Marit Rosol | Julius-Maximilians - Universität Würzburg (original) (raw)
Journal Articles by Marit Rosol
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2022
The call for Just Food Futures reflects a desire to address social inequities, health disparities... more The call for Just Food Futures reflects a desire to address social inequities, health disparities, and environmental disasters created by overlapping systems of oppression including capitalism, white supremacy, and heteropatriarchy. While many food movement actors share a desire to meaningfully tackle these issues, the richness and broadness of the food movement does not come without problems. The challenge of engaging with the intersectional nature of food-based inequities is apparent in the tensions between distinctive food organizations and movements and their sometimes conflicting goals, approaches, tactics, and strategies. This Themed Section brings together some of the contributions to and reflections from a virtual three-day workshop held in May 2021 in which we aimed at better understanding the differing approaches, the spaces in which they work, and where we explored collaborative possibilities within, between, and beyond food movements.
In this Introduction we share reflections from the guest editors. To explore how food movements can collaborate in solidarity while not negating differences, we first identify key frictions within and between food-related movements and why they persist. Second, we suggest three strategic orientations that may help to explore collaborative possibilities within, between, and beyond food movements: Learning from other movements, fostering political literacy, and engaging with tensions productively. Finally, we consider the role and responsibility of academics within these conversations. We close with a call for (re)politization across difference and relate this back to strategies for broader social transformations.
City. Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action , 2022
The smart city is the most emblematic contemporary expression of the fusion of urbanism and digit... more The smart city is the most emblematic contemporary expression of the fusion of urbanism and digital technologies. Critical urban scholars are now increasingly likely to highlight the injustices that are created and exacerbated by emerging smart city initiatives and to diagnose the way that these projects remake urban space and urban policy in unjust ways. Despite this, there has not yet been a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the concept of justice in the smart city literature. To fill this gap and strengthen the smart city critique, we draw on the tripartite approach to justice developed by philosopher Nancy Fraser, which is focused on redistribution, recognition, and representation. We use this framework to outline key themes and identify gaps in existing critiques of the smart city, and to emphasize the importance of transformational approaches to justice that take shifts in governance seriously. In reformulating and expanding the existing critiques of the smart city, we argue for shifting the discussion away from the smart city as such. Rather than searching for an alternative smart city, we argue that critical scholars should focus on broader questions of urban justice in a digital age.
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation, 2022
The COVID-19 crisis demonstrates forcefully that human health, the well-being of animals, and pla... more The COVID-19 crisis demonstrates forcefully that human health, the well-being of animals, and planetary health must not be viewed in isolation—and that they all depend to a large extent on the ways in which we produce, process, trade, and consume food. In this perspective essay, we argue for the centrality of food and agriculture to the epoch of the Anthropocene and why profound changes are needed more than ever. We close with some reflections on how the disruptions associated with the current pandemic also offer the opportunity for the necessary ecological, economic, and social transformation of our agri-food systems—toward healthy humans, animals, and a healthy and biodiverse planet.
Agriculture and Human Values, 2021
For some time we have seen a shift away from direct marketing, a core feature and dominant exchan... more For some time we have seen a shift away from direct marketing, a core feature and dominant exchange form in the alternative food world, towards a greater role for intermediation. Yet, we still need to better understand to what extent and in what ways new mediated Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) represent an evolution of or departure from core tenets of alternative food systems. This paper focuses on AFNs with new intermediaries that connect small-scale producers with urban end-consumers. Based on original research in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Calgary, we analyze three different types of mediated AFNs: one driven by consumers, one by an external intermediary, and one by producers. Our cases include non-capitalist, capitalist, and alternative capitalist economic practices as identified by Gibson-Graham. Conceptually, we base our analysis on the three-pillar-model of alternative agri-food systems, which we further refine. Besides comparing our cases with each other, for heuristic purposes we also compare them with an ideal-type model that adheres to core tenets of alterity in all three pillars. Our empirical analysis shows that intermediary organizations can bring important benefits and that mediated AFNs are in principle able to hold true to the core tenets of alternative agri-food systems. However, it is very important to develop models of democratic control and ownership as well as economic arrangements in which created value is fairly shared. Only then can the potentials of new mediated models be realized while the pitfalls of the conventional systems they seek to replace be avoided.
Read and share via SharedIt https://rdcu.be/ci8YM
Economic Geography, 2020
In heterodox economic geography, there is an ongoing debate as to how our economic, social, and e... more In heterodox economic geography, there is an ongoing debate as to how our economic, social, and environmental needs may be better addressed by organizing the economy differently, through more equitable and more sustainable practices. This calls for further studying and discussing alternative economic practices in a diverse economy. In this article, existing alternative economic practices within agrifood systems—specifically alternative forms of connecting producers and consumers—are explored, primarily on a conceptual but also an empirically grounded level. The article makes two conceptual contributions: First, it offers a comprehensive review of the literature and, with an emphasis on contributions by economic geographers, clarifies the meaning of alterity in alternative food systems. It reveals the hitherto limited focus on either alternative products or alternative distribution networks. In light of this limitation and the ongoing incorporation of characteristics of alternative food by conventional food industries for profit purposes, second, it extends those insights by reconceptualizing alterity—namely, by introducing alternative economic practices as an important third pillar of alternative food networks (AFNs). Empirically, by presenting two newly emerging models of AFNs from Berlin and Frankfurt—which go beyond just offering alternative food stuffs or using alternative distribution networks and instead aim at de-commodifying the food system—the article provides a closer view on existing alternative economic practices, highlighting the ways in which they think and perform the economy otherwise.
50 free online copies here: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YWYSSKGRDQIBHVNUAZMG/full?target=10.1080/00130095.2019.1701430
Urban Geography, 2020
Part of: Penny, Joe/ Barnett, Clive/ Legacy, Crystal/ Dikec, Mustafa/ Rosol, Marit/ Featherstone,... more Part of: Penny, Joe/ Barnett, Clive/ Legacy, Crystal/ Dikec, Mustafa/ Rosol, Marit/ Featherstone, David and Swyngedouw, Erik. 2019. Urban Geography Review Symposium on: Promises of the political. insurgent cities in a post-political environment. Urban Geography 41(2): 312–329. doi:10.1080/02723638.2019.1652057
50 Free downloads available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EIBT9JJVCXNFG6TP33WW/full?target=10.1080/02723638.2019.1652057
European Urban and Regional Studies, 2019
Through an analysis of two international cases from Canada and Germany, this paper highlights the... more Through an analysis of two international cases from Canada and Germany, this paper highlights the role of the state in governing gentrification and displacement in areas previously thought to be unattractive for profit-seeking capital, that is, ‘un-gentrifiable’. With this, we seek to contribute to the debate on how the role of the local state has changed from securing affordable housing for low-income households into becoming an essential player involved in real estate speculation. Taking Little Mountain in Vancouver as the first example, we examine the privatization and demolition of the public housing complex and thus the withdrawal of the state. Our second example, Ostend in Frankfurt, investigates the restructuring of a working-class neighbourhood through active state-led interventions including massive public investment. We analyse the two empirical examples along five dimensions: causal drivers and mechanisms that have led to the changing role of the state in governing urban transformations; policy instruments used by state agencies to encourage gentrification; strategies to legitimize state-led gentrification; outcomes in terms of direct and exclusionary displacement; and the forms of contestation and protest. We maintain that both cases, although presenting a stark contrast, follow the same rule, namely state-led gentrification.
