Assemblage

Assemblage describes the dynamic process of a constellation in which a composition of heterogeneous elements forms a provisional socio-spatial relation but is always subject to change. Initially introduced by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, the idea of assemblage thinking has brought about the relational turn to urban studies to reflect on the structure–agency relationship. The idea has subsequently been deployed in a variety of areas from spatiality of power and political apparatus, mobility of human and non-human things to nature-culture configurations, among others. A number of new concepts have been introduced to redefine socio-spatial relations through the lens of assemblage, such as actor-network theory, “new materialist” geographies, politics of knowledge, affect and bodily encounter in (geo)politics. In addition, the utility of assemblage thinking has been widely recognized in many disciplines. Debates and contestations carry on between the two schools of political economy and post-structuralism on how to capture the relational and territorial socio-spatial dynamics.