The Capacity to Aspire

The concluding chapter synthesizes the approach and findings, to theorize back. It takes inspiration from work from grounded theory and mid-range theory, to explain the approach for understanding these findings as theoretical. Further, it notes some of the biases and limitations of a relational comparative analysis, particularly with regards to the position of the researcher. Drawing on the comparative analysis, this chapter considers how in the context of inevitabilities, art spaces expose spaces of possibility. Finally, it suggests how a concept of aspiration can serve to better connect the function of imagined futures, hopes and fears in the exercise of present-day everyday life. Cities are constantly shaped by the presence of an elsewhere, evident in these art spaces’ ability to see possibility and imagine alternatives, and to recognize their positions and present conditions. As a heuristic, aspiration connects the function of imagined futures, hopes and fears in the exercise of present-day everyday life.