Housing Commons vs. State Spatial Policies of Refugee Camps in Athens and Thessaloniki

Since the European Union’s agreement with Turkey on March 18, 2016, more than 70,000 refugees have been trapped in Greece. Most have been settled in state-run camps on the perimeters of Athens and Thessaloniki. However, these state-run camps do not meet international standards and are located at significant distances from urban centres, within industrial zones where residential use is not permitted. At the same time, a number of self-organized and collective refugee housing projects have been created within the urban fabric of Athens and Thessaloniki. In the context of these projects, refugees develop forms of solidarity, mutual help, and direct democracy in decision-making processes. There is a significant volume of bibliography which studies the NGOs’ activities and state migration policies. However, little attention has been given to the various ways by which refugees create self-managed and participatory structures to meet their needs. This article aims to fill the gap in the research concerning the production of housing common spaces by the refugees themselves. Based on the current discussions on the Lefebvrian ‘right to the city’ and the spatialities of ‘commons’ and ‘enclosures,’ the article aims to compare and contrast refugee housing commons with state-run refugee camps. Using qualitative methods, including ethnographic analysis and participatory observation, the main findings show that refugees attempt not only to contest state migration policies but also negotiate their multiple identities. Consequently, refugees collectively attempt to reinvent a culture of togetherness, to create housing common spaces, and to claim the right to the city.

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Acts for Refugees’ Right to the City and Commoning Practices of Care-tizenship in Athens, Mytilene and Thessaloniki

Social Inclusion ◽

10.17645/si.v7i4.2332 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 119-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Charalampos Tsavdaroglou ◽

Chrisa Giannopoulou ◽

Chryssanthi Petropoulou ◽

Ilias Pistikos

Keyword(s):

Aegean Sea ◽

The State ◽

Right To The City ◽

Military Bases ◽

Mutual Help ◽

Spatial Justice ◽

Housing Projects ◽

Work Health ◽

The Right ◽

The City

During the recent refugee crisis, numerous solidarity initiatives emerged in Greece and especially in Mytilene, Athens and Thessaloniki. Mytilene is the capital of Lesvos Island and the main entry point in the East Aegean Sea, Athens is the main refugee transit city and Thessaloniki is the biggest city close to the northern borders. After the EU–Turkey Common Statement, the Balkan countries sealed their borders and thousands of refugees found themselves stranded in Greece. The State accommodation policy provides the majority of the refugee population with residency in inappropriate camps which are mainly located in isolated old military bases and abandoned factories. The article contrasts the State-run services to the solidarity acts of “care-tizenship” and commoning practices such as self-organised refugee housing projects, which claim the right to the city and to spatial justice. Specifically, the article is inspired by the Lefebvrian “right to the city,” which embraces the right to housing, education, work, health and challenges the concept of citizen. Echoing Lefebvrian analysis, citizenship is not demarcated by membership in a nation-state, rather, it concerns all the residents of the city. The article discusses the academic literature on critical citizenship studies and especially the so-called “care-tizenship,” meaning the grassroots commoning practices that are based on caring relationships and mutual help for social rights. Following participatory ethnographic research, the main findings highlight that the acts of care-tizenship have opened up new possibilities to challenge State migration policies while reinventing a culture of togetherness and negotiating locals’ and refugees’ multiple class, gender, and religious identities.

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Reimagining a Transnational Right to the City: No Border Actions and Commoning Practices in Thessaloniki

Social Inclusion ◽

10.17645/si.v7i2.1973 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 219-229 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Charalampos Tsavdaroglou

Keyword(s):

Direct Democracy ◽

Border Region ◽

Right To The City ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

Northern Greece ◽

Mutual Help ◽

Important Field ◽

The Right ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Although there is extensive literature on State migration policies and NGO activities, there are few studies on the common struggles between refugees and local activists. This article aims to fill this research gap by focusing on the impact of the transnational No Border camp that took place in Thessaloniki in 2016. The border region of northern Greece, with its capital Thessaloniki, is at the heart of the so-called refugee crisis and it is marked by a large number of solidarity initiatives. After the sealing of the “Balkan corridor”, the Greek State relocated thousands of refugees into isolated and inappropriate camps on the outskirts of Thessaloniki. Numerous local and international initiatives, with the participation of refugees from the camps, self-organized a transnational No Border camp in the city center that challenged State policies. By claiming the right to the city, activists from all over Europe, together with refugees, built direct-democratic assemblies and organized a multitude of direct actions, demonstrations, and squats that marked the city’s social body with spatial disobedience and transnational commoning practices. Here, activism emerges as an important field of research and this article aims to contribute to activists’ literature on migration studies after 2015. The article is based on militant research and inspired by the Lefebvrian right to the city, the autonomy of migration, and common space approaches. The right to the city refers to the rights to freedom, socialization, and habitation, but also to the right to reinvent and change the city. It was recently enhanced by approaches on common spaces and the way these highlight the production of spaces based on solidarity, mutual help, common care, and direct democracy. The main findings of this study point to how the struggle of migrants when crossing physical and social borders inspires local solidarity movements for global networking and opens up new possibilities to reimagine and reinvent transnational common spaces.

