Republicanism on the borders: Jewish activism and the refugee crisis in Strasbourg and Nice

Urban History ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
MEREDITH L. SCOTT-WEAVER
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Community Activism ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Flexible Networks ◽  
The City

ABSTRACT:This case-study of Jewish activism in Strasbourg and Nice, interwar urban locales situated along the frontiers with National Socialist Germany and fascist Italy, respectively, examines critical facets of Jewish advocacy during the refugee crisis of the 1930s. It focuses on how urban spaces engendered dense thickets of community activism unlike that which took place in Paris. Whereas friction and ineffectiveness characterized aid efforts in Paris, these cities offer alternative views on the nature of the refugee crisis in France and the ways that Jews overcame obstacles to help asylum-seekers. It advances much-needed discourse on the complexity of French Jewish experiences during the interwar years and highlights the city as both location and a conduit for diverse activist strategies. Although circumstances varied in Strasbourg and Nice, Jews in these two borderland cities followed similar patterns of engaging urban civil society to build flexible networks that addressed the plight of refugees from multiple angles.

scholarly journals Social Media in and Around a Temporary Large-Scale Refugee Shelter in the Netherlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110249
Author(s):  
Peer Smets ◽  
Younes Younes ◽  
Marinka Dohmen ◽  
Kees Boersma ◽  
Lenie Brouwer
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Top Down ◽  
And Migration

During the 2015 refugee crisis in Europe, temporary refugee shelters arose in the Netherlands to shelter the large influx of asylum seekers. The largest shelter was located in the eastern part of the country. This shelter, where tents housed nearly 3,000 asylum seekers, was managed with a firm top-down approach. However, many residents of the shelter—mainly Syrians and Eritreans—developed horizontal relations with the local receiving society, using social media to establish contact and exchange services and goods. This case study shows how various types of crisis communication played a role and how the different worlds came together. Connectivity is discussed in relation to inclusion, based on resilient (non-)humanitarian approaches that link society with social media. Moreover, we argue that the refugee crisis can be better understood by looking through the lens of connectivity, practices, and migration infrastructure instead of focusing only on state policies.

Transmedia Journalism and the City

2018 ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Renira Rampazzo Gambarato
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Participatory Culture ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The City ◽  
Alternative Solutions

This chapter discusses the participatory flair of transmedia journalism within the concreteness of urban spaces by examining The Great British Property Scandal (TGBPS), a transmedia experience designed to inform and engage the public and offer alternative solutions to the long-standing housing crisis in the United Kingdom. The theoretical framework is centered on transmedia storytelling applied to journalism in the scope of urban spaces and participatory culture. The methodological approach of the case study is based on Gambarato's (2013) transmedia analytical model and applied to TGBPS to depict how transmedia strategies within urban spaces collaborated to influence social change. TGBPS is a pertinent example of transmedia journalism within the liquid society, integrating mobile technologies into daily processes with the potential for enhanced localness, customization, and mobility within the urban fabric.

scholarly journals Supporting Children’s Independent Activities in Smart and Playable Public Places

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8352
Author(s):  
Chiara Garau ◽  
Alfonso Annunziata
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Historic Center ◽  
Physical Attributes ◽  
Process Of Urbanization ◽  
The City

The global process of urbanization, and the modification of social interaction determined by the pandemic crisis, poses the issue of the place of vulnerable users and, in particular, children, within the contemporary city. This research aimed to elaborate a theoretical and methodological framework, based on the concepts of affordance and capability, for analyzing the potential of public spaces to enable and support children’s independent activities. This potential, or meaningful usefulness, is expressed by the Index of Meaningful Usefulness of public Urban Spaces (IUIS). The latter is calculated via the tool ‘Opportunities for Children in Urban Spaces’ (OCUS). This methodology is applied to the analysis of significant public spaces within the historic center of the city of Iglesias in Sardinia, Italy. The results reveal adequate usefulness of the selected spaces, while underlining criticalities related to intrinsic spatial and physical attributes. The application to the case study confirms the validity of the theoretical and methodological framework embodied in the OCUS tool for supporting urban design and planning by orienting place-shaping processes towards the acknowledgement of children’s needs.

scholarly journals Supporting Children’s Independent Activities in Smart and Playable Public Places

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Garau ◽  
Alfonso Annunziata
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Historic Center ◽  
Physical Attributes ◽  
Process Of Urbanization ◽  
The City

