2017 Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon 11-14th July

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Book of proceedings : Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity : Fostering the European Dimension of Planning
(Universidade de Lisboa, 2017) Ferreira, José Antunes; Simões, José Manuel; Morgado, Sofia; da Costa, Eduarda Marques; Cabral, João; Ramos, Isabel Loupa; e Silva, Jorge Batista; Baptista-Bastos, Miguel
In an uncertain world that is rapidly changing economically, socially and culturally, cities and territories have become the common ground for resilient breakthroughs in the policies and practices of planning and design. These extreme times urge us to shift towards renewed actions in urban and less urbanised territories. Societal changes, disparities in population growth and incomes and consequential impacts on the sustainability of social services and labour markets, climate change and extreme natural events, complex social-economics trends, challenge us to debate and seek paths that lead to a progressive common future. The planning and urban minded communities are invited to join efforts under the flag of the next congress topic – SPACES OF DIALOG FOR PLACES OF DIGNITY: Fostering the European Dimension of Planning. A few of the ideas we may want to provide a platform for discussion include developing people’s wellbeing, promoting integrated and flexible planning approaches, encouraging collective engagement in urban and environmental management, inclusiveness and multiculturalism. From one of the most western cities in Europe we believe that we may address potential European urban futures and the need for opening effective dialogue and cooperation with other corners of the globe. We look forward to welcoming you in Lisbon and engaging with you in discussing these challenges.
Open Access
Book of abstracts : Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity : Fostering the European Dimension of Planning
(AESOP, 2017) Ferreira, José Antunes; Simões, José Manuel; Morgado, Sofia
Track 01: Planning theory: conceptual challenges and planning evaluation Track 02: Planning education: building up spaces of dialogue for places of dignity Track 03: Spaces of dialogue for active, networked and responsible citizenship Track 04: Urban design, public spaces and urban culture Track 05: Spaces of dialogue for active, networked and responsible citizenship Track 06: Territorial cohesion: a multiscale approach Track 07: Dialogues in diverse, inclusive, and multicultural cities Track 08: Regional economics and scarce resources planning Track 09: Bridging gaps in transnational planning Track 10: Housing and urban rehabilitation and qualification for places of dignity Track 11: Healthy and liveable cities Track 12: Tourism, leisure and genuine urban cultures Track 13: Mobility policies, transport regulation and urban planning Track 14: Policies for smart and co-creative cities Track 15: Law and planning under societal challenges Track 16: Urban metabolism and territorial efficiency Track 17: Big data, open sources, generative tools Track 18: Unravelling complexity for planning Track 19: Resilient and sustainable territories Track 20: Territories under pressure: disruptive events, shattered cities, collective memories Track 21: Urban futures: challenges and vision
Open Access
Projections: 100 km2 of caatinga biome
(AESOP, 2017) Ganz, Louise
This communication will address the transdisciplinary research that I develop today, where I transit through architecture and visual arts, collective properties and other forms of communal ownership and management of the land. I conducted a series of interviews with activists, architects, artists, lawyers, indigenous people in different locations around the world, proposing to them a fiction: Assuming that a few hectares of land are available in their context for the development of occupation and livelihood projects, what would you imagine doing with such an area? This provocation seeks, through the imaginary, to know and debate forms of social organization of space distinct from private property, in order to be constituted as a collection of utopias. We are facing a process of expulsion and a growing number of conflicts related to access to land, which makes the space increasingly restrictive and destructive of collective responsibilities, in the Brazilian and world context. Struggles and resistances trigger new regimes of sensibility and experiences of land repossession, and thus, the proposition of new forms of spatialization are necessary. What practices of land sharing can we imagine? What utopias can we construct to amplify the repertoire of the modes of occupation of the territory? These are the key issues. A construction of a map of utopias is an attempt to point out future social transformations. In this context, the Thislandyourland artistic brazilian group, formed by me and Ines Linke in 2010, develops projects in the field of visual arts, with the theme around the use and access to land. Projections: 100 km2 of Caatinga biome is a work in process, which investigates diverse imagery related to the Caatinga, an specific brazilian biome. Starting from a fiction that suggests that an area of 10km x 10km of Caatinga is made available and donated for the development of projects, several people or groups are invited to receive this fictional land donation and during interviews, idealize and expose their projects to this land extension. In this presentation I I will show some excerpts from interviews.
