Cities, Public Space and Citizenship. Some Contemporary Mediterranean Urban Social Movements (original) (raw)
Related papers
Cities, and mainly their central squares 1 have been very relevant in the explosion of the so called Arab spring, one spring that has very rapidly become a grey fall, when not a terrible winter, with too much blood, sweat and tears. But Cities, as the main stage of all kind of social movements, continue alive in a very resilient way under so many different conditions; they have always been connected to the birth and to the explanation of social conflicts and changes. Since the beginning of the 1970's has been created as a study object the concept of Urban social movements by the French sociologists, especially by the Spanish Manuel Castells (b. in 1942). Castells discussed with his former teacher Henry Lefébvre (1901Lefébvre ( -1991 the role of space on the social events and he has evolved to the analysis on the impact of the new technologies of communication in the origins of the new mobilizations . 1 Square is a conflictive English word for Spanish plaza because the public space that indicates don't refers at all at any specific geometric form.
The urban space in European cities is undergoing deep transformation, through formal and informal initiatives. The gentrification of poor neighbourhoods is often counterbalanced by fast projects of local revitalization fostered by public or private actors which seldom leave time to local population to adapt to those changes. In these processes, previous existing inhabitants face difficulties to accustom themselves to an evolution in the commercial, housing and public space fabric that is targeted to the new wealthier segments of urban dwellers. These fast urban renewal processes can create two major conflicting discourses. The first, between locals and newcomers' desires and the second, between the official renewal proposals and the alternative ones proposed either by informal citizen groups or by architects that contest the official plan. On the one hand, we have existing inhabitants and their way of life, comprising their adapted shops and bars, moderate housing prices and their accustomed gathering places. On the other hand there are the newcomers' natural will to produce and reproduce their own way of life into the new space they live in. According to Neil Smith 1 , this change usually occurs slowly but can turn into violent conflicts. This new desire for a better quality for a life can be compatible with the existing one, if the process takes place through dialogue, consensus among actors and following a slow pace of development. The conflict arises when the two discourses stop coexisting and come to a confrontation. A new form of Empire using Hardt and Negri's expression 2 , is creating an urban renewal discourse that precludes alternative discourses to coexist, other than a form of political and ecological resistance: "the will to be against". But this resistance, although it seems to be informal: through demonstrations in the streets, occupations of empty plots, and other contestations that receive media coverage 3 , is somehow supported, financed and disseminated by culture stakeholders through programs that push for citizen empowerment. BMW Guggenheim Lab analysing actual 100 urban trends 4 , Goethe Institut launching a debate about participatory politics and planning 5 , and the European Union culture program Creative Europe 2014-2020 6 , are only a few examples of culture actors that launch reflection groups in such phenomena, that decline in several funding programs for local culture centres. Given this nowadays growing interest of culture actors for the aforesaid resistance phenomena, what a better field to analyse the implication of culture centres in the debate between discourses and the production of a new form of consensus, as a clue to identify possibilities to overcome and positively counterbalance the confrontation between the two major discourses fore-mentioned. Public space as confrontation space The evolution towards a wealthier status of the neighbourhood of Malasaña in the city centre of Madrid has been the object of a large discussion in the Spanish social media, but also of an academic debate on whether to call this process gentrification or a natural urban evolution process. The Spanish sociologist and urbanist Aurora Justo analyses the urban and social changes of Madrid, from a gender
Throughout history, cities have been the theatre of social and spatial struggles. The issue of urban protests, however, has not yet been investigated in detail in the light of the growing concern of the need to rethink urban studies, from theoretical and epistemic assumptions, to methodological issues. It is argued that the mobilisation of urban dissent in the so-called Arab Spring offers a good opportunity to develop a critical approach based on the observation of the nexus between an event (a punctual expression of dissent) and a site (the urban environment in which the former takes place). The goal is to avoid theoretical rigidities inherent to the assumptions about the intrinsic qualities of cities or social movements. The paper also aims at connecting different academic and disciplinary traditions across linguistic dividesand especially the Anglophone urban studies with the Francophone stream of cityfocused political science and political sociology. minor event-the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor protesting against the confiscation Marco Allegra is in CIES,
Salvem el Cabanyal: Urban movements and their claim for the “Right to the City”
VLC arquitectura. Research Journal, 2014
En los últimos 15 años una red de movimientos sociales urbanos ha brotado alrededor de Valencia bajo el nombre del 'Salvem'. El objetivo principal de estos es proteger su territorio de lo que consideran una amenaza externa. Centrándose en el caso de Salvem el Cabanyal, este artículo muestra que cuando un plan de renovación urbana amenaza con borrar un barrio consolidado, el conflicto urbano puede ser utilizado por una comunidad bien organizada para aumentar su poder, confrontar el plan urbanístico y reclamar su "derecho a la ciudad", que es el derecho a vivir, crear, usar y participar en las decisiones que afectan a su barrio. La plataforma más interesante que Salvem ha utilizado para canalizar sus protestas y comprometer la resistencia crítica contra el plan es el taller de arte 'Portes Obertes', una forma de utilizar el arte y la arquitectura vernácula para reforzar reclamo de los vecinos en su lucha. Sin embargo, si el conflicto se embellece centrándose simplemente en el valor histórico y cultural del barrio, y por lo tanto, olvidándose de las verdaderas causas que subyacen detrás de él, el movimiento podría parar el plan, pero perdería la oportunidad de transformación de ganar su "derecho a la ciudad", abordando así las condiciones estructurales que han provocado que el derecho a ser desatendido. Palabras clave: regeneración urbana, conflicto, el Cabanyal, derecho a la ciudad.