Journal of the American Planning Association, 2019
Problem, research strategy, and findings: Social justice is often considered the goal of particip... more Problem, research strategy, and findings: Social justice is often considered the goal of participatory planning, yet justice is typically not operationalized, broadly defined, or clearly linked with participatory practice. We expand on Sherry Arnstein’s concern with the redistribution of power between the state and citizens by juxtaposing her ladder of participation with Nancy Fraser’s framework of justice. Fraser’s approach to justice seeks parity—defined as the social arrangements that enable people to participate as peers in public life—across economic, cultural, and political domains. Fraser provides principles to guide planners in determining what is just and unjust in participatory initiatives. Principles include ensuring proper participatory procedures, recognizing minority viewpoints and perspectives, attending to the framing of public issues, and remediating inequitable social structures. We illustrate the practical application of Fraser’s justice framework by drawing on examples from public engagement with climate change.
Takeaway for practice: Although Fraser does not provide a tool kit for action, we offer suggestions for how planners can apply a justice framework to improve participatory practice. Planners can a) require appropriate procedures to ensure that all relevant people and perspectives are represented at the appropriate scale; b) ensure all perspectives—not just dominant ones—are recognized and valued; and c) respond to and mitigate the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources.
free download: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2HAIY4URN8G7ZHXTKA8R/full?target=10.1080/01944363.2019.1619476
![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit (2018): Alternative Food Networks as Alternative Economies [original in German: Alternative Ernährungsnetzwerke als Alternative Ökonomien]. In: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie 62(3–4): 174–186. (Open Access)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/63324553/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie, 2018
Within the context of the growing interest in alternative economic spaces, this introductory pa... more Within the context of the growing interest in alternative economic spaces, this introductory paper conceptualizes alternative food networks (AFN) as alternative economic networks that seek to transform production-consumption-relations in a more environmentally and/or socially responsible way. The development of the debate as well as controversial aspects of AFN will be presented. Finally, economic geography inspired research questions and perspectives for advancing geographical research on alternative food are derived.
![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit/ STRÜVER, Anke (2018): (Economic) Geographies of Food: Transformative economies and alternative eating practices [original in German: (Wirtschafts-)Geographien des Essen]. In: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie 62(3–4): 169–173. (Open Access)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57947610/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie, 2018
Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggling with t... more Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggling with the neoliberal university. In this note, we consider how our responses to the neoliberalization of academia – whether in teaching, research or other activities – promote justice or not. Rather than theorize justice in the abstract, our goal is to tease apart the injustices, vulnerabilities and complicities of our workplaces. We draw upon our individual experiences, which span six institutions across six countries, to explore how mundane choices and everyday actions might enable us to resist the neoliberal pressures on our work and our labour. We do this by acknowledging that there is a real possibility that we come to embody neoliberalism in our choices, decisions and habits. That is, we are disciplined and become self-disciplining in turn, in order to survive. We explore this tension through a series of experiential vignettes that help to frame our everyday resistance as 'tim-adical' action, both radical and timid at the same time.
abstract Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggli... more abstract Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggling with the neoliberal university. In this note, we consider how our responses to the neoliberalization of academia – whether in teaching, research or other activities – promote justice or not. Rather than theorize justice in the abstract, our goal is to tease apart the injustices, vulnerabilities and complicities of our workplaces. We draw upon our individual experiences, which span six institutions across six countries, to explore how mundane choices and everyday actions might enable us to resist the neoliberal pressures on our work and our labour. We do this by acknowledging that there is a real possibility that we come to embody neoliberalism in our choices, decisions and habits. That is, we are disciplined and become self-disciplining in turn, in order to survive. We explore this tension through a series of experiential vignettes that help to frame our everyday resistance as 'tim-adical' action, both radical and timid at the same time.
ACME. An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 2017
Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enh... more Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enhances research on urban agriculture in two ways. Firstly, we explain the specific histories of urban allotments in Spain, that differ from the well-rehearsed stories of North America and also Northern Europe. Secondly, we show that a focus on urban allotments can provide a better understanding of changes in the economy, in land-use and in urban-rural relations in times of crisis. After two decades of Spain’s “urbanization tsunami”, in the mid 2000s a new way of combining urban life with agricultural functions emerged: through allotments, municipalities intended to promote environmentally-oriented leisure activities, enhance urban green landscapes and revive traditional vegetable gardens (huertas). At first, these projects catered mostly to pensioners, including foreigners coming from countries with long traditions of urban allotments. As the economic recession intensified in 2009, allotments had to re-define their goals in a social environment now defined by high unemployment and impoverishment. Today, most of the projects target people at risk of poverty and social exclusion and their primary functions are productive, therapeutic and educational. We also show that the global economic crisis of 2008 in a way contributed to the revaluation of agricultural land use, although the spectre of land-speculation is still very present.
Cities
During the past decades, the city of Zurich endeavoured to facilitate both a transition toward a ... more During the past decades, the city of Zurich endeavoured to facilitate both a transition toward a post-industrial economic base and a diversification of its existing service sector. The latter relates to Zurich’s idiosyncrasies that, besides its long industrial tradition, it already disposed of a strong service sector, i.e., the financial services since the 19th century. Since the repeated financial crises in the 1990s and 2000s, however, the city pursued a two-fold strategy. It sought to lessen its over-dependence on dominating private banking, whilst attempting to strengthen this sector’s global competitiveness by attracting talent. This article shows how the creative industries served as a key instrument for both strategies and critically investigates the narrative created to legitimise and underpin a new economic growth agenda with concomitant new urban policies of neo-liberal design. Important socio-spatial consequences of these new urban policies are discussed in the example of the transformation of one of Zurich’s former industrial districts, Escher Wyss, today known as Zurich-West. Empirically, this article draws on a detailed content analysis of policy and marketing documents between 2005 and 2010, which reveal the legitimisation process of the making of the new trend-quarter, Zurich-West. Additional qualitative interviews with the new creatives in this quarter illustrate the catalysing of the urban redesign.
Die Erde, 2015
In times of peak-oil and the on-going ‘urban renaissance’ (Porter and Shaw 2009), urban densifica... more In times of peak-oil and the on-going ‘urban renaissance’ (Porter and Shaw 2009), urban densification becomes increasingly more important. Densification is promoted not only for environmental reasons – in the sense of developing more compact and thus more sustainable cities – but also, as is the case in Vancouver, in the name of ‘social mixing’. Taking the conflict over “Little Mountain” – the oldest public housing complex in the province of British Columbia, Canada – as example, the article shows the conflicts that can arise in the process of densification. Despite the protests of residents and their supporters and without any concrete plans for redevelopment, almost all of the once 224 social housing units were demolished in 2009 to make room for at least 1,400 market condos (besides the 1-for-1 replacement of the social units). The example shows that densification processes that lack social measures for securing tenure for long-time residents lead to the displacement of poorer people, and to increased socio-spatial disparities. Furthermore, densification will not alleviate the affordability crisis but intensify it, if all the additionally created housing units will be market-housing only. Based on this example, the article shows that a purported social-mix policy is mainly motivated by recapturing prime real-estate, and identifies the rhetoric of ‘social mixing’ as ‘gentrification by stealth’ (Bridge et al. 2012).