Open Access
The right to the city in times of biopolitics – tactical urbanism in a transition program
(AESOP, 2017) Farias, Ana; Gonçalves, André Pedro Viegas Cabral
The city is the greatest field of action of capitalism, but also the most possible field of resistance to it. Capitalism and urbanization feedback in a process where the former is always expanding, producing and concentrating geographically and socially its surplus in the city. Harvey (2014) points out that to think of an alternative form of urbanization, it is necessary to build possibilities for an anti-capitalist turn, thus pointing to the urgency of recognizing the common and its potency. And it suggests that this route of escape must start from a convergence between the microcosm of the body and the macro space of globalization, two important topics of the current neoliberal phase of capitalism. This convergence can be achieved in the affirmation of human and individual rights, a perspective that reinforces the importance of the concept of the right to the city, developed in the 1960s by Lefebvre (2016). A more collective right than individual, which encompasses all other human rights, claiming the participation of all in the construction and use of space and urban life. Thinking about the global world has made it possible to recognize a common world with which to worry, to produce, to appropriate, and which is shared by all. For Hardt & Negri (2016), the idea of 'common' was also potentialized with the understanding of the concept of biopolitics, whose subjectivities will always be produced by apparatus of power, whether of the sovereignty of the Empire or the resistance of the multitude. Thus, the 'right to the city' is considered as a strategy of transition from the current urban situation of the cities towards a situation of justice, of full realization of the common well-being. For the institutional redesign, necessary for this transition, Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2003) argues that, besides state and formal law, the forms of informal and unofficial law that he attributes to 'subaltern cosmopolitan legality' must also be considered. And to avoid wasting social experiences that seek to declare and exercise the rights that matter to them.
Open Access
Green growth and transformation to sustainability: supplementation or contradiction?
(AESOP, 2017) Engel, Toya; Klindworth, Katharina; Knieling, Jörg
It becomes evident that sustainable development cannot be a question of iterative changes and technical adaptation to a changing natural environment. Rather, it requires the transformation of major societal systems and processes such as production and consumption, mobility and land-use patterns as result of an approach shared and promoted by the majority of current society. In other words, a transformation to sustainability is required. In order to realize this demand for fundamental societal change, the transformation has to occur in the three pillars our society is based on: energy systems, urban areas as main emitters of greenhouse gasses and global land-use systems (WBGU, 2011: 48) which can also be identified as the main fields of intervention to pursue broad societal change (WBGU, 2011: 265). The spatial patterns of cities and city regions are urban systems which consume vast amounts of land and resources that exceed natural regeneration rates while degrading the environment. Furthermore, the vulnerability of cities and regions to climate change impacts and other biophysical and societal stressors such as the degradation of ecosystems and poverty (IPCC, 2014: 182) are consequences of long existing unsustainable societal structures and processes.
Open Access
What are the new mega projects? An assessment of the dimensions of new large scale development projects
(AESOP, 2017) Geambazu, Serin
The spread of neo-liberal political and economic ideology and the proliferation of global capital have created new opportunities and challenges for cities everywhere (Sassen 2012). Within the urban planning discourse, it is generally assumed that globalization leads to the same type of transformations and urban development trends everywhere in the world. However, it cannot create a certain prototype for spatial development or a new spatial order for cities. Rather, it gives a variety of spatial patterns, also called "global urban forms". Recently, these forms have identified themselves spatially within a series of "megaprojects", their intensity being felt in today's global cities, north-American and west-European, but with a domino effect, especially in the cities situated at the periphery of these capitalist economies. In the last two decades, we witness a renaissance and reinterpretation of "mega projects" within the global cities as an exclusive model for urban development (Swyngedow et al. 2004). In the European and American context, after a hiatus during the 1980s, many of these cities have responded to the economic pressure and the process of globalization through major projects and mixed-use developments to attain investment opportunities, building new CBDs for multi-national companies and new sites for living1. Total global megaproject spending is assessed at USD 6-9 trillion annually, or 8 percent of total global GDP, which denotes the biggest investment boom in human history. Never has systematic and valid knowledge about megaprojects therefore been more important to inform policy, practice, and public debate in this highly costly area of business and government. It is argued that the conventional way of managing megaprojects has reached a "tension point," where tradition is challenged and reform is emerging (Flyvbjerg, 2011). As a response to the crisis of the comprehensive plan as the classic policy instrument of the Fordist age, the large, emblematic project has emerged as a viable alternative, allegedly combining the advantages of flexibility and targeted actions with a tremendous symbolic capacity. Essentially fragmented, this form of intervention goes hand in hand with an eclectic planning style where attention to design, detail, morphology, and aesthetics is paramount. The emblematic project captures a segment of the city and turns it into the symbol of the new restructured/ revitalized metropolis cast with a powerful image of innovation, creativity, and success. And yet, despite the rhetoric, the replacement of the plan by the project has not displaced planning from the urban arena. In fact, the literature reveals that in most examples there is a strong strategic component and a significant role for planning. However, in the process, there has been a drastic reorganization of the planning and urban policy-making structures and a rise of new modes of intervention, planning goals, tools, and institutions