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Citizenship at the Margins: Exploring Participation as ‘Right to the City’ in Vizhinjam, Kerala

Urbanisation ◽

10.1177/2455747119892347 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 77-93

Author(s):

Aarathi Ganga

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Human Development ◽

Local Governments ◽

Right To The City ◽

Fishing Community ◽

Urban Citizenship ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

The Right ◽

National Governments ◽

The City

This article explores the nature of urban citizenship among fishers in Kerala, one of the state’s most marginalised communities, by analysing their participation in a centrally sponsored slum rehabilitation programme—Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY)—in Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram. The ‘right to participate’ is considered an integral part of the ‘right to the city’, and the inability of the fishing community to participate in the decision-making processes of urban development programmes that directly affect their lives reveals the exclusionary nature of their citizenship. In a state that is renowned for its achievements in human development and governance, the fishing community continues to be marginalised and lack collective power to influence policies. Participatory meetings in such contexts become tokenistic, and their transformative capacity is undermined. The inefficiency of participatory meetings organised under RAY also stems from the powerlessness of local governments to alter urban programmes designed by national governments.

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The Refugees’ Right to the Center of the City and Spatial Justice: Gentrification vs Commoning Practices in Tarlabaşı-Istanbul

Urban Planning ◽

10.17645/up.v5i3.3098 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 230-240 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Charalampos Tsavdaroglou

Keyword(s):

Right To The City ◽

The European Union ◽

Mutual Help ◽

Spatial Justice ◽

Urban Core ◽

International Solidarity ◽

The Right ◽

Urban Commons ◽

The City ◽

Urban Conflict

During the recent refugee crisis and following the common statement-agreement between the European Union and Turkey (18 March 2016), more than half a million refugees have been trapped in Istanbul. Although the vast majority is living in remote areas in the perimeter of the city, there is a remarkable exception in the central neighborhood of Tarlabaşı. Over the decades, this area has become a shelter for newcomers from eastern Turkey and, recently, for thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa. In this neighborhood, refugees with the support of local and international solidarity groups establish communal houses, social centers, and collective kitchens, creating an example of commoning practices, mutual help, and transnational togetherness in the urban core. At the same time, over the past few years, Tarlabaşı has been the target of gentrification policies that aim to dislocate poor residents and refugees and to transform the area into a highincome residential area and a tourist destination. Thus, ongoing urban conflict is taking place for the right to the center of the city. This article follows the Lefebvrian concept of ‘the right to the city’ and Soja’s and Harvey’s notion of ‘spatial justice,’ taking also into account the discussion on the spatialities of ‘urban commons’ and ‘enclosures.’ It combines spatial analysis, participatory observation, and ethnographic research, and its main findings concern the refugees’ daily efforts against social segregation and exclusion shaped by commoning practices for spatial justice, visibility, and the right to the center of the city.

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The Right to the City and the Urban Environment: Re-Imagining Section 24 of the 1996 Constitution

Southern African Public Law ◽

10.25159/2522-6800/3624 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 175-193

Author(s):

Marius Pieterse

Keyword(s):

Urban Environment ◽

Right To The City ◽

The Right ◽

The City

Article

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A utopia do direito à cidade: Possibilidades de superação da dicotomia favela-bairro no Rio de Janeiro

GEOgraphia ◽

10.22409/geographia2005.714.a13491 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 7 (14) ◽

Author(s):

Márcio Piñon de Oliveira

Keyword(s):

Rio De Janeiro ◽

The Other ◽

Right To The City ◽

Other Hand ◽

The Right ◽

The City

A utopia do direito à cidade, no caso específico do Rio de Janeiro, começa, obrigatoriamente, pela superação da visão dicotômica favela-cidade. Para isso, é preciso que os moradores da favela possam sentir-se tão cidadãos quanto os que têm moradias fora das favelas. A utopia do direito à cidade tem de levar a favela a própria utopia da cidade. Uma cidade que não se fragmente em oposições asfalto-favela, norte-sul, praia-subúrbio e onde todos tenham direito ao(s) seu(s) centro(s). Oposições que expressam muito mais do que diferenças de localização e que se apresentam recheadas de segregação, estereótipos e ideologias. Por outro lado, o direito a cidade, como possibilidade histórica, não pode ser pensado exclusivamente a partir da favela. Mas as populações que aí habitam guardam uma contribuição inestimável para a construção prática desse direito. Isso porque, das experiências vividas, emergem aprendizados e frutificam esperanças e soluções. Para que a favela seja pólo de um desejo que impulsione a busca do direito a cidade, é necessário que ela se pense como parte da história da própria cidade e sua transformação em metrópole.Abstract The right to the city's utopy specifically in Rio de Janeiro, begins by surpassing the dichotomy approach between favela and the city. For this purpose, it is necessary, for the favela dwellers, the feeling of citizens as well as those with home outside the favelas. The right to the city's utopy must bring to the favela the utopy to the city in itself- a non-fragmented city in terms of oppositions like "asphalt"-favela, north-south, beach-suburb and where everybody has right to their center(s). These oppositions express much more the differences of location and present themselves full of segregation, stereotypes and ideologies. On the other hand, the right to the city, as historical possibility, can not be thought just from the favela. People that live there have a contribution for a practical construction of this right.

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