Urban Geography, 2015
In 1995 Vancouver City Council approved new policy guidelines for future urban development that d... more In 1995 Vancouver City Council approved new policy guidelines for future urban development that departed from the traditional model of suburban growth, instead prioritizing urban intensification. Theoretically guided by the Foucauldian governmentality approach, I argue in this paper that this shift towards intensification can be understood through an analysis of Vancouver’s extensive participatory planning process known as CityPlan. Created as an answer to conflicts around the intensification of historically evolved urban neighbourhoods, CityPlan Vancouver exemplifies a specific form of urban governance that has been understudied in geography and participation research: a governance consisting of conducting the conduct of citizens through participatory processes. The paper examines this “governing through participation” by carrying out a microanalysis of the problematizations, rationalities, and technologies of CityPlan. Such an analysis differs significantly from an evaluation of participatory planning processes against normative ideals, and thus enriches critical research on participation in urban governance.
50 free downloads available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/fSXiUNbTyxSU2qJ3zfaS/full
original title: "Ernährungssicherung durch Urban Gardening? – Erfahrungen aus Toronto" Angesicht... more original title: "Ernährungssicherung durch Urban Gardening? – Erfahrungen aus Toronto"
Angesichts des Aufschwungs urbaner Gartenformen in der Bundesrepublik, die sich explizit dem Nahrungsmittelanbau widmen, stellt sich die Frage nach ihrem Beitrag zur städtischen Ernährungssicherung. Dazu werden in vorliegendem Aufsatz Erfahrungen aus Toronto vorgestellt und der Zusammenhang von Gemeinschaftsgärten, Ernährungssicherung und Ernährungsgerechtigkeit diskutiert.
Space and Polity, 2014
The paper contributes to understandings of contestation and resistance in urban politics, using a... more The paper contributes to understandings of contestation and resistance in urban politics, using a land use struggle against a “big-box” development in Vancouver, Canada as an example. It surveys Foucault's work on “governmentality,” highlighting the centrality of the notion of resistance in this work before focusing in particular on Foucault's yet underexplored conceptions of “conduct” and “counter-conduct”. These concepts offer an analysis of urban politics beyond the binary of successful implementation of city policies or their failure, and of cooption or revolt; therefore, proving especially useful in the analysis of urban governance which is increasingly characterised as “post-political”.
50 free downloads available at http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HPkEnpnjnQtnz5gUUqAT/full
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2022
The call for Just Food Futures reflects a desire to address social inequities, health disparities... more The call for Just Food Futures reflects a desire to address social inequities, health disparities, and environmental disasters created by overlapping systems of oppression including capitalism, white supremacy, and heteropatriarchy. While many food movement actors share a desire to meaningfully tackle these issues, the richness and broadness of the food movement does not come without problems. The challenge of engaging with the intersectional nature of food-based inequities is apparent in the tensions between distinctive food organizations and movements and their sometimes conflicting goals, approaches, tactics, and strategies. This Themed Section brings together some of the contributions to and reflections from a virtual three-day workshop held in May 2021 in which we aimed at better understanding the differing approaches, the spaces in which they work, and where we explored collaborative possibilities within, between, and beyond food movements.
In this Introduction we share reflections from the guest editors. To explore how food movements can collaborate in solidarity while not negating differences, we first identify key frictions within and between food-related movements and why they persist. Second, we suggest three strategic orientations that may help to explore collaborative possibilities within, between, and beyond food movements: Learning from other movements, fostering political literacy, and engaging with tensions productively. Finally, we consider the role and responsibility of academics within these conversations. We close with a call for (re)politization across difference and relate this back to strategies for broader social transformations.
City. Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action , 2022
The smart city is the most emblematic contemporary expression of the fusion of urbanism and digit... more The smart city is the most emblematic contemporary expression of the fusion of urbanism and digital technologies. Critical urban scholars are now increasingly likely to highlight the injustices that are created and exacerbated by emerging smart city initiatives and to diagnose the way that these projects remake urban space and urban policy in unjust ways. Despite this, there has not yet been a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the concept of justice in the smart city literature. To fill this gap and strengthen the smart city critique, we draw on the tripartite approach to justice developed by philosopher Nancy Fraser, which is focused on redistribution, recognition, and representation. We use this framework to outline key themes and identify gaps in existing critiques of the smart city, and to emphasize the importance of transformational approaches to justice that take shifts in governance seriously. In reformulating and expanding the existing critiques of the smart city, we argue for shifting the discussion away from the smart city as such. Rather than searching for an alternative smart city, we argue that critical scholars should focus on broader questions of urban justice in a digital age.
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation, 2022
The COVID-19 crisis demonstrates forcefully that human health, the well-being of animals, and pla... more The COVID-19 crisis demonstrates forcefully that human health, the well-being of animals, and planetary health must not be viewed in isolation—and that they all depend to a large extent on the ways in which we produce, process, trade, and consume food. In this perspective essay, we argue for the centrality of food and agriculture to the epoch of the Anthropocene and why profound changes are needed more than ever. We close with some reflections on how the disruptions associated with the current pandemic also offer the opportunity for the necessary ecological, economic, and social transformation of our agri-food systems—toward healthy humans, animals, and a healthy and biodiverse planet.
Agriculture and Human Values, 2021
For some time we have seen a shift away from direct marketing, a core feature and dominant exchan... more For some time we have seen a shift away from direct marketing, a core feature and dominant exchange form in the alternative food world, towards a greater role for intermediation. Yet, we still need to better understand to what extent and in what ways new mediated Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) represent an evolution of or departure from core tenets of alternative food systems. This paper focuses on AFNs with new intermediaries that connect small-scale producers with urban end-consumers. Based on original research in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Calgary, we analyze three different types of mediated AFNs: one driven by consumers, one by an external intermediary, and one by producers. Our cases include non-capitalist, capitalist, and alternative capitalist economic practices as identified by Gibson-Graham. Conceptually, we base our analysis on the three-pillar-model of alternative agri-food systems, which we further refine. Besides comparing our cases with each other, for heuristic purposes we also compare them with an ideal-type model that adheres to core tenets of alterity in all three pillars. Our empirical analysis shows that intermediary organizations can bring important benefits and that mediated AFNs are in principle able to hold true to the core tenets of alternative agri-food systems. However, it is very important to develop models of democratic control and ownership as well as economic arrangements in which created value is fairly shared. Only then can the potentials of new mediated models be realized while the pitfalls of the conventional systems they seek to replace be avoided.
Read and share via SharedIt https://rdcu.be/ci8YM
Economic Geography, 2020
In heterodox economic geography, there is an ongoing debate as to how our economic, social, and e... more In heterodox economic geography, there is an ongoing debate as to how our economic, social, and environmental needs may be better addressed by organizing the economy differently, through more equitable and more sustainable practices. This calls for further studying and discussing alternative economic practices in a diverse economy. In this article, existing alternative economic practices within agrifood systems—specifically alternative forms of connecting producers and consumers—are explored, primarily on a conceptual but also an empirically grounded level. The article makes two conceptual contributions: First, it offers a comprehensive review of the literature and, with an emphasis on contributions by economic geographers, clarifies the meaning of alterity in alternative food systems. It reveals the hitherto limited focus on either alternative products or alternative distribution networks. In light of this limitation and the ongoing incorporation of characteristics of alternative food by conventional food industries for profit purposes, second, it extends those insights by reconceptualizing alterity—namely, by introducing alternative economic practices as an important third pillar of alternative food networks (AFNs). Empirically, by presenting two newly emerging models of AFNs from Berlin and Frankfurt—which go beyond just offering alternative food stuffs or using alternative distribution networks and instead aim at de-commodifying the food system—the article provides a closer view on existing alternative economic practices, highlighting the ways in which they think and perform the economy otherwise.