Open Access
Technology use and its influence in travel behaviour and urban form
(AESOP, 2017) Moraes Monteiro, Mayara; de Abreu e Silva, João; Pinho de Sousa, Jorge
It is likely that the current generation that is growing up immersed in a technology filled world can perceive space and distances from a different perspective than those that come before. The speed by which technology is evolving increases day by day and, moreover, people and companies are discovering and consolidating different ways to take advantage of the current available possibilities that the devices with internet connection can offer.
Open Access
Expats and the city: the spatialities of the highansnational living in the city of Moscow
(AESOP, 2017) Maslova, Sabina
In the transnational discourse, an assemblage of broad-ranging immigrant groups and their transnational practices are explored throughout multiplicity of issues. Emerging mobilities are generated by a range of factors, including among others employment and education, and involved in notable changes in urban environments. In particular, they find reflections in the new perspectives of transnational living and residential practices. Along with international workforce, new highly mobile lifestyles, cultural habits, and residential practices are being imported. Many scholars now examine the challenges that transnational living lay on the globalizing cities and their built environments, along with processes of segregation and advancement of human capital. This paper presents the findings of the qualitative study of the high-skilled transnational migrants living in the increasingly globalizing city of Moscow. It focuses on the migrants from the Western world who moved to Moscow to live for the extended time. The paper aims to investigate the spatialities of their everyday living and the relations between the settlement patterns and localizations of social practices with the urban development process of the city. A case of Moscow has shown an array of the transnational lifestyles localizations, bringing two main findings: the general pattern of scattered settlement, and the diversification of sociocultural practices highly dependent on communication strategies and lifestyle types. The scattered settlement of the high-skilled transnational migrants in Moscow counterparts and adds on the explored trends of clusterization of the transnational elites in some other globalizing cities. The paper is divided into four main sections. Firstly, following a review of the literature, the context of globalization and migration processes in Moscow outlined in order to provide the reader with the background information about the skilled international immigration in this city. Secondly, the general structure of the expats living in the Moscow is outlines, focusing later on the residential strategies of the expats that ultimately result in the scattered settlement structure. In the process, key neighborhoods of choice for transnational living are highlighted, and the question of whether these neighborhoods correspond to the localities of inner urban globalization process of the city and to the settlement patterns of other migration flows. Thirdly, the spatialities of the use of services by the expat communities are uncovered, with reference made to the particular sociocultural backgrounds and lifestyles. Finally, the paper suggests a discussion of the relations between the scattered settlements of expats as a part of urban remodeling progress. It seeks to contribute to a number of fundamental literatures: the overreaching globalization in the world cities (Sassen, 1991), the increasing importance of global circulation of skills, and the crucial significance of transnational urbanism in explaining urban complexity (Smith, 2001).
Open Access
ID 1607 | Internet+ urbanization in less-developed areas - case study on Taobao towns and villages in China
(AESOP, 2017) Geng, Jia; Zhu, Mingming
Nowadays more than 50% of the world population has already been in urban areas and the rate of global urbanization are expected to be more than 70% in the next four decades, with about 90% of the urban expansion occurring in the developing countries. As a result, New Urban Agenda-Habitat III and other influential urban conferences have led to pay more attention to a better urban life. However, the development of rural areas should be emphasized as well. On one hand, although the proportion of rural areas is declining, they have their significance of existence, such as the supplies of food or other products, rural culture, etc. On the other hand, although there seems be a wide gap between urban and rural areas, they still have their characteristic advantages which provides more possibilities for their dignified development. The Chinese strategy to deal with the relationship between urban and rural development is called Integrated Urban-Rural Development. Its specific performance covers all kinds of fields, such as accessibility of traffic system, same standards of infrastructure and public service facilities in urban and rural areas, what’s more, realize rural areas, etc., which could reduce the distance between urban and coordinated development and mutual progress. Smart rural development will be a tendency in China even around the world and will be a new symbol to measure the levels of urban development. So, Integrated Urban-Rural Development is so meaningful to provide a strong basis for the smart rural development. Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province are two good examples to practice Integrated Urban-Rural Development, whose towns and villages are much wealthier relatively.
