Volume 14 (2024)

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/2863

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Browsing Volume 14 (2024) by Author "Rossini, Luisa"

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    Editorial: Social mobilisations and planning through crises
    (AESOP, 2024) Rossini, Luisa; Gall, Tjark; Privitera, Elisa
    Cities are increasingly becoming sites of contestation. Intersecting crises—economic, social, political, and environmental—are shaping urban life and governance. The 2007/08 financial crisis triggered waves of austerity that profoundly restructured urban planning. The COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, inflation, and climate change further intensified urban inequality and precarity. This editorial introduces the special issue which explores how urban social movements respond to these crises. Based on an Early-Career Workshop on Urban Studies (Lisbon, 2022), it highlights the role of grassroots mobilisation and engaged scholarship in shaping alternative urban futures. The articles in this issue examine contestation, co-optation, and innovation in planning, offering a diverse and comparative perspective on planning through crises.
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    Resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism
    (AESOP, 2024) Rossini, Luisa
    In the context of the ongoing global intertwined financial, environmental, socio-political crises, the intricate relationship between neoliberal urban planning and the challenges these crises present has become increasingly visible. Despite these challenges, neoliberal restructuring justifications remain central to urban agendas and planning culture, often exacerbating social inequality. Its principles and related political decisions frequently intensify social conflicts, sparking protests as their adverse effects on marginalized communities and areas become evident, especially after decades of market-driven policies and the global financial crisis. In many cities around the globe, these popular rebellions, as local and residential activism, started increasingly to target varying regulatory regimes and strategies pursued by supranational, national, or local authorities, often organized as urban social movements. This think piece examines how neoliberal urbanism simultaneously incites resistance and absorbs it, reflecting a paradox where insurgent practices challenge the system but are also co-opted into its framework. By exploring key dynamics in urban governance, participation, and social movements, it seeks to understand how neoliberalism’s resilience lies in its ability to incorporate dissent into its operating logic while marginalizing radical alternatives, so to perpetuate its dominance despite widespread opposition. Briefly mentioning some examples of organized groups and forms of resistance around the globe, theoretical debates, and historical perspectives, the discussion unfolds by: analyzing how neoliberal practices shape urban governance and planning; investigating how movements resist neoliberalism and how their ideas are co-opted; addressing the enduring struggle over “to whom the city belongs” and proposing ways to foster meaningful democratic engagement.