1.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Residents' collective strategies of resistance in Global South cities' informal settlements: Space, scale and knowledge
2022
Ingår i: Cities. - : Elsevier BV. - 0264-2751. ; 125
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
This paper examines the strategies of resistance articulated by residents of informal settlements response to urban exclusion. Building upon resistance and urban social movements literature the paper is informed by the case of the Villa Rodrigo Bueno in Buenos Aires, a self-constructed villa miseria, and its residents' stories of resistance to attempts of evictions and upgrading programs. In the paper we show how resistance is mobilized, first through its simultaneous disconnection, due to its remoteness and isolation; and reconnection to local and global supportive networks. While disconnection facilitated self-construction, densification and the blooming of informal entrepreneurship; reconnection through relational and multiscalar sites enabled unexpected encounters with distant actors that contributed to resist evictions. Second, the long-term learning and development of self-knowledge (i.e. construction, or housing law), embedded in the remoteness of the informal settlement, contributed to shift expertise from city officers to residents; redefining the role of informal residents into active citizens and experts in policy making, and turning informal settlements into settings of wider social change.
2.
Scaini, Anna, et al.
(författare)
Pathways from research to sustainable development: Insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience
2024
Ingår i: AMBIO. - : SPRINGER. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209.
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Drawing on collective experience from ten collaborative research projects focused on the Global South, we identify three major challenges that impede the translation of research on sustainability and resilience into better-informed choices by individuals and policy-makers that in turn can support transformation to a sustainable future. The three challenges comprise: (i) converting knowledge produced during research projects into successful knowledge application; (ii) scaling up knowledge in time when research projects are short-term and potential impacts are long-term; and (iii) scaling up knowledge across space, from local research sites to larger-scale or even global impact. Some potential pathways for funding agencies to overcome these challenges include providing targeted prolonged funding for dissemination and outreach, and facilitating collaboration and coordination across different sites, research teams, and partner organizations. By systematically documenting these challenges, we hope to pave the way for further innovations in the research cycle.
3.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Inclusive recycling movements: a green deep democracy from below
2020
Ingår i: Environment and Urbanization. - : SAGE Publications. - 0956-2478 .- 1746-0301. ; In Press
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
This paper examines the multiple strategies articulated by grassroots recycler networks to bring about socioenvironmental change. The paper shows how these networks are an emblematic case of grassroots governmentality, whereby urban poor communities contribute to building more inclusive environmental regimes by developing technologies of power more typical of the powerful. These technologies include enumeration, with its resulting self-knowledge; the production of discourses and rationalities of social inclusion and environmental sustainability; and engagement in open and diverse alliances, at times with actors holding apparently antagonistic interests. The paper also reveals how recycling networks are a representative case of deep and green democracy. It is deep democracy, as grassroots networks strive to gain deep and true representativeness in their territories. It is green democracy, as it illustrates alternative pathways to environmental governance that is not limited to state and global organizations, but that also includes a range of control techniques emanating from the communities themselves.
4.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Organising grassroots infrastructure: The (in)visible work of organisational (in)completeness
2023
Ingår i: Urban Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0042-0980 .- 1360-063X. ; 60:1
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
In this article we build on the concept of incompleteness, as recently developed in both organisa- tional and urban studies, to improve our understanding of the collective actions of grassroots organisations in creating and governing critical infrastructures in the changing and resource-scarce contexts of urban informal settlements. Empirically, the article is informed by the case of resident associations providing critical services and infrastructure in informal settlements in Kisumu, Kenya. Findings suggest three organisational processes that grassroots organisations develop for the production and governance of incomplete grassroots infrastructures: shaping a partial organi- sation but creating the illusion of a formal and complete organisation; crafting critical (and often hidden) material and organisational infrastructures for the subsistence of dormant (but still visi- ble) structures; and moulding nested infrastructure that shelters layers of floating and autono- mous groups embedded in communities. In a resource-poor environment, the strategy is to create incompleteness, less organisation and to keep it partial and limited to a minimum of ele- ments. The article also explores the political implications of organisational and infrastructural incompleteness by examining how it leads to efforts to craft loose and ambiguous governmental arrangements, connecting them materially and politically to formal infrastructure systems. These governmental arrangements are shifting and in the making, and therefore also incomplete. The article reveals how grassroots organisations mobilise a wide range of (in)visibility approaches. It concludes by exposing the hidden power of ‘incompleteness’ and the potential in hiding certain elements of incompleteness from outsiders, while rendering other elements visible when per- ceived as useful.