Open Access
Research on the relationship between space of places and space of flows - empirical analysis based on global scale and local scale
(AESOP, 2017) Chen, Bowen; Geng, Jia
In the process of reform and opening to the outside world and economic globalization, China has taken the initiative to integrate into the world economic system and has become the world's second largest economy. At the same time, the establishment of information and communication networks has greatly accelerated the process of global integration, and promoted the flow of information, knowledge and capital flows among cities all over the world. " Space of flow is constantly manifesting and becoming an important force to promote the world economic structure and the evolution of the urban system. From the original growth pole model to the central hierarchy, and now to the urban network, the development and evolution of the urban system has entered a new era. Since 2000, the research of urban network abroad can be divided into two major directions: enterprise organization and infrastructure. Among them, the former research is more mainstream, this is because the essence of urban network is the economic relationship between cities, and enterprise actors is the starting point of economic relations. In recent years, Chinese scholars have also conducted a series of urban network research based on the space of flow (Tang Zilai, Zhao Miao Xi, 2010; Zhu, Wang de chazon, 2014), and achieved certain results. In fact, space of flow is not a unique product of globalization. From the origin and development of the city, city area as the economic subject, relying on the foundation to meet the demand for goods and services sectors outside the city to achieve its circulation and accumulation. The economic links between the city is inherent in the space of flow has always been there, just under the influence of globalization, enterprises can realize the function of deeper integration in a wider geographic range (Dicken, 2011), the economic ties are greatly strengthened and obvious, showing a trend of network. The space of flow is the economic network formed by information and capital flow, while the city as the space of place is the pivot or node of the economic network (Tang Zilai, Li Can, et al., 2016), and the two are interdependent. However, the current domestic and foreign academic research are mostly spatial logic expression quantitative description and visualization of city network based on space of flow and rarely consider the space of space and their relationship (Wall, 2009), it is difficult to explain the city regional spatial organization formation and evolution mechanism. Can space of flow really replace space of place and become the dominant form of global and regional urban system? What is the relationship between space of flow and space of place? Based on the above doubts, this paper tries to construct the theoretical framework and analyze it from the perspective of enterprise organization, along the dual logical main line of space of flow and space of place, and deeply discusses the relationship between them to provide theoretical and empirical basis.
Open Access
Shaping the city of tomorrow in east Asia: concepts, schemes and ideas for urban development from 1960s to 2010, and beyond
(AESOP, 2017) Pernice, Raffaele
There is a growing interest about the urban visions and architectural ideas and vocabulary behind the formation of the large urban conglomeration in Japan, South Korea and China, and how the seeds of Western planning theories and architectural design practice have helped shaping and building the contemporary cites along the vast regions of Asia Pacific Region, and frame a local language in envisioning the city of the future. Fuelled by an unprecedented economic boom in the recent decades, China has carefully planned a process of urbanization at a gigantic scale, supported by political will and determination in promoting a radical transformation of the economic system by shifting progressively from industry to services, and promoting the city as a fundamental element for this transition. South Korea and Japan are the models for this sort of urban transformation, both for the overall dynamics and the design and planning methods implemented, as South Korea experienced her fast urbanization process in the late 1980s whilst Japan has witnessed a great urban growth during the 1960s. Somewhat „old“ concepts and ideas imported from the Western planning traditions, such as the design of new towns, neighborhood units, gated communities, green belts and garden cities, high-rise living etc. are still essential practical elements implemented for the planning and design of the modern/contemporary urban landscape, and are largely adopted in the planning processes used in the structuring and organization of the cities and suburbs built in the region. New progressive concerns related to environmental, social and technological issues such as the Climate Change, growing pollution, the need for sustainable planning and more energy efficient, smart and ecofriendly devices for transportation and domestic use, the constant ageing of the population, among others, call now for very new ideas and bold and innovative schemes in the design and development of cites in East Asia, as well as around the world. Reflecting on the contributions from East Asia to the discourse of planning and design a city for the future as promoted by single actors, larger cultural movements and national elites fostering economic ambitions and political agendas of autocratic forces (e.g. from the experimental cities by the Metabolists in Japan, to the more pragmatic urban development projects fostered by local and national governments in South Korea and China), it can be worthy trying to explain some of the key socio-economic factors and planning engines which have dramatically and radically transformed the skylines of the most dynamic and growing influential area of the world at the dawn of 21st century, as well as briefly describe the origins of the various forms and elements of the modern built environments which have been shaped and molded by these same forces, and how/whether these urban forms embody a true genuine East Asian vision of the city of the future, and what is the current trend in terms of new urban forms and architectural design research at the beginning of 21st century.
