The dérive, originally conceived by the Lettrist and later Situationist Internationals, is re-evaluated in light of contemporary urban conditions as a gesture suspended between critical tactic and commodified reenactment. The practice, rooted in disorientation and sensorial drift, emerges as a performative critique of the rationalized city, yet its current revivals often fail to uphold its subversive spirit. Alfredo Rubio Díaz traces the genealogical arc of this urban exploration technique, from its revolutionary Parisian inception to its subsequent misappropriation in sanitized urban experiences. The dérive is posited not as a romantic stroll nor merely an aesthetic detour, but a methodologically loaded intervention into the spatial logics of modernity. Rubio critiques how the normalization of the dérive has led to its dilution: from radical rupture to touristic trope. The tension lies in its recuperation: is it still viable as resistance, or has it become another form of urban spectacle? Through a nuanced reading, the author introduces the concept of neoderiva, describing contemporary drifts that acknowledge their historic lineage yet adapt to privatized, surveilled, and fragmented urban geographies. The dérive’s very endurance—despite its frequent depoliticization—becomes both symptom and opportunity: a residue of utopian insurgency reactivated through reflexive, embodied praxis. Rather than dismiss its present forms outright, Rubio calls for a critical rehabilitation that aligns the dérive with emergent forms of dissent and spatial reappropriation, affirming its continued relevance in the face of urban homogenization and socio-spatial exclusion.
Rubio Díaz, A. (2014) ‘La dérive. Contra lo impuesto’, URBS. Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales, 4(1), pp. 21–39.
