Social Movements in Cities

How social movements are rooted in specific places has been of interest to scholars of collective action, as well as geography and sociology generally. Social movements, in general, are characterized by the sustained mobilization of people sharing social or political aims. The characteristics of cities, as distinct from rural geographies, play a role in the development of urban social movements, offering concentrations and a diversity of people, resources, and power. Academic literature on the topic examines how cities are conducive to, or constrain, the development of social movements. Although the term urban social movement first appears in scholarly literature in 1972, cities have been key sites of contention at least since industrialization in the 1800s. Cities remained prominent throughout the rise of new social movements and transnational summit protests. In more recent decades, networked movements such as Occupy have renewed questions about inequalities and the right to the city. In short, cities are both a prominent focus and locus of contention. This bibliography focuses on academic literature on the city as the locus and focus of social movements, aiming to provide a selection rather than a comprehensive list. Other, not specifically urban aspects of transnational and domestic social movements are covered in other Oxford Bibliographies articles. This bibliography pays particular attention to works which impacted debates in the field, including contrasting perspectives, as well as diverse methodological approaches.

Urban social movements

The discussions permeate the municipal emancipation of Icoaraci, the current administrative district of Belém, capital of the state of Pará, and gain prominence due to its historical context, where there are several attempts that propel in this same direction, district emancipation. In this sense, the purpose of this work is to try to understand the discourses that promoted these movements, in order to examine the regionalist issue employed in them, together with the icoaraciense indemnity process. For this, a bibliographical and documentary research was carried out, also starting with digital media. There is a strong influence of the power groups present in the region, which end up shaping the regionalist and emancipationist discourse, selling them to the rest of the population.

Urban social movements in a small town: the case of “Aktywne Giżycko”

Studies about urban social movements in Poland concentrate on major cities like Warsaw or other big financial and educational centers. Out of 40 member organizations of the Congress of Urban Movements (as on 31 July 2018)[1], only 2 come from a town of the population under 50 thousand[2]. Small provincial towns experiencing depopulation caused by strong emigration to metropolises have another notion of their “right to the city” feelings. This article examines the case of Aktywne Giżycko (Active Giżycko), an association from a 30 thousand Masurian town. It aims to answer the question why this “right to the city” organization emerged in a small town, while in Poland it is still mainly domain of big agglomerations. The investigation was based on a 3-year long research comprising biographical interviews, participating observations, archive studies and local press surveys.

Placing LGBTQ+ urban activisms

This article introduces the special issue on placing LGBTQ+ urban activisms. It argues that place provides a vital framework for considering a more decentred and transversal representation of such activisms, creating potential for the consideration of smaller and more peripheral locations and alternative visions of the more familiar and iconic cities that have been centres of LGBTQ+ urban social movements in the global North. While inspired by the anti-colonial, subaltern and feminist ethos of what Derickson terms ‘Urbanisation 2’, the article makes the case for adopting a middle ground – Urbanisation 1.5 – based in material realities that shape both the practice and inquiry into contemporary LGBTQ+ urban activisms. It begins by reviewing and dismantling established histories and theories of LGBTQ+ urban activisms, queerly calling into question the employment of urban theories that emphasise spatial hierarchies and linear temporality. Next, the article proposes alternatives, suggesting a shift towards recognising the contingencies and multiplicities that come together in and across urban places. The third section emphasises the critical continuities and ordinary entanglements involved in remembering, being and doing urban LGBTQ+ activisms in place. It concludes by encouraging the employment of elsewhere and otherwise as a critical urban strategy for igniting further inquiry into the politics of LGBTQ+ activisms in urban studies.

MORADIA NO SÉCULO XXI: ativo financeiro ou direito social?

O presente ensaio tem como objetivo analisar o aprofundamento da mercantilização do direito à moradia, sob a hegemonia neoliberal. A metodologia empregada envolve uma extensa revisão de literatura com vistas a contribuir com os estudos sobre a urbanização, movimentos sociais urbanos, direito à cidade e à moradia digna. Na primeira seção, o texto trata do processo de urbanização sob o capitalismo. Na segunda seção, aborda as lutas promovidas no âmbito jurídico pelos movimentos sociais brasileiros que construíram a moradia como um direito humano social. Na terceira seção, apresentauma reflexão sobre a financeirização da moradia. Conclui que o aprofundamento da financeirização da moradia representa o novo paradigma da urbanização capitalista a ser superado pelos movimentos sociais, para que o Estado possa atuar no sentido de garantir a moradia como um direito social.Palavras-chave: Urbanização. Direito à moradia. Neoliberalismo.HOUSING IN THE 21th CENTURY? Financial asset or social right?AbstractThe present essay aims to analyze the deepening of the commodification of the right to housing, under neoliberal hegemony. The methodology involves an extensive literature review that approach the proposed theme intending to contribute to studies on urbanization, urban social movements, right to the city and right to housing. In the first section, the text seeks to reflect on the process of urbanization under capitalism. In the second, brings to reflect on the struggles promoted in the legal sphere by the Brazilian social movements that built housing as a social human right. In the third, the text presents a reflection on the financialization of housing. It concludes that the deepening of the financialization of housing represents the new paradigm of capitalist urbanization to be overcome by social movements, so that the State can act in the sense of guaranteeing housing as a social right.Keywords: Urbanization. Right to housing. Neoliberalism.

INVENTING URBANITY: URBAN MOVEMENTS IN POLAND

The article discusses the process of formation and transformation of urban movements in Poland. Conclusions are based on the data collected during the research project “Urban Social Movements in Poland” supported by the National Science Centre. For the requirements of the project was adopted a method of qualitative research using the techniques of in-depth narrative interviews, participant observations and secondary data analysis. The author conducted 30 in-depth interviews with leaders of urban movements from sixteen cities. The article describes the process of structuralization and the creation of the identity of the Polish urban movement and their role on the local political stage, stressing, in particular, their significant role as creators of a new discourse in Polish cities.