Open Access
Dissecting the urban(ized) binoculars. ´looking at´ urban futures
(AESOP, 2017) van Driessche, Robbert; Ache, Peter; Lagendijk, Arnoud
In current discourses and practices, the future and the urban are frequently connected: our society’s future is expected to be urban and accordingly, the anticipation of futures for our cities and urbansociety-to-come proliferates (e.g. Glaeser, 2011; Gleeson, 2012). In the practices and processes of such urban futuring, the discipline of urban planning plays a central role. By its very nature and functionality, urban planning engages with the not yet of the city (a.o. Conell, 2009. Hiller and Heakey, 2016). Indeed, today, urban planners together with a diverse range of stakeholders increasingly engage in anticipations for our urban futures: how will our cities and the urban-society-to-come look like? an urban planner looks forward in time, to have some kind of impression of what the urban future might bring, and subsequently, hopes to influence and give direction to that future through the decisions and actions of planning in the present (Connell, 2009). Alongside and combined with more standardized procedures and tools, planners today have a variety of foresight methods and techniques at their disposal for their anticipatory action, ranging from forecasting and backcasting to envisioning and scenario-making (e.g. Ratcliffe and Krawczyk, 2011).
Open Access
The change of urban spatial forms and its influencing factors from town planning to community evolution
(AESOP, 2017) Yue, Yufeng; Wang, Liyao; Huang, Yuci; Shi, Haochen
Since the 1980s, the Urban Regime Theory, which interprets the influencing factors affecting urban spatial forms was initially proposed in the U.S. Because of this theory developing a new way to interpret urban forms from the perspective of social science, it occupies the dominating position in the system of urban study theory. The founders of this theory, Logan and Molotch (1987) maintained that these factors could be concluded as three types of forces, which represented the interest of governing party, financial group and community organisation. Meanwhile Stone (1989) pointed out that the coaction of these forces decides most urban spatial forms at the material level. Based on their views, the aim of this essay is to interpret how the change of spatial forms is affected by each force and how these forces interact in deciding spatial form evolution. To start with, the theoretical model of urban regime theory will be introduced. Then, two cases about new town planning in UK will be discussed to evaluate the change of spatial forms and the different spatial characteristics caused by each force. Furthermore, the interaction of three forces in spatial evolution will be interpreted through the studying case in China. Finally, new conceptual model will be proposed, which could explain the relationship among three forces in influencing urban spatial forms. The conclusion indicates that the urban spatial forms are affected by three types of forces reflected in different aspects mainly including spatial structure, transportation system, land shape, land-use, density and accessibility of infrastructure etc. Depend on it, the cause of different spatial forms could be explained much clearly.