50 free online copies here: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/YWYSSKGRDQIBHVNUAZMG/full?target=10.1080/00130095.2019.1701430
Urban Geography, 2020
Part of: Penny, Joe/ Barnett, Clive/ Legacy, Crystal/ Dikec, Mustafa/ Rosol, Marit/ Featherstone,... more Part of: Penny, Joe/ Barnett, Clive/ Legacy, Crystal/ Dikec, Mustafa/ Rosol, Marit/ Featherstone, David and Swyngedouw, Erik. 2019. Urban Geography Review Symposium on: Promises of the political. insurgent cities in a post-political environment. Urban Geography 41(2): 312–329. doi:10.1080/02723638.2019.1652057
50 Free downloads available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EIBT9JJVCXNFG6TP33WW/full?target=10.1080/02723638.2019.1652057
European Urban and Regional Studies, 2019
Through an analysis of two international cases from Canada and Germany, this paper highlights the... more Through an analysis of two international cases from Canada and Germany, this paper highlights the role of the state in governing gentrification and displacement in areas previously thought to be unattractive for profit-seeking capital, that is, ‘un-gentrifiable’. With this, we seek to contribute to the debate on how the role of the local state has changed from securing affordable housing for low-income households into becoming an essential player involved in real estate speculation. Taking Little Mountain in Vancouver as the first example, we examine the privatization and demolition of the public housing complex and thus the withdrawal of the state. Our second example, Ostend in Frankfurt, investigates the restructuring of a working-class neighbourhood through active state-led interventions including massive public investment. We analyse the two empirical examples along five dimensions: causal drivers and mechanisms that have led to the changing role of the state in governing urban transformations; policy instruments used by state agencies to encourage gentrification; strategies to legitimize state-led gentrification; outcomes in terms of direct and exclusionary displacement; and the forms of contestation and protest. We maintain that both cases, although presenting a stark contrast, follow the same rule, namely state-led gentrification.
Journal of the American Planning Association, 2019
Problem, research strategy, and findings: Social justice is often considered the goal of particip... more Problem, research strategy, and findings: Social justice is often considered the goal of participatory planning, yet justice is typically not operationalized, broadly defined, or clearly linked with participatory practice. We expand on Sherry Arnstein’s concern with the redistribution of power between the state and citizens by juxtaposing her ladder of participation with Nancy Fraser’s framework of justice. Fraser’s approach to justice seeks parity—defined as the social arrangements that enable people to participate as peers in public life—across economic, cultural, and political domains. Fraser provides principles to guide planners in determining what is just and unjust in participatory initiatives. Principles include ensuring proper participatory procedures, recognizing minority viewpoints and perspectives, attending to the framing of public issues, and remediating inequitable social structures. We illustrate the practical application of Fraser’s justice framework by drawing on examples from public engagement with climate change.
Takeaway for practice: Although Fraser does not provide a tool kit for action, we offer suggestions for how planners can apply a justice framework to improve participatory practice. Planners can a) require appropriate procedures to ensure that all relevant people and perspectives are represented at the appropriate scale; b) ensure all perspectives—not just dominant ones—are recognized and valued; and c) respond to and mitigate the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources.
free download: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2HAIY4URN8G7ZHXTKA8R/full?target=10.1080/01944363.2019.1619476
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie, 2018
Within the context of the growing interest in alternative economic spaces, this introductory pa... more Within the context of the growing interest in alternative economic spaces, this introductory paper conceptualizes alternative food networks (AFN) as alternative economic networks that seek to transform production-consumption-relations in a more environmentally and/or socially responsible way. The development of the debate as well as controversial aspects of AFN will be presented. Finally, economic geography inspired research questions and perspectives for advancing geographical research on alternative food are derived.
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie, 2018
Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggling with t... more Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggling with the neoliberal university. In this note, we consider how our responses to the neoliberalization of academia – whether in teaching, research or other activities – promote justice or not. Rather than theorize justice in the abstract, our goal is to tease apart the injustices, vulnerabilities and complicities of our workplaces. We draw upon our individual experiences, which span six institutions across six countries, to explore how mundane choices and everyday actions might enable us to resist the neoliberal pressures on our work and our labour. We do this by acknowledging that there is a real possibility that we come to embody neoliberalism in our choices, decisions and habits. That is, we are disciplined and become self-disciplining in turn, in order to survive. We explore this tension through a series of experiential vignettes that help to frame our everyday resistance as 'tim-adical' action, both radical and timid at the same time.
abstract Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggli... more abstract Early career academics face their own particular set of issues when it comes to struggling with the neoliberal university. In this note, we consider how our responses to the neoliberalization of academia – whether in teaching, research or other activities – promote justice or not. Rather than theorize justice in the abstract, our goal is to tease apart the injustices, vulnerabilities and complicities of our workplaces. We draw upon our individual experiences, which span six institutions across six countries, to explore how mundane choices and everyday actions might enable us to resist the neoliberal pressures on our work and our labour. We do this by acknowledging that there is a real possibility that we come to embody neoliberalism in our choices, decisions and habits. That is, we are disciplined and become self-disciplining in turn, in order to survive. We explore this tension through a series of experiential vignettes that help to frame our everyday resistance as 'tim-adical' action, both radical and timid at the same time.
ACME. An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 2017
Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enh... more Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enhances research on urban agriculture in two ways. Firstly, we explain the specific histories of urban allotments in Spain, that differ from the well-rehearsed stories of North America and also Northern Europe. Secondly, we show that a focus on urban allotments can provide a better understanding of changes in the economy, in land-use and in urban-rural relations in times of crisis. After two decades of Spain’s “urbanization tsunami”, in the mid 2000s a new way of combining urban life with agricultural functions emerged: through allotments, municipalities intended to promote environmentally-oriented leisure activities, enhance urban green landscapes and revive traditional vegetable gardens (huertas). At first, these projects catered mostly to pensioners, including foreigners coming from countries with long traditions of urban allotments. As the economic recession intensified in 2009, allotments had to re-define their goals in a social environment now defined by high unemployment and impoverishment. Today, most of the projects target people at risk of poverty and social exclusion and their primary functions are productive, therapeutic and educational. We also show that the global economic crisis of 2008 in a way contributed to the revaluation of agricultural land use, although the spectre of land-speculation is still very present.
Cities
During the past decades, the city of Zurich endeavoured to facilitate both a transition toward a ... more During the past decades, the city of Zurich endeavoured to facilitate both a transition toward a post-industrial economic base and a diversification of its existing service sector. The latter relates to Zurich’s idiosyncrasies that, besides its long industrial tradition, it already disposed of a strong service sector, i.e., the financial services since the 19th century. Since the repeated financial crises in the 1990s and 2000s, however, the city pursued a two-fold strategy. It sought to lessen its over-dependence on dominating private banking, whilst attempting to strengthen this sector’s global competitiveness by attracting talent. This article shows how the creative industries served as a key instrument for both strategies and critically investigates the narrative created to legitimise and underpin a new economic growth agenda with concomitant new urban policies of neo-liberal design. Important socio-spatial consequences of these new urban policies are discussed in the example of the transformation of one of Zurich’s former industrial districts, Escher Wyss, today known as Zurich-West. Empirically, this article draws on a detailed content analysis of policy and marketing documents between 2005 and 2010, which reveal the legitimisation process of the making of the new trend-quarter, Zurich-West. Additional qualitative interviews with the new creatives in this quarter illustrate the catalysing of the urban redesign.