Social Movements and Urban Space
VIANA, Nildo. International Journal of Research in Geography (IJRG) Volume 1, Issue 2, 2015, PP 1-8 ISSN 2454-8685 (online), 2015
This paper discusses the relationship between social movements and urban space. To do so, it briefly discusses the concepts of social movements and urban space to subsequently provide an analysis of the relationship between them. Starting from the view that the urban space is a place of social division that ends up creating inequalities and social problems, it is possible to understand what are commonly known as urban social movements and urban popular movements as being characterized by its constitution of underprivileged social classes and that their claims ask for improvements in a part of the urban space, which creates a certain relationship with the state. In this process, there is a class conflict where we have the underprivileged classes in one side and on the other the state apparatus, representative of the ruling class.
Political Representation and Urban Space in the New Social Movements
XI. European Conference on Social and Behavioral Sciences September 1-4, 2016 Rome, Italy, 2016
From ancient Greek to modern period, politics, political representation and democracy are permanently in a relation with the urban space. To have a right to speak about the place they live in and do politics on the evolution and transformation of it; the one of the basic themes of new social movements. The aim of this study is to show that how the meaning of the politics, political representation and democracy re-evaluated on the new social movements. In this context, the study consists of three chapters: In the first chapter, it will be outlined of the politics, representation and democracy’s relation with urban space. In the second chapter, it will be dealt with the evolution and features of new social movements in the context of urban space. In the third and last chapter, it is aimed to suggest an analysis about the relation between these facts by the help of some specific cases which are chosen from Turkey. The goal of this study is to claim that new social movements which have local, fragmented and multi-leveled actors, discourses and strategies, are basically trying to enlarge the space of politics, representation and democratic society.
Rethinking Cities in Contentious Times: The Mobilisation of Urban Dissent in the 'Arab Spring
2013
Throughout history, cities have been the theatre of social and spatial struggles. The issue of urban protests, however, has not yet been investigated in detail in the light of the growing concern of the need to rethink urban studies, from theoretical and epistemic assumptions, to methodological issues. It is argued that the mobilisation of urban dissent in the so-called Arab Spring offers a good opportunity to develop a critical approach based on the observation of the nexus between an event (a punctual expression of dissent) and a site (the urban environment in which the former takes place). The goal is to avoid theoretical rigidities inherent to the assumptions about the intrinsic qualities of cities or social movements. The paper also aims at connecting different academic and disciplinary traditions across linguistic dividesand especially the Anglophone urban studies with the Francophone stream of cityfocused political science and political sociology. minor event-the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor protesting against the confiscation Marco Allegra is in CIES,
From the December Youth Uprising to the Rebirth of Urban Social Movements: A Space-Time Approach
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2010
AbstractThe December youth uprising in Greece took on a new form, one that has generated in its turn other uprisings and new kinds of social and radical urban movements. Led by a broad spectrum of people of different ages and socio-economic backgrounds, it became the call for the ‘right to the city’, conceived as the right to free space and free expression, especially for the young who live in cities that have been designed to accommodate neoliberal capitalist expansion. This essay discusses the manifestations of globalization that the uprising attacked. It shows that the targets of the uprising were the symbols of neoliberal consumption and consumerism, especially in the rich city centres. It then discusses the novelty of this uprising in terms of its organization, networking, composition and resources, and the means it used to further its goals. It further describes how it differs from, and has transcended, previous social movements and has influenced, and will continue to influence, subsequent ones. It concludes that the new urban movements go beyond simple rejection and confrontation in order to enter into the collective creation and radical changes of space and of everyday life in the city.The December youth uprising in Greece took on a new form, one that has