Residents’ collective strategies of resistance in Global South cities’ informal settlements –space, scale and knowledge
In this seminar we will present one of the articles resulting from our research project "Compact Cities and Informal Settlements – Qualities, Drivers and Strategies", funded by Formas and hosted by Managing Big Cities at GRI.
The research project "Compact Cities and Informal Settlements – Qualities, Drivers and Strategies" collects the practices and strategies of residents, civil society organizations and local government officials in the informal urbanization process and urban change, in Havana (Cuba), Cape Town (South Africa), Kisumu (Kenya) and Buenos Aires (Argentina).
The story of the self-construction of one of these informal settlements in Buenos Aires, the Villa Rodrigo Bueno, the subsequent attempts of eviction and displacement, and the resistance to upgrading programs, serves to illustrate the strategies developed by urban poor communities to respond to processes of urban exclusion and the institutional arrangements threatening their existence.
In the seminar we will discuss how the organising and strategizing of resistance from the informal settlement involve the articulation of multi-scalar and relational sites and developing insurgent knowledge and citizenship.
...illustrate the strategies developed by urban poor communities to respond to processes of urban exclusion and the institutional arrangements threatening their existence
The paper is forthcoming in the journal Cities, and it is co-authored by: Jaan-Henrik Kain (Chalmers & GRI), Jenny Stenberg (Chalmers & GRI), Patrik Zapata (School of Public Administration GU) Mariano Scheinsohn (University of Buenos Aires), Michael Oloko (JOOUST), and María José Zapata Campos (FEK/GRI).