Open Access
Towards a theory of change: marginal areas and development policies in a cultural perspective
(AESOP, 2017) Meschiari, Claudia; Fini, Viviana
The paper aims at exploring the relation between processes of policy-making and cultural dimensions, assuming that cultural and symbolic dimensions are relevant in the ways in which both policy-makers and beneficiaries understand and respond to changes. The frame is represented by the Horizon2020 project Re.Cri.Re.: between the representation of the crisis and the crisis of representations, started in May 2015 and involving several disciplinary fields: psychology, urban and territorial studies, economy, sociology, philosophy. The research opportunity is given by the on-going Italian experience in national and local policies for inner areas called "SNAI" (Strategia Nazionale per le Aree Interne, National Strategy for Inner Areas). This policy, built in 2013, is operating in 20 pilot areas across the country and it will cover, in next years, all the areas defined as "peripheral" or "ultra-peripheral" of Italian peninsula, corresponding approximately to the 60% of Italian territory. In particular, our contribution will focus on the implementation of SNAI in one specific pilot area, Alta Irpinia, a Southern area located in the mountain part of Campania Region. In the following pages we will briefly present the cultural approach to policy-making in general terms, as we are elaborating it in Re.Cri.Re. project. Then we will introduce local development and cohesion policies, framing SNAI and the implementation in Alta Irpinia, with some conclusions concerning how to incorporate a cultural perspective in the processes of policy-making.
Open Access
Framing the social amplifications of risk in urban transformation of Istanbul
(AESOP, 2017) Saracoglu, Pinar Ertan
International disaster risk reduction framework concentrates on global cause and effect relations of natural disasters from a nominal perpective that hardly copes with developing countries relative socio-economic conditions and turns in to a matter of internalization. There is a requirement of a complementary perspective to observe and mesasure the socio-economic effects. From a theorethical research perspective, social amplifications of risk introduce us the how social and economic feedbacks in a social system could amplify or repress disaster impacts. Common efforts on reducing disaster risk has been defined comprehensively through International Decade for Disaster Risk Reduction (1989). Yokohoma Strategy (1994) and Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) were the concomitant procedures followed by Sendai Framework (2015-2030) recently. The general emphasis of sustainable development other than reducing disaster risks and poverty were determined as the main coordinated tasks. In order to reduce disaster risks Hyogo Framework (2005-2015) focused on national goals integrated to local action plans as the top priority and an institutional commitment. As a precondtion of determining urban risk drivers in each country mainstreaming information, innovation and education were identified as urban scale targets that would lead to develope a prevention culture and resilience. In disaster risk management, objectives have been shifted from post disaster perspectives as preparedness, response, emergency and recovery to proactive strategies as disaster risk reduction and mitigation. (UNISDR, 2004) Sendai Framework held in the 3rd World Conference of UN in Japan, makes clear determination in reducing disaster risks while preventing the new risks to generate in urban systems. Poverty, inequality, climate change and unplanned-volatile and rapid urbanization were depicted as urban risk drivers that generate the impacts of disaster risks. Last decade, the perspective on risk as a social phenomenon truly altered the risk perception from a sole physical statement in to a social statement affected by, social, socio-economic and cultural statements. The similar emphasis in Sendai Framework (2015-2030) reclaimed that reducing disaster risks, vulnerabilities and urban poverty demand new priorities from urban planning and disaster risk reduction. Disaster risk reduction not only concentrates on the impacts of disasters but also vulnerabilities that imply potential dangers and gaps in the physical environment. Vulnerability includes the socio-economic attributes of disaster risks, and defined as the potential referring to physical, economic, natural and social losses and losses in human life. (UNISDR, 2009) Vulnerability and poverty have an intertwined relationship in urban system. Poverty is defined as insufficient nutrition, sanity, education and habitation conditions as well as safety and all other basic needs. (WB, 2001) As an urban component of poverty, squatters are in the first rank in reducing disaster risks for environmental degradation, policy changes, rural unemployment, urban immigration, strict building codes, and other physical vulnerabilities. In fact factors determining the urban poverty and vulnerability differs. In society, all low-income groups might not be vulnerable to disasters while mid to high income groups could be vulnerable. (Bankoff, 2003) As stated in Sendai Framework, vulnerability to natural disasters, urban poverty and risk drivers indicate for explanatory qualities in determining disaster risks in urban environment. Distinct socio-economic groups in urban environment have been also exposed to disaster risk relatively distinct. In Turkey, low income groups have been faced with the major negative impacts drastically. Referring to recent approaches in Turkey and international frameworks this paper aims to seek authentic definitions for social amplifications generated by/doubling up socio-economic drawbacks and vulnerabilities in urban transformation process of Istanbul.