The global process of urbanization, and the modification of social interaction determined by the pandemic crisis poses the issue of the place of vulnerable users, and in particular children, within the contemporary city. This research aims to elaborate a theoretical and methodological framework, based on the concepts of affordance and capability, for analyzing the potential of public spaces to enable and support children’s independent activities. This potential, or meaningful usefulness, is expressed by the Index of Meaningful Usefulness of public Urban Spaces (IUIS). The latter is calculated via the tool ‘Opportunities for Children in Urban Spaces’ (OCUS). This methodology is applied to the analysis of significant public spaces within the historic center of the city of Iglesias in Sardinia, Italy. The results reveal adequate usefulness of the selected spaces, while underlining criticalities related to intrinsic spatial and physical attributes. The application to the case study confirms the validity of the theoretical and methodological framework embodied in the OCUS tool for supporting urban design and planning by orienting place-shaping processes towards the acknowledgement of children’s needs.

scholarly journals Laneway redevelopment programs : a case study review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Marie Oldhall
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
North America ◽  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
The City

The revitalization of formerly dark, dirty and often uninviting urban spaces is occurring across many cities throughout North America. This is because the hundreds of kilometers of laneways located behind buildings to be viewed as significant semi-public spaces and are being redeveloped into active spaces that can play a role in improving the state of the natural environment. The City of Toronto has a vast laneway system that is not being utilized to its full potential. This report attempts to demonstrate this point and suggests that there is an opportunity for recreating these laneways into vibrant spaces that support the natural environment while maintaining their primary functions as light vehicular thoroughfares and access points for homes and businesses. Through the examination of nine laneway redevelopment programs and projects this report highlights the successful techniques being implemented within these laneways and emphasizes the significant lessons that can be learned. Finally, each lesson learned is review, and recommendations are given on how the City of Toronto can potentially address each point if attempting to implement its own laneway redevelopment program. Among a host of recommendations, this includes the need to promote laneway redevelopment through a change to the City's existing land use planning policies; the development of laneway design guidelines; and, the implementation of a dynamic funding system.

scholarly journals Enhancing Urban Encounters: The Transformative Powers of Creative Integration Initiatives

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anniken Førde
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Positive Potential ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
The North ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The City

Sustainable cites require the capacity to live with difference. In a world of increased mobility and migration, our cities become more and more diversified. While national discourses on diversity are often problem-focused, social initiatives are emerging in diverse cities addressing the positive potential of the city as a cross-cultural meeting place. In Norway, such initiatives have increased in number since “the refugee crisis” in 2015, and we see creative approaches arising from civil society, the voluntary sector, private companies, and local governments aiming to facilitate encounters with difference. This article explores innovative integration initiatives in cities in the north, emphasizing how difference might be negotiated, engendering new forms of engagement and responsibility. Cities are seen as sites of experiments, where new relations across difference are developed. Framing encounters as emergent, transitory, fragile, yet hopeful, we discuss the transformative powers of such initiatives for planning in diverse cities.

scholarly journals Informal Food Deserts and Household Food Insecurity in Windhoek, Namibia

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Crush ◽  
Ndeyapo Nickanor ◽  
Lawrence Kazembe
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food Deserts ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
African Cities ◽  
Open Markets ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Informal settlements in rapidly-growing African cities are urban and peri-urban spaces with high rates of formal unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited service provision, and chronic food insecurity. Traditional concepts of food deserts developed to describe North American and European cities do not accurately capture the realities of food inaccessibility in Africa’s urban informal food deserts. This paper focuses on a case study of informal settlements in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, to shed further light on the relationship between informality and food deserts in African cities. The data for the paper was collected in a 2016 survey and uses a sub-sample of households living in shack housing in three informal settlements in the city. Using various standard measures, the paper reveals that the informal settlements are spaces of extremely high food insecurity. They are not, however, food deprived. The proximity of supermarkets and open markets, and a vibrant informal food sector, all make food available. The problem is one of accessibility. Households are unable to access food in sufficient quantity, quality, variety, and with sufficient regularity.

