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Item Open Access Editorial Vol. 5 (2017) : Negotiating urban space Initiatives and innovations in spatial governance(AESOP, 2017) Shevah, DanaWhat is so special about the pair of words 'spatial planning'? Is there any difference when we just say 'planning', without adding the word spatial? After all, planning in its essence is spatially bounded. Planning thought and action are depended upon space, namely: cities, regions, metropolitan areas, neighborhoods, shanty-towns, streets, highways, roads, forests, nature reserves, and even the sea shores. Planning as a discipline and as a profession was developed as an integral part of modernity, which has created functional systems, such as planning, that operate according to technocratic principles, i.e., efficiency, bureaucracy, hierarchal chain of authority, which is a-personal and legitimate by the laws of the states (Bauman, 2002). For many decades, planning was motivated by efficiency and actions based on factual knowledge (Friedmann & Hudson, 1974). However, reality proves that scientific and allegedly 'objective' knowledge is incapable to ensure the desired outcomes, especially when social relations are involved (Davidoff, 1965; Morris, 1996).Item Open Access Rethinking the governance of household water supply in Bujumbura Analysing informality through a just city lens(AESOP, 2017) De Keijser, AnaïsIn her 2010 book, The Just City, Susan Fainstein evaluates justice in her case-study cities (Amsterdam, New York and London) though a three dimensional analysis of justice (Equity, Diversity and Democracy). Her approach, popular among Western scholars, cannot be replicated as such in disadvantaged cities such as Bujumbura because of the important processes happening outside the formal institutional and policy frameworks. The main claim of this article is that justice cannot be evaluated in such contexts without taking into consideration the informal. Through a multi-scalar analysis of informality in household water provision in Bujumbura, the article assesses the importance of informality on the different dimensions of Fainstein’s Just City concept. Informality has to be included in the considerations if the concept of the ‘Just City’ is used as the analytical lens through which to make policy recommendations. This analytical lens then enables us to evaluate justice in - and rethink the governance of - urban systems with high degrees of informality, such as that of household water provision in Bujumbura.Item Open Access Role of housing agencies in the future development of Serbia(AESOP, 2017) Antonić, BranislavWith the rise of neoliberal economy in Europe, decent urban housing has become unaffordable for many Europeans in recent decades. This has further produced socio-economic pressure on urban-policy makers across the continent. In post-socialist countries such as Serbia, neoliberal development has generally been merged with post-socialist transformation, making them more vulnerable to the deficiency of affordable housing. Moreover, Serbian housing has also been impacted by a distinct socialist housing model and a turbulent recent history. Therefore, housing planning and policy in Serbia cannot be simply prescribed from international level; it requires thoughtful adjustment to local conditions. It is unclear which institutional body had to be responsible for this complex process. The fall of socialism in the former Yugoslavia was marked by the collapse of old socialist-type housing agencies, known as the Housing Funds. New forms of housing agencies, developed to deal with still unregulated property issues in housing, old housing stock, and fragile housing market, have not achieved a wider significance. The aim of this research is to propose the role and basic organisation of future housing-related agencies in Serbia. It is done through the systematisation and analysis of Serbian housing with particular focus on governance and planning, as a premise for the model of housing agencies.Item Open Access Re-appropriating the city of crisis Activism and participation in the governance of public space in Madrid and Berlin(AESOP, 2017) Kränzle, ElinaUrban societies were greatly affected by the economic crisis in Europe and the politics of austerity that were imposed on them. Urban austerity regimes also turned public space, a common good, into a commodity. In the face of these developments citizen initiatives have produced public spaces alternative to hegemonic urban planning, alternative in their development process, their programme and values. This paper has the aim to analyse the material effects of the crisis on cities and the transformations the governance of public space has undergone. Case studies from Madrid and Berlin give insights into the paradigms of hegemonic urban development and the counter models of public spaces produced by citizen initiatives bottom-up. Theory on invited and irruptive participation and changing government attitudes as an analytic framework serve to break up the complexity of collaboration and counteraction between authorities and citizens in the governance of public spaces and shows the capacity of these spaces to re-politicise urban development models.Item Open Access Urban Trojan : Urban social innovations in Egypt between the hands of researchers, the community and public authorities(AESOP, 2017) Elazzazy, Mohamed; Zaazaa, AhmedThis paper introduces a new perspective to recognize the urban social innovation executed by researchers and initiators as "Urban Trojan" in the urban system. It analyses different approaches taken by researchers/initiators to overcome barriers between the public authorities, the community, and the initiators/researchers themselves to execute urban solutions to societal problems. The analysis adopts three approaches to deal with the public authorities presented by Jessy Marsh, the editor of the “Citizen-Driven Innovation” guidebook of good practice on open and participatory approaches to bring citizen-driven innovation to policy makers. This paper metaphorically titles Marsh’s approaches as: working in shadow, depending on a hero, and infiltrating through cracks. Considering these approaches, this paper analyses four different interventions in deprived areas in Egypt. The paper analyses the approach taken by each intervention to deal with the public authorities in relation to their effectiveness and sustainability. Its effectiveness in terms of dissolving boundaries between the different sectors and sustainability to reproduce or open the way for other initiatives to take place. This paper targets generally researchers who work in developing countries in which the system responsible for the urban development is rigid towards urban social innovations. On a local level, it targets Egyptian researchers and initiators concerned with the urban field.Item Open Access Self-organised urban space without profit : Four examples in Berlin(AESOP, 2017) Schwarz, Stephan; Sabatier-Schwarz, IngridThe following article explores the interdependency between urban crisis as a pre-condition for self-organised responses to it and self-organised projects that try to provide solutions for problems caused by the respective crisis. Berlin is taken as specific field of investigation as self-organisation is very much linked to its recent history and it therefore seems to be a very relevant case for this topic. The example of the International Building Exhibition 1984/1987 in Berlin (IBA 84/87) is studied as a historic reference to provide a framework for comparing more recent processes with a long-term experience since the late 1980’. Four recent examples of self-organised projects that aim to provide spaces without profit are presented with the focus on their creation processes. The article further explores the specific relationship between Berlins’ actual housing crisis and various forms of self-organised reactions to it. Finally, the research tries to explore possible impacts these projects might have on formal local planning structures in a long-term perspective.