5.
Andrés, Eva Àlvarez de, et al.
(författare)
Stop the evictions! The diffusion of networked social movements and the emergence of a hybrid space: The case of the Spanish Mortgage Victims Group
2015
Ingår i: Habitat International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0197-3975. ; 46:April
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Over 350,000 families have been evicted from their homes since Spain's property market crashed in 2008. The response of Spanish civil society has been the emergence of a networked social movement, Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH; the Spanish Mortgage Victims Group), to stop the evictions and change applicable legislation. This paper uses social movement theory and the travel of ideas metaphor from organization theory to understand how the PAH movement and its practices and tactics, originally born in Barcelona in 2009, have successfully spread to over 160 cities and stopped over 1135 evictions throughout the country. We argue that the ability of networked social movements to quickly replicate has fuelled their power to resist, protest, and induce change. We contend that the fast growth of networked social movements in Global North and South cities, is fuelled by its ability to create a hybrid space between communication networks and occupied urban space in which face-to-face assemblies and protests take place.
6.
Gutberlet, Jutta, et al.
(författare)
Socio-environmental entrepreneurship and the provision of critical services in informal settlements
2016
Ingår i: Environment & Urbanization. - : SAGE Publications. - 0956-2478 .- 1746-0301. ; 28:1
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
This paper contributes to the understanding of processes by which small-scale entrepreneurs who provide household waste collection in informal settlements succeed in formalized co-production of such services. The paper draws on the social and solidarity economy and social and environmental entrepreneurship theoretical frameworks, which offer complementary understandings of diverse strategies to tackle everyday challenges. Two questions are addressed: How do informal waste collection initiatives get established, succeed and grow? What are the implications of this transition for the entrepreneurs themselves, the communities, the environmental governance system and the scholarship? A case study is presented, based on three waste picker entrepreneurs in Kisumu, Kenya, who have consolidated and expanded their operations in informal settlements but also extended social and environmental activities into formal settlements. The paper demonstrates how initiatives, born as community-based organizations, become successful social micro-enterprises, driven by a desire to address socioenvironmental challenges in their neighbourhoods.
7.
Kain, Jaan-Henrik, 1960, et al.
(författare)
Characteristics, challenges and innovations of waste picker organizations: A comparative perspective between Latin American and East African countries
2022
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 17:7
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Waste picker organisations (WPOs) around the globe collect, transport and process waste to earn their living but represent a widely excluded, marginalised and impoverished segment of society. WPOs are highly innovative, created by grassroots out of “nothing” to deliver economic, social and environmental sustainability. Still, we do not know how such innovations are developed, and how they are disseminated and adopted by other groups. This article examines characteristics, challenges and innovations of WPOs across five countries in Latin America and East Africa. It is based on quantitative and qualitative data regarding modes of organisation and management, gender, received support, business orientations, environmental and social contributions, and innovations developed in response to multiple challenges. The paper provides a comprehensive understanding of WPOs’ activities and their grassroots innovations in the Global South. The study shows how WPOs contribute significantly to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the societies they serve as well as the wider urban societies. To start and maintain WPOs in informal settlements with a lack of infrastructure, institutional frameworks, and public and private investors is a difficult quest. WPOs take many different organisational forms depending on the complexity of local realities, ranging from advanced collective organization as cooperatives to small self-help groups and microentrepreneurs. Self-organisation into regional and national networks provides economic opportunities, autonomy and stability as well as political influence. Yet, institutional support is fundamental and the lack thereof threatens their existence. Sustaining WPOs as important providers of socio-environmental benefits through governmental and non-governmental actions is a worthwhile undertaking that builds sustainability.
8.
Kain, Jaan-Henrik, 1960, et al.