Die Erde, 2015
In times of peak-oil and the on-going ‘urban renaissance’ (Porter and Shaw 2009), urban densifica... more In times of peak-oil and the on-going ‘urban renaissance’ (Porter and Shaw 2009), urban densification becomes increasingly more important. Densification is promoted not only for environmental reasons – in the sense of developing more compact and thus more sustainable cities – but also, as is the case in Vancouver, in the name of ‘social mixing’. Taking the conflict over “Little Mountain” – the oldest public housing complex in the province of British Columbia, Canada – as example, the article shows the conflicts that can arise in the process of densification. Despite the protests of residents and their supporters and without any concrete plans for redevelopment, almost all of the once 224 social housing units were demolished in 2009 to make room for at least 1,400 market condos (besides the 1-for-1 replacement of the social units). The example shows that densification processes that lack social measures for securing tenure for long-time residents lead to the displacement of poorer people, and to increased socio-spatial disparities. Furthermore, densification will not alleviate the affordability crisis but intensify it, if all the additionally created housing units will be market-housing only. Based on this example, the article shows that a purported social-mix policy is mainly motivated by recapturing prime real-estate, and identifies the rhetoric of ‘social mixing’ as ‘gentrification by stealth’ (Bridge et al. 2012).
Urban Geography, 2015
In 1995 Vancouver City Council approved new policy guidelines for future urban development that d... more In 1995 Vancouver City Council approved new policy guidelines for future urban development that departed from the traditional model of suburban growth, instead prioritizing urban intensification. Theoretically guided by the Foucauldian governmentality approach, I argue in this paper that this shift towards intensification can be understood through an analysis of Vancouver’s extensive participatory planning process known as CityPlan. Created as an answer to conflicts around the intensification of historically evolved urban neighbourhoods, CityPlan Vancouver exemplifies a specific form of urban governance that has been understudied in geography and participation research: a governance consisting of conducting the conduct of citizens through participatory processes. The paper examines this “governing through participation” by carrying out a microanalysis of the problematizations, rationalities, and technologies of CityPlan. Such an analysis differs significantly from an evaluation of participatory planning processes against normative ideals, and thus enriches critical research on participation in urban governance.
50 free downloads available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/fSXiUNbTyxSU2qJ3zfaS/full
original title: "Ernährungssicherung durch Urban Gardening? – Erfahrungen aus Toronto" Angesicht... more original title: "Ernährungssicherung durch Urban Gardening? – Erfahrungen aus Toronto"
Angesichts des Aufschwungs urbaner Gartenformen in der Bundesrepublik, die sich explizit dem Nahrungsmittelanbau widmen, stellt sich die Frage nach ihrem Beitrag zur städtischen Ernährungssicherung. Dazu werden in vorliegendem Aufsatz Erfahrungen aus Toronto vorgestellt und der Zusammenhang von Gemeinschaftsgärten, Ernährungssicherung und Ernährungsgerechtigkeit diskutiert.
Space and Polity, 2014
The paper contributes to understandings of contestation and resistance in urban politics, using a... more The paper contributes to understandings of contestation and resistance in urban politics, using a land use struggle against a “big-box” development in Vancouver, Canada as an example. It surveys Foucault's work on “governmentality,” highlighting the centrality of the notion of resistance in this work before focusing in particular on Foucault's yet underexplored conceptions of “conduct” and “counter-conduct”. These concepts offer an analysis of urban politics beyond the binary of successful implementation of city policies or their failure, and of cooption or revolt; therefore, proving especially useful in the analysis of urban governance which is increasingly characterised as “post-political”.
50 free downloads available at http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HPkEnpnjnQtnz5gUUqAT/full
![Research paper thumbnail of KUMNIG, Sarah / ROSOL, Marit / EXNER, Andrea*s (Eds.): Contested Green. Between neoliberal urban development and city making from below. [Umkämpftes Grün. Zwischen neoliberaler Stadtentwicklung und Stadtgestaltung von unten]. Bielefeld: Transcript. [in German]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/54505479/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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[original title: Gemeinschaftsgärten in Berlin. Eine qualitative Untersuchung zu Potenzialen und ... more [original title: Gemeinschaftsgärten in Berlin. Eine qualitative Untersuchung zu Potenzialen und Risiken bürgerschaftlichen Engagements im Grünflächenbereich vor dem Hintergrund des Wandels von Staat und Planung]
Handbook of Democracy and Sustainability, 2022
Cities, for a long time seen as ecological problems, are increasingly portrayed as the arena to b... more Cities, for a long time seen as ecological problems, are increasingly portrayed as the arena to bring about social-environmental changes. In this chapter, we discuss the tension between the progressive roots of urban sustainability and its current neoliberal and post-democratic shape. Contrary to its promise – the goal of an urban ecological transformation was initially connected to that of strengthening local democracy – urban sustainability is increasingly used to reinforce growth dynamics and to foster urban competitiveness. Following the trajectory of urban sustainability through an analysis of discourses, policies, practices and movements, we point out its links to ecological modernization theory and its shortcomings regarding equity, justice and democracy. Besides providing an overview of the literature, we draw on our own empirical research in France and Germany, and also refer to examples from the UK, Canada and the US. Next, we present local initiatives that contest the uneven effects of sustainability strategies and discuss urban food movements as an example of more recent urban environmental movements. We close with some reflections on the recent repoliticization of the debate as well as on counter-movements that attest to the unsolved social question within the neoliberal response to the global environmental crisis.
Urban Open Space+. Strategies inbetween Architecture and Open Space Planning, 2021
![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit (2021): Eating well together. Urban food initiatives for encounter, justice and otium. [in German]. In: RIEDL, Peter Philipp / FREYTAG, Tim / HUBERT, Hans W. (Eds.): Urban Otium. Materialities, Practices, Representations. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 335–352.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/101902836/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Urban Otium. Materialities, Practices, Representations, 2021
![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit / ROSOL, Christoph (2021): World in Fever. On the necessitiy of a global food and agriculture transformation in times of the Anthropocene [Welt im Fieber. Zur Notwendigkeit einer globalen Agrar- und Ernährungswende in Zeiten des Anthropozäns]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/65666522/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](In: AgrarBündnis e.V. (Ed.): Critical Agricultural Report 2021 - World in Fever. [Der Kritische Agrarbericht]. Hamm: ABL-Verlag, 8-12, 2021
in: EXNER, Andreas / KUMNIG, Sarah / HOCHLEITHNER, Stephan (Eds.): Capitalism and the Commons: Just Commons in the Era of Multiple Crisis. New York: Routledge: 35–49, 2021
In: KRUEGER, Robert / FREYTAG, Tim / MÖSSNER, Samuel (Eds.): Adventures in Sustainable Urbanism, New York: SUNY Press, 2019
In: NELL, Werner / WEILAND, Marc (Eds.): Village. An interdisciplinary guide. [Dorf. Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch.] Berlin: Metzler, 2019
Der Begriff ‚Dorf in der Stadt‘ fällt oft, wenn eine eindimensionale Beschreibung der Stadt als O... more Der Begriff ‚Dorf in der Stadt‘ fällt oft, wenn eine eindimensionale Beschreibung der Stadt als Ort von Anonymität und Vereinzelung, von Größe und Unübersichtlichkeit, von gleichzeitig großer Menschenansammlung und individueller Einsamkeit aufgebrochen werden soll. Mit dem leicht verständlichen Sprachbild wird darauf hingewiesen, dass auch die Stadt, selbst eine Großstadt, kein anonymes, durchrationalisiertes System ist, sondern (wie andere Räume auch) aus mehr oder weniger engen sozialen Netzen besteht. Auch eine Großstadt lässt Platz für Idylle und Träume und ist keine Einheit, sondern ein Konglomerat vielfältiger Teile, potenziell auch unterschiedlicher ‚Dörfer in der Stadt‘...
