RC21 CONFERENCE 2013
Resourceful cities
Berlin (Germany), 29-31 August 2013
Humboldt-University Berlin, Institute for Social Science, Dept. for Urban and Regional Sociology
Urban (in)formality: tensions, conflicts and breakups in the struggle to belong
Contemplating cities as places with multiple resources that are produced, appropriated and distributed unequally, in this session we discuss various aspects related to how this inequality is translated into the dynamic between the ‘formal’ and the ‘informal’. Intimately related to the way urban structure is configured and the complex processes of producing the city, we are interested in thinking about how this inequality and the tensions it brings with it is manifested both in spatial terms and in terms of people’s lived experiences. Urban informalities such as self-help slum settlements that are common in cities in the Global South, or the expulsion of squatters in cities like Amsterdam and Berlin as a consequence of gentrification processes in central urban areas are good examples of manifestations of such tensions. Beyond housing informality, we are also interested in contributions dealing with other forms of non-institutional resources, espacially in the arena of work and welfare provisions. We invite experiences from both the Global South and the Global North, and new or existing frameworks to analyze the question of how the general context shapes different forms of producing the urban space. Contributions should address the following questions: How did the conflict/tension emerge? Is it a typically local or more general phenomenon? What factors sustain it? How can it be resolved?
Session Organizers
Jean-Louis Van Gelder, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)De Boelelaan 1077a1081 HV Amsterdam, T: +31 (0)20 598 5239Fax: +31(0)20 598 3975, E: jlvangelder@nscr.nl
Fernando Ostuni, Instituto de Investigaciones “Gino Germani” – Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pte J. E. Uriburu 950, 6to, (C1114AAD) Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, T: +54 11 4508.3815, F: +54 11 4508.3822, E: fostuni@hotmail.com
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