Abstract
This paper presents a geographical perspective of the phenomena of housing activism and land-use conflicts per se. It focuses not only on their spatial manifestations, but also on the complexity of the perceived meanings, values, and the power relationships among the involved parties, rooting into activist geographies. The research methodology was based on two complementary methods: frame analysis to observe the emergence, sources of land-use conflicts, and nature of the relationships between the actors involved; and discourse analysis to explore the social interactions and power relations between structures and practices related to housing activism. For a more inclusive perspective on the sources of land-use conflicts and housing activism initiatives in Bucharest, we used a combination and triangulation of various sources and modes of data collection. Compared with other European cities with active civic engagement, this phenomenon is still emerging in Bucharest. Although conflicts are numerous, the civic initiatives are still fragmented and fail to generate a vision and implementable public policy. However, multiple assaults on urban spaces (green areas, historically protected areas) have resulted in more actions and actors (individual or organised) becoming civically engaged. The article contributes to the environmental debates that stress housing activism as a pathway to participatory planning initiatives.
Highlights
The sensitive problems related to the sustainable development of cities, high densification, continuous degradation of the living environment, and the urban sprawl process have triggered debates among the researchers in the field of social sciences
The research methodology was based on the complementarity of two methods: the frame analysis, following the approach of Shmueli [43], to observe the emergence, the sources of land-use conflicts, and the nature of the relations between the actors involved; and the discourse analysis (DA), which draws on the Foucauldian theory of power [44], to explore social interactions and power relations between structures and practices concerning the housing activism
This explains the inaccuracies generated by the urban planning challenges and city spatial planning, the updating of the master plans, and the compromise of the derogatory urbanism regulations on the one hand, and of the urban and economic growth and the need to find solutions for urban regeneration and sustainable development on the other hand [59,60]
Summary
The sensitive problems related to the sustainable development of cities, high densification, continuous degradation of the living environment, and the urban sprawl process have triggered debates among the researchers in the field of social sciences. The subject is topical and may be of great interest for all actors involved, as well as from the perspective of spatial effects The way these conflicts arise and develop in specific circumstances remains challenging to determine and to explain, as the existing literature does not provide a theoretical and empirical framework to grasp how land-use conflicts emerge, as well as their typology and particularities [1,2,3]. From the wide range of conflicts, special attention was paid to those associated with changes in the use of land or environmental conflicts; this is mainly because of the territoriality, especially to their geographical dimension, as these problems determine manifestations, stages, and consequences at a spatial level: land-use speculation, high-densification of urban areas, environmental issues, or loss of green spaces [4,5]. Land-use conflicts represent the effects of the dissatisfaction of one group or part of the community with the actions initiated or planned by another group, their neighbours, public authorities, or private investors [6,7,8]
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