generated in its turn other uprisings and new kinds of social and radical urban movements. Led by a broad spectrum of people of different ages and socio-economic backgrounds, it became the call for the ‘right to the city’, conceived as the right to free space and free expression, especially for the young who live in cities that have been designed to accommodate neoliberal capitalist expansion. This essay discusses the manifestations of globalization that the uprising attacked. It shows that the targets of the uprising were the symbols of neoliberal consumption and consumerism, especially in the rich city centres. It then discusses the novelty of this uprising in terms of its organization, networking, composition and resources, and the means it used to further its goals. It further describes how it differs from, and has transcended, previous social movements and has influenced, and will continue to influence, subsequent ones. It concludes that the new urban movements go beyond simple rejection and confrontation in order to enter into the collective creation and radical changes of space and of everyday life in the city.RésuméEn Grèce, le soulèvement des jeunes de décembre a pris une forme nouvelle, celle-ci ayant généréà son tour d’autres émeutes et des types nouveaux de mouvements urbains radicaux et sociaux. Mené par un large éventail de personnes d’âges et de milieux socio-économiques différents, il s’est transformé en appel au ‘droit à la ville’, en tant que droit à la liberté d’espace et d’expression, notamment au profit des jeunes qui vivent dans des villes conçues pour répondre à un essor capitaliste néolibéral. Ce travail analyse les manifestations de la mondialisation visées par le soulèvement. Il montre que les cibles de celui-ci étaient les symboles de la consommation néolibérale et du consumérisme, en particulier dans les centres-villes aisés. Il analyse ensuite le caractère nouveau de cette insurrection en termes d’organisation, de construction de réseau, de composition et de ressources, ainsi que les moyens employés pour atteindre les objectifs. Il décrit également la façon dont le soulèvement s’écarte, et va au-delà, des mouvements sociaux antérieurs, et dont il influencera les suivants. La conclusion affirme que les nouveaux mouvements urbains dépassent le rejet et la confrontation purs et simples pour passer à la création collective et à des transformations radicales de l’espace et de la vie quotidienne dans la ville.En Grèce, le soulèvement des jeunes de décembre a pris une forme nouvelle, celle-ci ayant généréà son tour d’autres émeutes et des types nouveaux de mouvements urbains radicaux et sociaux. Mené par un large éventail de personnes d’âges et de milieux socio-économiques différents, il s’est transformé en appel au ‘droit à la ville’, en tant que droit à la liberté d’espace et d’expression, notamment au profit des jeunes qui vivent dans des villes conçues pour répondre à un essor capitaliste néolibéral. Ce travail analyse les manifestations de la mondialisation visées par le soulèvement. Il montre que les cibles de celui-ci étaient les symboles de la consommation néolibérale et du consumérisme, en particulier dans les centres-villes aisés. Il analyse ensuite le caractère nouveau de cette insurrection en termes d’organisation, de construction de réseau, de composition et de ressources, ainsi que les moyens employés pour atteindre les objectifs. Il décrit également la façon dont le soulèvement s’écarte, et va au-delà, des mouvements sociaux antérieurs, et dont il influencera les suivants. La conclusion affirme que les nouveaux mouvements urbains dépassent le rejet et la confrontation purs et simples pour passer à la création collective et à des transformations radicales de l’espace et de la vie quotidienne dans la ville.
The revival of urban social and neighbourhood movements in Spain: a geographical characterization
DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin, 2015
The current economic and financial crisis manifests itself specifically in cities and metropolitan areas. As in other periods of recession throughout history, one of the characteristic features of this crisis was the bursting of a housing bubble. In Spain, the spectacular construction boom slowed down, and many families could not afford to pay the mortgages on their main or second homes. At the same time, welfare spending was slashed to meet the obligations of the banks and cajas (savings banks) ruined by the property slump. In addition, the unemployment rate rose to above 20 %. As a result of this process, urban space reflects the resurgence of social and political movements of different kinds, ranging from more defensive movements focused on a particular place (against the closure of a company or an eviction order issued to a mortgage victim) to more general movements demanding direct democracy and an end to corruption. These movements fuelled the indignados protest with its camp...