(författare)
Translating Policies into Informal Settlements' Critical Services: Reframing, Anchoring and Muddling Through
2016
Ingår i: Public Administration and Development. - : Wiley. - 0271-2075 .- 1099-162X. ; 36:5
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
This paper examines how policies and plans are translated into informal settlements' practice. It builds on literature on policy implementation practice and organization studies, and more particularly, it applies the concepts of reframing, anchoring and muddling through. The paper is informed by the case of Kisumu City in Kenya and its Kisumu Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan and its implementation on Kisumu's informal settlements. The plan was funded by the Swedish International Development Agency through the United Nations Human Settlement Programme and implemented from 2007 to 2009. The study is based on action research carried out by a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary group of researchers, through focus groups, participatory workshops, collaborative action, in-depth interviews, document analysis and observations. The paper examines what original aspects of Kisumu Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan were translated, that is, which ones faded out and which ones became stabilized into and travel as ‘best practices’ to other locations. The paper shows how the generation of ‘best practices’ can be loosely coupled with the practices that policy seeks to change. It concludes, in line with previous research in the field, how successful policy implementation is based on cultural and political interpretations rather on evidence of improved practices.
9.
Kain, Jaan-Henrik, 1960, et al.
(författare)
What Makes a Compact City? Differences Between Urban Research in the Global North and the Global South
2020
Ingår i: Offentlig förvaltning. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration. - : University of Gothenburg. - 2000-8058. ; 24:4, s. 25-49
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Compact cities are promoted in policy as a response to current societal challenges, but it is unclear or ambiguous what qualities or benefits a compact city is supposed to deliver. The concept of the compact city is widely debated in the research literature, and there are numerous arguments both for and against compact cities. However, many studies or reviews tend to apply a delimited approach, discussing a confined number of qualities or basing the assessment on fairly narrow empirical material. Research is also carried out from within a number of separate disciplines or “discourses”. This paper aims to provide a clearer and more consolidated understanding of the wide spectrum of qualities that make up the compact city in support of better planning, governance and management of cities in the Global South. The objective is to present a review of current articles discussing the compact city in order to capture similarities and differences in the academic discourse between Global North and Global South contexts, and to outline a comprehensive compact city taxonomy. This is achieved by answering three questions: (1) What types of urban qualities are discussed in scientific articles studying urban compactness? (2) (How) do articles focusing on Global North and Global South contexts differ when it comes to exploring compact city qualities? and (3) Do the findings indicate areas of research withing the broader scope of urban compactness where research should be initiated or strengthened? The analysis is based on literature searches in the Scopus database for 2012-2015 using the search term “compact city”. A quantitative assessment was carried out, sifting out what terms are used to label purported (or debated) qualities of compact cities. Papers are sorted into different categories according to geoeconomic context (i.e. Global North, BRICS, Global South). The outcome is an extended taxonomy of compact city qualities, including twelve categories. Weaknesses in compact city research aimed at cities in the Global South were identified, linked in particular to nature, health, environmental issues, quality of life, sociocultural aspects, justice and economy, as well as a significant lack of compact city research linked to urban adaptability and resilience.
10.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Grassroots innovations in 'extreme' urban environments. The inclusive recycling movement
2023
Ingår i: Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. - : SAGE Publications. - 2399-6544 .- 2399-6552. ; 41:2
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Waste pickers all over the world work innovatively to reduce the environmental footprint of cities as they struggle to meet their critical livelihood obligations. Informed by the case of waste picker organizations (WPOs) this article examines how grassroots initiatives and extreme-niche innovations are created and sustained by mobilizing resources, rationales and relations. The study is informed by a cross-national survey and in-depth interviews with WPOs in Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Kenya and Tanzania, and builds upon theories of grassroots innovation movements. The findings show how operating in contexts of extreme scarcity, these grassroots organisations tap into local resources, e.g. tacit knowledge, economies of affection and other socially embedded institutional resources. Blending material and environmental rationales, contributes to expanding their audiences and to gaining further support. In such deprived urban contexts, radical and cumulative crises and events hindering residents’ livelihoods can paradoxically also spark ingenuity out of necessity, and the transformation of these settings into extreme niches of innovation. Finally, the mobilization of relations through the formation of networks linking WPOs with supportive intermediaries and global circuits of solidarity becomes another fundamental resilience strategy by which WPOs can navigate contested environments and insert their extreme-niche innovations in governmental structures. By simultaneously adopting a broad repertoire of strategies of insertion, contention, and mobilization WPO and their innovations thrive in highly constrained environments. We conclude with reflecting on how ‘extreme’ niches of innovation − at the cracks of the formal city, economy and waste systems − can unleash the creative power of stigmatized, illiterate and neglected grassroots to experiment with new solutions in resource-poor environments.
