Heterotopia

From Geography

Origins

The term, heterotopia, is first introduced by the French philosopher Michel Foucault in 1967 during a conference lecture, Des espaces autres. (Foucault, 1967) It functions as a concept within human geography. Its key element is to describe places and spaces functioning in a non-hegemonic state.

Heterotopias are spaces of otherness that are neither here or there, that are simultaneously physical and mental eg space of a phone call The term was coined by Foucault in the late 1960’s and had an impact on urban theory. Spaces were called heterotopia because according to Foucault ‘they have injected altherity into the sameness, the commonplace, the topicality of everyday society’. The literal meaning of heterotopia is ‘other places’ and describes a world off centre with respect to normal or everyday spaces, one that possesses multiple, fragmented or even incompatible meanings. (Dehaene and Cauter, 2008)

Foucault says there is probably not a single culture in the world that fails to constitute a heterotopia but obviously they can take many forms, he goes on to say that there are however two main categories. The first one being crisis heterotopia which is when there are privileged or sacred places, reserved for individuals who are, in relation to society and to the human environment in which they live, in a state of crisis for example adolescents or the elderly. These heterotopias are disappearing and being replaced by what he believes as heterotopias of deviation where there are individuals whose behaviour is deviant in relation to the required norm e.g. psychiatric hospitals. The second principle regards the description of a heterotopia in that of a society, each heterotopia has a precise and determined function within a society. (Foucault and Miskowiec, 1986) an important characteristic of Foucault's heterotopia seems to be that it requires some significant travelösome expulsion from `mainstream' society and its habits. This might actually reinforce the stability of the society, as gardens and saunas tend to do. (Saldanha, 2007, p. 2083)

References

• Michel Foucault, Des espaces autres (1967), Hétérotopies. (audio extract)[1]
• Michel Foucault. Of Other Spaces (1967), Heterotopias.

• Hetero to Pia and the City public Space in a Post-civil Society, Dehaene, Cauter, 2008

• Of Other Spaces, M. Foucault and J. Miskowiec, 1986, Diacritics, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 22-2

• Saldanha, A. (2008) Heterotopia and Structuralism Environment and Planning A, Vol. 40, p. 2083

Contributors

• Published by Sander Linssen (4115597)
• Edited by Laura Brunning (s4176332)