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.
Kain, Jaan-Henrik, 1960, et al.
(författare)
Collective Strategies of Resistance in Compact Global South Cities. Stories From the Residents of the Villa Rodrigo Bueno
2018
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of what citizen-driven strategies are developed to cope with informal urbanisation and urban compactness. More precisely, the paper explores the intersection between informal urbanisation processes, informal economy and networks of solidarity and citizenship, in the context of compact cities. In particular, this paper aims to examine the creation of novel and collective forms of strategizing and organising resistance articulated from the informal settlements to build up alternative notions of the city from below. In order to do that the paper is empirically informed by the case of Argentina, a country that has experienced in the last decades the revival of villas miseria (misery town or shanty towns), as a result of successive economic crisis and migration waves. The history of one of these villas miserias, Rodrigo Bueno, in Puerto Madero, the most expensive urban development in Argentina, serves to illustrate the creation and maintenance of the informal city as an alternative urban logic, as well as the continuous process of stabilisation and resistance to the institutional arrangements threatening its existence.
3.
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.
4.
5.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Urban qualities and residents’ strategies in compact global south cities: the case of Havana
2022
Ingår i: Journal of Housing and the Built Environment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-7772 .- 1566-4910. ; 37:1, s. 529-551
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Research and policy argue for more compact cities to respond to sustainable development challenges. However, what actually needs to be made more compact and how, is under examined, particularly in global South cities where north notions of urban qualities are adopted without being questioned. Informed by a qualitative study in informal and compact neighborhoods in Havana, this paper explores which qualities are important to deliver more just cities, and what strategies are developed by residents to strengthen beneficial qualities and address detrimental qualities in contexts of informal urbanization and compactness. It shows how the street, human capital, neighborhood, housing affordability, citizenship and vibrancy are significant compact city qualities neglected in the literature. Finally, the paper shows how diverse strategies are developed by residents to draw upon these qualities, such as self-help urbanism, learning and innovation, economic entrepreneurship, networks of solidarity, economies of reciprocity, local imaginaries and active citizenship.
6.
Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
Urban informality and networks of livelihood and solidarity in compact cities
2017
Ingår i: International Sociological Association Research Committee 21 on Urban and Regional Development -- Rethinking Global Urban Justice September 11-13 2017 | Leeds.
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of which qualities a city needs to include to be a so called compact city, and what strategies are developed to cope with informal urbanization and urban compactness. More precisely, the paper explores the intersection between informal urbanization processes, informal economy and networks of solidarity and citizenship, in the context of compact cities. The paper is informed by twenty-five in-depth interviews with residents living in informal and highly densified neighbourhoods in Havana, Cuba, and also by site observations. The paper concludes how the street, the human, the neighbour, housing affordability and local imaginaries of an ideal city, are significant compact city qualities. It also shows associated strategies enacted by residents to draw from these qualities, such as land invasion, self-help urbanism, learning and innovation, economic entrepreneurship, networks of solidarity and even imagining the city.