![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit / BLUE, Gwendolyn / FAST, Victoria (2018): “Smart” but unjust? Re-thinking the smart city critique with Nancy Fraser [in German]. In: BAURIEDL, Sybille / STRÜVER, Anke (Eds.): Smart City. Kritische Pespektiven auf die Digitalisierung in Städten. Bielefeld: Transcript. 87–98](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/65666608/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](In: BAURIEDL, Sybille / STRÜVER, Anke (Eds.): Smart City. Kritische Pespektiven auf die Digitalisierung in Städten. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2018
Original title: „Smart“, aber ungerecht? Die Smart City-Kritik mit Nancy Fraser denken
The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics, 2018
![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit (2017): Community Gardening in the neoliberal city [Gemeinschaftlich Gärtnern in der neoliberalen Stadt]. In: KUMNIG, Sarah / ROSOL, Marit / EXNER, Andrea*s (Eds.): Contested Green. Bielefeld: Transcript, pp. 11-32. [in German]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/54505471/thumbnails/1.jpg)
]([original book title: Umkämpftes Grün. Zwischen neoliberaler Stadtentwicklung und Stadtgestaltung... more [original book title: Umkämpftes Grün. Zwischen neoliberaler Stadtentwicklung und Stadtgestaltung von unten]
Jürgen Oßenbrügge und Anne Vogelpohl (Hg.): Theorien in der Raum- und Stadtforschung. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, S. 271–289., 2014
![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit / DZUDZEK, Iris (2014): Participatory planning. [original title: Partizipative Planung]. In: BELINA, Bernd / NAUMANN, Matthias / STRÜVER, Anke (Hrsg.): Guide to critical urban geography [original title: Handbuch kritische Stadtgeographie]. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 212–217.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39234678/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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![Research paper thumbnail of DÖRRY, Sabine / ROSOL, Marit (2011): Creative industries as engine of urban development? – The case of Zurich [original title: Kreativwirtschaft als Motor der Stadtentwicklung? – Das Beispiel Zürich.] In: MUSIL, Robert; MATZNETTER, Walther (Eds.), Mandelbaum-Verlag, pp. 123 – 136.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39041049/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit (2011): Uneven provision with open green spaces. [original title: Ungleiche Versorgung mit Grün- und Freiflächen – (K)ein Thema für die Freiraumplanung?] In: BELINA, Bernd et al. (Hrsg.): Urbane Differenzen., Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, S. 98 - 114.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39234673/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit (2010): CityPlan Vancouver - Strategic planning through new forms of governance? [original title: CityPlan Vancouver - Strategische Planung durch neue Governanceformen?] In: HUTTER, Gérard; WIECHMANN, Thorsten (Hrsg.): Strategische Planung. Planungsrundschau Nr. 18, Kassel: 121-141.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39234663/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](![Research paper thumbnail of ROSOL, Marit (2010): Community Gardens - Political struggles around the use of inner city space. [original title: Gemeinschaftsgärten - Politische Konflikte um die Nutzung innerstädtischen Raumes].In: REIMERS, Brita (Hg.): Gärten und Politik. München, Oekom Verlag: 206-215.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39234613/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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SocArXiv (Preprint), 2022
Housing and food are both fundamental human rights and key social determinants of health. Yet des... more Housing and food are both fundamental human rights and key social determinants of health. Yet despite their interrelations, housing and food are often treated separately by government bodies, policymakers and social movements. While both ‘food insecurity’ and ‘housing insecurity’ have been the targets of much research and activism in recent decades, we find less attention to their intersections, and to the potential for research and activism that centres these intersections in struggles to address their linked underlying causes.
This scoping review aims to bring these two domains into closer conversation by further developing the notion of the ‘housing-food insecurity nexus’. We conceptualise this nexus as the co-occurrence of housing and food insecurity, often resulting from unaffordable housing costs (and the relative flexibility of food expenditure) in the context of neoliberal housing policy and market conditions where living costs outstrip incomes for many. The review highlights empirical and explanatory intersections and explores potentials for more coordinated action that can help to ensure people are able to realise both their right to housing, and to good food. It is based on literature from Canada and pays particular attention to urban areas but bears relevance elsewhere.
We first give empirical evidence for the housing-food insecurity nexus, and how this might differentially affect particular marginalised groups. Second, we suggest explanatory frameworks that broaden perspectives onto the nexus and particularly draw attention to underlying drivers of increasing food and housing unaffordability. Finally, we review proposed solutions, from short- to long-term. We conclude that necessary to the implementation of these solutions is a re-politicisation of the right to food and housing, uniting around the shared harms of many: renters, food producers, and movements for economic justice. We thus also examine the potential for cross-sector and multi-level partnerships that can leverage power in the pursuit of these twinned, essential goals.
SocArXiv, 2019
While many urban scholars acknowledge the im-portance of justice and participation for emerging s... more While many urban scholars acknowledge the im-portance of justice and participation for emerging smart city initiatives, these dimensions remain inad-equately addressed in critical literature. To strengthen the smart city critique, in this conceptual intervention we employ the theory of justice developed by philosopher Nancy Fraser, organized along the domains of redistribution, recognition, and representation. Using Fraser’s tripartite framework of justice, we reformulate and expand the existing cri-tiques of the smart city. Moreover, drawing on her notion of transformative approaches, we argue for shifting the discussion away from the smart city, even an alternative one, towards the just city and a just urbanism in the digital age.
Antipode Foundation, 2012
Marit Rosol discusses her paper, ‘Community volunteering as neo-liberal strategy? Green space pro... more Marit Rosol discusses her paper, ‘Community volunteering as neo-liberal strategy? Green space production in Berlin‘, published in Antipode 44 (1) / January 2012 with Antipode Foundation, a radical geography community.
Housing Cooperatives in Uruguay – An Analysis of Claims and Reality of Collective Self-Help (in G... more Housing Cooperatives in Uruguay – An Analysis of Claims and Reality of Collective Self-Help (in German), unpublshed MA thesis equivalent, TU Berlin, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, 2001
I invite applications from scholars with a PhD in geography, urban studies, sociology, or a relat... more I invite applications from scholars with a PhD in geography, urban studies, sociology, or a related field, with interested and background in critical (urban) food studies. The postdoctoral associate (PDA) will engage in research full time and demonstrate a high degree of self-direction. Duration: 1 year. Start date: Fall 2019 or earlier
See pdf for full details and how-to-apply-guide.
Application will be reviewed as they arrive (starting on March 15th 2019) and accepted until position is filled.
University of Toronto Quarterly, 2022
Book Review: Sébastien Rioux. The Social Cost of Cheap Food: Labour and the Political Economy of ... more Book Review: Sébastien Rioux. The Social Cost of Cheap Food: Labour and the Political Economy of Food Distribution in Britain, 1830–1914. McGill-Queen’s University Press 2019
Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enh... more Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enhances research on urban agriculture in two ways. First, we explain the specific histories of urban allotments in Spain that differ from the well-rehearsed stories of North America and also Northern Europe. Second, we show that a focus on urban allotments can provide a better understanding of changes in the economy, in land-use and in urban-rural relations in times of crisis. After two decades of Spain's "urbanization tsunami", in the mid 2000s a new way of combining urban life with agricultural functions emerged: through allotments, municipalities intended to promote environmentally-oriented leisure activities, enhance urban green landscapes, and revive traditional vegetable gardens (huertas). At first, these projects catered mostly to pensioners, including foreigners coming from countries with long traditions of urban allotments. As the economic recession intensified in 20...
