Critical geographies of occupation, trespass and squatting

Abstract

At the heart of this Special Feature is a commitment to re-thinking the geographies of occupation, trespass and squatting. The interventions gathered below place particular emphasis on the importance of thinking with squatters, and how they, ultimately, seek to re-make the city on their own terms and with their own needs and desires in mind. At stake here, we argue, is a modest experimental form of ‘concept-work’ that is consonant with recent calls for a more fragmentary and open-ended approach to how we think about and inhabit cities. With this in mind, we offer three orientations that, in our view, advance and re-centre existing frameworks around urban occupation, trespass, and squatting: a critical historical perspective; an empirical focus on everyday geographies; and a theoretical lens that re-casts our understanding of spatial politics.