Políticas Públicas de Juventude: estudo de caso do Programa Casas das Juventudes - PE

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Jenifer Maria Miranda de Sousa Pinheiro ◽  
Rubén Oscar Pecchio Vergara ◽  
Mariana Bezerra Lyra ◽  
Ana Karina Araújo de Moraes
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
City Government ◽  
Territorial Development ◽  
Youth Program ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

RESUMO: Este artigo apresenta informações sobre os desafios e aprendizagens da implementação de Políticas Públicas de Juventude (PPJs) a luz do estudo de caso do Programa Casa das Juventudes de Pernambuco. Para uma melhor compreensão, aborda: um breve histórico do marco legal das PPJs no Estado de Pernambuco, e um pequeno diagnóstico da realidade dos jovens pernambucanos. Em seguida, apresenta o Programa Casa das Juventudes, a sua proposta de intervenção no território, sua relação com o poder municipal e com a sociedade civil. E por fim, faz uma análise dos desafios e oportunidades para avançar no desenvolvimento territorial das PPJs com qualidade. Palavras-chave: juventude, políticas públicas de juventude, programa casa das juventudes. ABSTRACT: This article presents information on the challenges and lessons learned from the implementation of Public Youth Policies (PYPs) the light of the case study of the Program Youth Houses of Pernambuco. For a better understanding, it covers: a brief history of the legal framework of PYPs in the state of Pernambuco, and a small diagnosis of the reality of young Pernambuco. It then presents the Program of the Youth Houses, its proposal of intervention in the territory, its relationship with the city government and civil society. Finally, we provide an analysis of the challenges and opportunities to foster the territorial development of PYPs quality. Keywords:  youth, public policies of youth, houses of youth program.

Von der Großstadtfeindschaft zum Nazikiez? Warum ein urbaner Populismus von rechts eine reelle Gefahr ist

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 609-628
Author(s):  
Peter Bescherer
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
City Life ◽  
Urban Security ◽  
East German ◽  
The Right ◽  
A Site ◽  
The City

Zusammenfassung Die reaktionären Bewegungen der Vergangenheit verteufelten das vermeintlich sündhafte, wurzellose und degenerierte Leben in der Großstadt und glorifizierten die Genügsamkeit und Fruchtbarkeit des ‚Bauernstandes‘. Zwar waren städtische Räume immer auch der Ort rechter Hegemoniebestrebungen, die von der Monumentalarchitektur der Nazis bis hin zu den ‚national befreiten Zonen‘ der NPD reichten. Die Stadt war aber in der Regel nicht ihr Thema. Mit der Krise der liberalen Demokratie droht sich das Politikfeld Stadt für die Rechte zu öffnen. Der Aufsatz illustriert anhand der Wohnungsfrage und der Sicherheitspolitik, wie Stadtentwicklung eine populistische Lücke hinterlässt, in die rechte Parteien und Bewegungen hineindrängen (können). Anhand eines Falls aus der empirischen Forschung wird darüber hinaus diskutiert, wie sich politische Nachfrage und rechtspopulistisches Angebot zueinander verhalten. Abstract: From Anti-Urbanism to Urban Populism? The Upcoming Danger of an Urban-Based Radical Right Reactionary movements of the past demonized city life for nurturing dissolute, rootless and degenerated habits. On the contrary, they praised the frugality and fertility of rural people. The city has always been a site of hegemonic politics by the radical right, ranging from National-Socialist architecture to no-go areas established by neo-Nazis in East German towns after the reunification. It has, however, usually not been a matter of rightist politics. The crisis of liberal democracy, that came about the last years, runs the risk of providing the radical right with access to urban development. By analyzing issues on the housing market and in urban security politics the paper points out a ‘populist gap’ in urban development that could be filled by the right. Furthermore, an empirical case study reveals tensions between the demand site and supply side of urban populism.

Norwegian Asylum Policy and Response to the 2015 Refugee Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-406
Author(s):  
Sumbul Parveen
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Asylum Policy

In recent years, Norway has emerged as an important destination of asylum for refugees. During the refugee crisis of 2015, Norway, with a total population of slightly above 5 million, received more than 31,000 applications for asylum. This was close to the total number of asylum seekers it had received in the last three years. This article discusses Norway’s history as an asylum destination as well as policies for the protection and integration of refugees. It focuses on how the refugee crisis of 2015 unfolded in Norway. The domestic political discourse and the response of civil society organizations are analysed. The article also looks at the changes introduced in the asylum policy and the role of the European Union in determining Norway’s response to the crisis.

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