![]() ![]() But more than a trivial inevitability of the urban condition, queues represent an important mechanism for distribution of goods, speed and status. Queuing is an inescapable aspect of living in cities, part of the “constant, unnoticed background noise of our lives” (Moran, 2008, p. However, we emphasise the need for an urban geography of queues that moves beyond the micro-dynamics of waiting lines in isolation, and makes visible larger scale processes of commodification and authoritarianism, affecting even the most spontaneous of queues.Īlthough not exclusive to cities, queues are a quintessential urban phenomenon, associated with the mass population of cities and their temporal quotidian routines. In more self-organized queues, social relations of trust and cooperation between strangers – critical components of a functional city – continue to be acculturated. Focusing specifically on airport terminal and bus waiting lines, we examine the ways commodification and authoritative queue management cultivate disciplined subordination, but also resistance. Drawing on ethnographic observations in Sydney, we examine the relationship between processes of commodification, authoritarianism and self-choreography in queue dynamics. We propose that across numerous queues throughout the city, the interaction of such tactics and strategies produces a dynamic set of social relations and emotions that become prominent features of the urban experience: trust, rage, competition, boredom, relaxation, hostility, and anxiety among others. In this paper, we explore the tactics of individuals negotiating access to goods, speed and status in the waiting line and the strategies of authorities managing these queues.
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