Open Access
Social segregation in Athens’ metropolitan area in the pre-crisis period
(AESOP, 2017) Gripsiou, Argyro; Fotopoulou, Myrsini
This paper seeks to explore social segregation trends in Athens metropolitan area in the very first years of the economic crisis, and discuss the socio-spatial patterns of the metropolitan population, based on the 2011 statistical census data. The spatial aspect of social structures introduces a different dimension on social segregation trends, reflecting segregative outcomes of different socio-economic processes around the world. Varied and nuanced forms of social segregation present in various cities around the world, altering the way of measuring and evaluating the character of the progress. Nevertheless, a potential rise in social segregation depends upon certain mechanisms that allocate residential areas to different social groups (Maloutas, 2007). Hence, the contemporary economic crisis changes in turn the social impact of economic restructuring, and social segregation comes to terms with new realities. Up until the early 2000s Athens hadn’t undergone intense processes of socio-spatial division. Residential segregation in Athens remained relatively low by international standards before the outbreak of the economic crisis. During that period, the metropolitan area of Athens constituted a paradox paradigm of social segregation and social polarization, partially due to the spatial structure of the housing market and to the respective policy framework. Undoubtedly, eight years on since the outbreak of the crisis, the urban space of Athens has been exposed to the socially dividing effects of globalization, experiencing rising social inequalities, demographic changes, marginalization of lower income strata, reduction of social mobility, high unemployment rates, etc (Maloutas, 2007). Exploring the factors that contribute to the development of social segregation patterns in Athens and elsewhere, one should certainly identify social polarization. According to some authors (Sassen, 1991), social polarization is the key factor for the generation of such phenomena. However, various approaches of social segregation claim that the impact of globalization on cities is more complex and diverse than social polarization alone. Hence, it has been underlined that both the formation of socio-spatial structures and the distribution of social groups along residential areas constitute dynamic processes whose roots are identified not only at the economic restructuring process but also at several other factors of regulatory, social, and cultural origin (Préteceille, 1995; Hamnett, 1994; Maloutas, 2014; Marcuse and van Kempen,2002). Particularly in the case of Athens, the institutional and regulatory framework is considered to be the primary agent to define socio-spatial patterns. In this context, it is useful to draw attention to the particularity and the complexity of socio-spatial trends in the Greek capital city, and to approach social segregation as a dynamic and multifactorial phenomenon.
Open Access
Sports mega-events and urban legacies: the 2014 FIFA world cup, Brazil
(AESOP, 2017) Nobre, Eduardo A. C.
The idea of organising Sports Mega-Events had been defended by strategic urban planners as a way to attract considerable public and private resources to be invested in cities. In this respect, the city of Barcelona has been an outstanding example for the urban transformations as a result of the 1992 Olympic Games. The construction or renovation of ports, airports, public transportation and sports facilities, housing, hotels and tourism developments is regarded as the urban legacy of organising such mega-events. In October 2007, Brazil was chosen to organise the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Seemingly a natural vocation due to the country´s historic relationship with football, the competition to host this megaevent was related to the political project of its governors during a period of rapid economic growth and the emergence of the country on the world scenario. Between October 2007 and July 2014 a series of projects in infrastructure, mobility and stadia construction was carried out at a cost of ten billion dollars. The aim of this paper is to understand the main results of the World Cup interventions in Brazil, which were its main urban legacy and who were the winners and losers in this process.
