French philosopher and urban scholar, Henri Lefebvre and his collaborator, Catherine Régulier, in the twentieth century, rhythmanalysis continues to capture the attention of urban scholars today. This volume includes in-depth analyses of the rhythms of place-making from the City of London to the Caminito of Buenos Aires. It explores the production of rhythm on the move – in cars and on the street - in relation to urban atmospheres and the implications of mobility for climate emergency. It considers what happens when everyday urban rhythms are disrupted and reconfigured, as in the extended disaster of an earthquake or through tourism and migration. And it delves into the mobilisation of the body, materials and technologies to make and detect rhythm whether in the spontaneous interactions of arts festivals in the UK or a multi-ethnic dance space in Germany. The collection seeks to spark new interest in using rhythmanalysis as a mode of sensing and making sense of the complex entanglements of time and space at the heart of everyday urban life. It will be of interest to scholars and students in urban sociology, social and cultural geography, mobilities studies, and the sociology and philosophy of time.