Dorf, 2019
Der Begriff ›Dorf in der Stadt‹ fallt oft, wenn eine eindimensionale Beschreibung der Stadt als O... more Der Begriff ›Dorf in der Stadt‹ fallt oft, wenn eine eindimensionale Beschreibung der Stadt als Ort von Anonymitat und Vereinzelung, von Grose und Unubersichtlichkeit, von gleichzeitig groser Menschenansammlung und individueller Einsamkeit aufgebrochen werden soll. Mit dem leicht verstandlichen Sprachbild wird darauf hingewiesen, dass auch die Stadt, selbst eine Grosstadt, kein anonymes, durchrationalisiertes System ist, sondern (wie andere Raume auch) aus mehr oder weniger engen sozialen Netzen besteht. Auch eine Grosstadt lasst Platz fur Idylle und Traume und ist keine Einheit, sondern ein Konglomerat vielfaltiger Teile, potenziell auch unterschiedlicher ›Dorfer in der Stadt‹.
While many urban scholars acknowledge the importance of justice and participation for emerging sm... more While many urban scholars acknowledge the importance of justice and participation for emerging smart city initiatives, these dimensions remain inadequately addressed in critical literature. To strengthen the smart city critique, in this conceptual intervention we employ the theory of justice developed by philosopher Nancy Fraser, organized along the domains of redistribution, recognition, and representation. Using Fraser’s tripartite framework of justice, we reformulate and expand the existing critiques of the smart city. Moreover, drawing on her notion of transformative approaches, we argue for shifting the discussion away from the smart city, even an alternative one, towards the just city and a just urbanism in the digital age.
DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin, 2015
In times of peak-oil and the on-going ‘urban renaissance’ (Porter and Shaw 2009), urban densifica... more In times of peak-oil and the on-going ‘urban renaissance’ (Porter and Shaw 2009), urban densification becomes increasingly more important. Densification is promoted not only for environmental reasons – in the sense of developing more compact and thus more sustainable cities – but also, as is the case in Vancouver, in the name of ‘social mixing’. Taking the conflict over “Little Mountain” – the oldest public housing complex in the province of British Columbia, Canada – as example, the article shows the conflicts that can arise in the process of densification. Despite the protests of residents and their supporters and without any concrete plans for redevelopment, almost all of the once 224 social housing units were demolished in 2009 to make room for at least 1,400 market condos (besides the 1-for-1 replacement of the social units). The example shows that densification processes that lack social measures for securing tenure for long-time residents lead to the displacement of poorer pe...
ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 2017
Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enh... more Based on a comprehensive study of allotment gardens in the province of Alicante, this article enhances research on urban agriculture in two ways. Firstly, we explain the specific histories of urban allotments in Spain, that differ from the well-rehearsed stories of North America and also Northern Europe. Secondly, we show that a focus on urban allotments can provide a better understanding of changes in the economy, in land-use and in urban-rural relations in times of crisis. After two decades of Spain’s “urbanization tsunami”, in the mid 2000s a new way of combining urban life with agricultural functions emerged: through allotments, municipalities intended to promote environmentally-oriented leisure activities, enhance urban green landscapes and revive traditional vegetable gardens ( huertas) . At first, these projects catered mostly to pensioners, including foreigners coming from countries with long traditions of urban allotments. As the economic recession intensified in 2009, allo...
At the start we want to emphasize that we pretty much agree with everything Culum writes in his r... more At the start we want to emphasize that we pretty much agree with everything Culum writes in his response, especially his comment about teaching or student engagement – we hold our hands up on this one, we dropped the ball and did not discuss student solidarity movements in our call to challenge neoliberal ascendency in the academy. Perhaps one reason for this is because we were (and still are) a pretty diverse group of people, from early-ish PhD students through temporary and contractual researchers, post-docs and teaching staff to more privileged, secure and tenuretrack lecturers and assistant professors. So, some of us at the time of writing did not have teaching positions and in fact were still students ourselves involved in the very student movements referenced. Nevertheless, we agree with the importance of working with students and student movements. Those of us who are teaching seek to engage students politically, to raise consciousness and solidarity in reclaiming university ...
This paper asks to what extent urban agriculture projects based on principles of Solidarity Econo... more This paper asks to what extent urban agriculture projects based on principles of Solidarity Economics are in a position to develop new economic forms based on solidarity—rather than competition—thereby posing an alternative model to neo-liberal capitalism. It seeks to understand how solidarity economies function concretely, what motivations, interests and goals move people to establish and participate in such initiatives, and what utopias they associate with such projects. It focuses on the Swiss gardening cooperative ortoloco, which can be defined as a peri-urban organic farm organised on principles that go beyond the supply of food to embrace explicit political aims and to realise an alternative economic model. For two years of existence, ortoloco has successfully applied these principles on its economic practice, but also constantly questioned them and developed them further. Extending the diversity of products and activities, and intensifying practical and theoretical cooperatio...
Smart City - Kritische Perspektiven auf die Digitalisierung in Städten
The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics
Agriculture and Human Values
For some time we have seen a shift away from direct marketing, a core feature and dominant exchan... more For some time we have seen a shift away from direct marketing, a core feature and dominant exchange form in the alternative food world, towards a greater role for intermediation. Yet, we still need to better understand to what extent and in what ways new mediated Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) represent an evolution of or departure from core tenets of alternative food systems. This paper focuses on AFNs with new intermediaries that connect small-scale producers with urban end-consumers. Based on original research in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Calgary, we analyze three different types of mediated AFNs: one driven by consumers, one by an external intermediary, and one by producers. Our cases include non-capitalist, capitalist, and alternative capitalist economic practices as identified by Gibson-Graham. Conceptually, we base our analysis on the three-pillar-model of alternative agri-food systems, which we further refine. Besides comparing our cases with each other, for heuristic purposes we also compare them with an ideal-type model that adheres to core tenets of alterity in all three pillars. Our empirical analysis shows that intermediary organizations can bring important benefits and that mediated AFNs are in principle able to hold true to the core tenets of alternative agri-food systems. However, it is very important to develop models of democratic control and ownership as well as economic arrangements in which created value is fairly shared. Only then can the potentials of new mediated models be realized while the pitfalls of the conventional systems they seek to replace be avoided.