Open Access
From macro-level policies to micro-level practices: changing global economic landscapes and proliferation of middle class gated communities in Mexico
(AESOP, 2017) Morales Garcia de Alba, Emma Regina
Gated Communities are a global phenomenon that has gained academic attention in the past three decades. The discussion about these fortified enclaves may have started in the United States of America (Blakely & Snyder, 1997; Marcuse, 1997; Davis, 1998; Low, 2001), but in the last decade, the debate has extended worldwide, particularly in contexts of large socio-economic disparities like Latin America. Gated Communities in countries like Mexico are no longer a “privilege” of the affluent classes but it has become a common choice for middle class groups. The conditions of insecurity, violence, and growing distance between socio-economic groups have normalised the presence of these enclaves to the point that municipal authorities, developers, financial institutions, and citizens, consider them as a desirable residential option for orderly urban development. The process of normalisation of gated communities in Mexico for the middle classes is not a simple matter of choice. On the contrary, the emergence and proliferation of gated communities can be linked to the policies promoted by global financial institutions. The proliferation of these large-scale enclaves for the middle classes could only happen in a context of neoliberal urbanism. Since the 1990s, national economic, housing, and urban development policies have aligned to global financial interests by deregulating planning, changing land tenure options, financialising housing development, and promoting a debt-driven economy (Zanetta, 2004). The “borderless world” of free market housing strategies is actually contributing to the creation of physical walls, fences, and gates segregating people by income. Segregation by design has become common in Mexico with tangible and intangible borders and the governance problems and tensions are already taking a toll. The growing inequality in the country is increasing strains between social groups fuelled by fear. Aspirations and anxieties are changing everyday practices decreasing shared spaces and increasing spending in security. The promised wall along the Mexican border by Trump is not that different from the walls separating poor neighbourhoods from middle class and high-income gated communities in most Mexican peripheries. The experience in Mexico where global economic policies have shaped modern peripheries can serve as an example to understand how trends are shaping political, economic, and spatial relations. European countries are known for urban development and housing policies that foster diversity, inclusion, multiculturalism, and sustainability. However, the current political context of fear, farright movements, and anti-immigrant groups might aim to promote divisive urban developments like those in Latin America. Learning from the proliferation of middle class gated communities in Mexico can provide some hints of the challenges and the risks of these sort of enclaves in terms of urban governance in the long term.
Open Access
Regional integration in ethnic and religious contexts: taking Germany and china as examples
(AESOP, 2017) Zhang, Zhaoxi
Recently, caused by the precarious situation ,a large quantity of refugee are facing a immigrant condition, which is one of the major city development problems in the European region. It also brings social, religious and cultural integration to receiving country, which will be a new challenge in the future urban planning. As we know , the effective regional development strategies to consider different religious and cultural backgrounds will benefit urban stability, harmony and diversification. So this paper will analyze the developmental experience of Germany and China, comparing the referential value of different regional integration strategy under the East and West context. Germany, for example, new status policy protects a large number of refugee camps in most cities, which also makes change to city resource allocation and facilities utilization , as well as urgent need of residential projects and new requirement constructions. Taking Germany as an example, we can see what kind of influence this "top-down" policy will give to city. Compared with China which is another political system, as a multiply nationality country, there is a long history about regional integration in China. Taking Xi'an Huimin Street as an example, to discuss the pros and cons of the "bottom-up" self-built development model.
Open Access
Green innovation areas as contested spaces? Investigating potentials and risks of revitalization schemes in shrinking cities
(AESOP, 2017) Pallagst, Karina; Hernandez, José Vargas; Hammer, Patricia
All over the world many cities are undergoing structural changes with symptoms of economic crises (Pallagst, et al 2013). In these postindustrial or ‘shrinking’ cities, the transformation of former brown field areas has left many large urban areas abandoned or vacant. When looking to revitalize these cities, substitute industries often play a major role (Pallagst, 2012; Harkavy and Zuckerman 1999). Previous research by the authors made clear that revitalization efforts often focus on green infrastructure, in particular utilizing vacant properties for commercial uses such as urban gardening, farming, or agriculture (Pallagst, 2013; Pallagst forthcoming). Vice versa vacant or abandoned urban areas offer both, the potential for a sustainable transformation of former polluted sites (Vargas-Hernández 2011), and for creating jobs in new emerging areas thus transforming the identities of places. The US city of Flint, one of the major cities caught in a long term spiral of economic decline and being governed under conditions of austerity, has brought about the urban planning category ‘green innovation areas’ in order to implement creative and innovative solutions in existing vacant spaces (Pallagst et al., forthcoming). Potential uses in these much debated areas are not fixed, but should explicitly be experimental and innovative. So far they might range from extensive greenhouse uses to less extensive clover fields, but their potential is not yet fully explored. The implementation of new and innovative modes of production in the urban realm is so far not represented in research for urban areas, in particular when development schemes like bioeconomy are considered. Here, issues and land use conflicts, often raised by civil society, might extend towards nuisance, over-exploitation of space, and rising land prices, leaving many open questions for urban research. This is exacerbated for instance in the Mexican realm, where, traditionally, in many areas public policies have been imported and imposed by external pressure without considering the local conditions, leading to high levels of influence of and power of economic and / or political interests and provoking serious conflicts. The joint German-Mexican research presented here aims at scrutinizing the use of vacant inner city spaces as green innovation areas – discussing their potentials and detecting possible risks for implementation in shrinking cities.