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie
Bio, fair, regional, saisonal, vegetarisch oder sogar vegan, unverpackt, unbehandelt ... unübersi... more Bio, fair, regional, saisonal, vegetarisch oder sogar vegan, unverpackt, unbehandelt ... unübersichtlich? In Zeiten, in denen sich „bio“ von der Ausnahme zur akzeptierten Alternative entwickelt hat und in denen biologisch-organisch produzierte Lebensmittel sowie ‚Fleischersatzprodukte‘ nicht länger nur in Nischenmärkten wie Reformhäusern oder Bioläden zu finden sind, interessieren sich immer mehr Menschen für Produkte, deren Verzehr ein gutes Gewissen mit sich bringt. Dies betrifft insbesondere Produkte, die aus ökologischem Landbau, fairer Produktion und fairem Handel, und/oder aus der Region und aktuellen Saison stammen oder die frei von Tierprodukten und klimafreundlich sind. Diesbezüglich motivierte Konsument*innen finden sich vor allem in den urbanen Regionen des Globalen Nordens. Sie wollen frische und gesunde Produkte genießen, Verpackungsmüll vermeiden, Nahrungsmittelverschwendung eindämmen und zugleich die regionale und nachhaltige (Land-)Wirtschaft unterstützen. Zur Verwirklichung sind sie aktiver Teil von Urban Gardening-, Allmendeoder Foodsharing-Initiativen, kaufen auf Wochenmärkten oder in stadtnahen Hofläden ein, haben eine so genannte Biokiste abonniert oder treten einer Solidarischen Landwirtschaftskooperative bei und teilen dabei die Ernteerträge wie auch das Risiko des Ertragsverlusts. Und vielleicht engagieren sie sich auch im Rahmen der seit 2016 in Deutschland nach britischem und nordamerikanischem Vorbild gegründeten städtischen Ernährungsräte, welche städtisch-regionale Ernährungssysteme nachhaltiger, gesünder und gerechter machen wollen. Für kleine Erzeugergemeinschaften oder Familienbetriebe wiederum sind genau diese Produktionsund Vermarktungsstrukturen existenzsichernd in der inzwischen global organisierten und von wenigen Konzernen dominierten Lebensmittelindustrie, wie auch im hart umkämpften Markt des ökologischen Landbaus. Diesen Erzeuger*innen und ihren Kund*innen geht es um eine Relokalisierung der Ernährung sowie um ein verändertes Zusammenspiel von Stadt und Land, von Mensch, Tier und Umwelt. Darüber hinaus verweisen ihre Anliegen auf die dringend notwendige Transformation der sozialökologischen und ökonomischen Strukturen des derzeitigen globalen Ernährungssystems. Sie thematisieren bzw. kritisieren, als eine Art Gegenbewegung zur industrialisierten Lebensmittelwirtschaft bzw. dem „corporate food regime“ (Friedmann 1993; McMichael 2009) des späteren 20. Jahrhunderts und der damit einhergehenden Entfremdung vom Essen (als Produkt), explizit die räumlichen, sozialen und ökologischen Produktionsbedingungen und Verantwortungsbeziehungen. Auch im Zuge der Wirtschaftsund Finanzkrise lässt sich ein wieder erstarkendes Interesse an alternativen Formen des solidarischen „Land“-Wirtschaftens erkennen. Wesentlich ist, dass sich diese Gegenbewegungen nicht nur über klassische Formen des Protestes manifestieren, sondern v. a. auch über neue eigeninitiierte und weitgehend selbstbestimmte Formen des Wirtschaftens und Konsumierens. Letztere stehen im Zentrum dieses Themenheftes.
European Urban and Regional Studies
Through an analysis of two international cases from Canada and Germany, this paper highlights the... more Through an analysis of two international cases from Canada and Germany, this paper highlights the role of the state in governing gentrification and displacement in areas previously thought to be unattractive for profit-seeking capital, that is, ‘un-gentrifiable’. With this, we seek to contribute to the debate on how the role of the local state has changed from securing affordable housing for low-income households into becoming an essential player involved in real estate speculation. Taking Little Mountain in Vancouver as the first example, we examine the privatization and demolition of the public housing complex and thus the withdrawal of the state. Our second example, Ostend in Frankfurt, investigates the restructuring of a working-class neighbourhood through active state-led interventions including massive public investment. We analyse the two empirical examples along five dimensions: causal drivers and mechanisms that have led to the changing role of the state in governing urban ...
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie
Zusammenfassung Vor dem Hintergrund eines zunehmenden Interesses an alternativen Ökonomien werden... more Zusammenfassung Vor dem Hintergrund eines zunehmenden Interesses an alternativen Ökonomien werden in diesem einführenden Beitrag Alternative Ernährungsnetzwerke als alternative wirtschaftliche Netzwerke konzeptualisiert, welche herkömmliche Produktions-Konsum-Beziehungen in ökologischer und/oder sozialer Hinsicht zu verändern suchen. Hierfür wird die Entwicklung der Debatte einschließlich kontroverser Aspekte nachgezeichnet. Um die geographische Ernährungsforschung weiter voranzubringen, werden abschließend wirtschaftsgeographisch orientierte Forschungsfragen und -perspektiven abgeleitet.
Journal of the American Planning Association
Abstract Problem, research strategy, and findings: Social justice is often considered the goal of... more Abstract Problem, research strategy, and findings: Social justice is often considered the goal of participatory planning, yet justice is typically not operationalized, broadly defined, or clearly linked with participatory practice. We expand on Sherry Arnstein’s concern with the redistribution of power between the state and citizens by juxtaposing her ladder of participation with Nancy Fraser’s framework of justice. Fraser’s approach to justice seeks parity—defined as the social arrangements that enable people to participate as peers in public life—across economic, cultural, and political domains. Fraser provides principles to guide planners in determining what is just and unjust in participatory initiatives. Principles include ensuring proper participatory procedures, recognizing minority viewpoints and perspectives, attending to the framing of public issues, and remediating inequitable social structures. We illustrate the practical application of Fraser’s justice framework by drawing on examples from public engagement with climate change. Takeaway for practice: Although Fraser does not provide a tool kit for action, we offer suggestions for how planners can apply a justice framework to improve participatory practice. Planners can a) require appropriate procedures to ensure that all relevant people and perspectives are represented at the appropriate scale; b) ensure all perspectives—not just dominant ones—are recognized and valued; and c) respond to and mitigate the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources.
PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft
The paper gives firstly, a summary of the literature on neoliberal urban governance of the past d... more The paper gives firstly, a summary of the literature on neoliberal urban governance of the past decade - especially on the "entrepreneurial city" - and more recent tendencies like the renewed focus on local communities. In the second part we show some important processes and phenomena of urban development in the global south - from the consequences of structural adjustment programs on the urban up to violence economies, gated communities and social urban movements - without claiming that that would encompass all of them and without the necessary distinction between different countries and localities. Finally, we open the discussion on the implications of these developments for critical urban theory and practice.
Environment and Planning A
Urban areas are increasingly recognized as strategic sites to address climate change and environm... more Urban areas are increasingly recognized as strategic sites to address climate change and environmental issues. Specific urban projects are marketed as innovative solutions and best-practice examples, and so-called green cities, eco-cities and sustainable cities have emerged worldwide as leading paradigms in urban planning and policy discourse. The transformation of cities into eco-cities (Kenworthy, 2006; Roseland, 1997) is often based on big data and – widely varying – indicators that should proof the success of urban climate governance (Bulkeley, 2010). The European Commission with its ‘Green Capital’ program, Britain’s ‘Sustainable City Index’, France’s ‘EcoCité’ scheme, the US-American’s ‘Greenest City’ ranking developed by WalletHub’s, the US and Canada ‘Green City Index’ sponsored by Siemens – these programs are all examples of public and private initiatives aimed at identifying and ranking the ‘greenest’ city or cities according to a competitive rationality. They are mostly quantitative approaches, based on ‘hard’ and ‘scientific’ indicators that allow cities to be compared according to their efforts in sustainable urban development. Using these indicators, cities worldwide have increasingly promoted sustainability initiatives in order to position themselves advantageously on the global scene (Chang and Sheppard, 2013; Cugurullo, 2013; Swyngedouw and Kaika, 2014; While et al., 2004). These urban ranking efforts tie into the fact that sustainability has become a metaconsensual policy term (Gill et al., 2012), resting upon broad support from diverse sectors of society. Promoted at first as a way of bringing forward an ecological urban agenda connected to social development, sustainability has lost much of its transformative potential. By now, even car manufacturing in Germany, oil pipelines in Alberta, Canada and nuclear power plants worldwide are being politically justified with reference to sustainability and climate change prevention. Despite controversial national positions regarding the processes, pace and extend of implementing environmental policies – a divergence that became very evident, for example, during the 2009 United Nations