Spatial Exclusion Research Articles

Social inequalities and spatial exclusion in Italian and Canadian metropolis: a challenge for citizenship

The aim of this paper is a preliminary consideration, from a geographical perspective, about the increase of inequalities in Canada and Italy. We would like to highlight the spatial dimensions of this phenomenon within the urban environment and its consequences for citizenship, in particular in two metropolises, Montreal and Milan. The analysis of the Italian and the Canadian cases shows that there are signs and boundaries that are becoming very visible in the urban environment. These signs and boundaries confer to spatial exclusion an unprecedented dimension, nourishing and strengthening inequalities. To contrast and prevent these problems, it is necessary to implement common medium-long term strategies, coordinate all territorial actors and resort to public and private partnerships.

Coinciding practices of exception in urban development: mega-events and special economic zones in Tbilisi, Georgia

ABSTRACT Since the 1960s, both mega-events and special economic zones have gained global prominence as agents of urban development. Often relying on extra-legal measures for their realization, these two initiatives further create areas of spatial exclusion in cities. This paper examines their coming together in Tbilisi, Georgia, where costs for the city’s hosting of the 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival were defrayed by the company Hualing Group in exchange for government approval of a 420-hectare special economic zone. Using a qualitative mixed-methods approach, the research shows that combining mega-events with special economic zones poses significant threats to the democratic processes tied to urban planning at both the local and national level. It further demonstrates how the coinciding of such projects promotes sprawl and privately-enclaved urban development patterns. In relation to urban theory, the paper contributes to a growing body of literature examining exceptionality in cities, and looking at how mega-events serve as legitimizing devices for even wider practices of long-term spatial and legal exception, such as special economic zones.

Between Abjection and World-Making: Spatial Dynamics in the Lives of Indonesian Waria

Abstract The lives of Indonesian waria (transgender women) are substantially shaped by spatial dynamics. As a result of social and spatial exclusion, subsequent migration and economic needs, a lifestyle pattern around daily work in beauty salons and street nightlife tied to transactional sex has evolved in many parts of urban Indonesia. Drawing on ethnographic research in the Indonesian regions of Java and West Papua, I demonstrate that despite tremendous spatial abjection, salons and street nightlife are also productive, transformative and conjoining spatialities that foster waria subjectivity in affective relations with their intimate partners, the community, the phantasmic promise of the transnational mediascape and Indonesia as a nation. The places that waria occupy may spark moral prejudice and targeted violence, but simultaneously they are sites of agency at which waria experience self-affirmation and a sense of belonging while embodying through gendered performance the envisioned mobility at both national and transnational scales. The paper thus foregrounds how spaces and subjectivities are mutually constitutive, forging one another, as well as how certain spatialities hold potential to disrupt the sense of marginality.

Collective Property Rights and Social Citizenship: Recent Trends in Urban Latin America

This article argues that efforts to implement collective property ownership via community land trusts (CLTs) in Latin America can be seen as a viable means for reducing socio-spatial inequalities, strengthening the urban poor’s ‘right to the city,’ and enabling more substantive social citizenship. It begins by arguing that, in Latin America, market models intended to strengthen individual property rights can increase urban inequality and spatial exclusion. It then examines recent measures undertaken to reverse the negative impacts of these patterns, focusing explicitly on the adoption of CLTs and how they serve as a means for strengthening urban citizenship. After highlighting the fact that CLTs have proliferated in the US and Europe but not Latin America, we explain how and why a few Latin American countries have nonetheless embraced CLTs. Building on deeper analysis of two cases in the region, Puerto Rico and Brazil, we show that despite the legal and governance constraints of Latin American cities, CLTs can materialise when local authorities join with citizens to embrace these models.

Fragmentation or Diversification? Ethnoracial Change and the Social and Economic Heterogeneity of Places.

Our study investigates the diversification and fragmentation theses, fueled by claims that greater diversity is reshaping the social fabric of American life and that the United States is an increasingly fragmented nation. We take a multidimensional view of heterogeneity that considers whether growing ethnoracial diversity within U.S. communities (i.e., incorporated and unincorporated places) has resulted in the consolidation or differentiation of demographic, sociocultural, and economic distinctions between 1980 and 2010. As communities have become more ethnoracially diverse, they have become more heterogeneous in language and nativity-two characteristics tied closely to Latino and Asian population growth. However, ethnoracial diversity within communities is only weakly associated with household, age, educational, occupational, or income heterogeneity despite large racial/ethnic differences in these characteristics nationally. This trend does not apply to all forms of ethnoracial diversity equally: Hispanic and especially Asian population growth is more likely to generate community sociodemographic and economic heterogeneity than is black population growth. Consistent with the fragmentation hypothesis, we also find that broader geographic context matters, with more ethnoracially diverse metropolitan and micropolitan areas experiencing reduced social and economic heterogeneity inside their constituent places. We conclude by discussing the social implications of these patterns for intergroup relations, spatial exclusion, and ethnoracial inequality.

Self-reliance as a Concept and a Spatial Practice for Urban Refugees: Reflections from Delhi, India

AbstractIn India, urban refugees sit within a legal vacuum and often struggle to make ends meet in the socio-economic periphery. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its implementing partners have focused on supporting refugees to achieve a level of self-reliance, primarily through market-based livelihood interventions. However, refugee lives in India’s cities continue to be characterized by economic insecurity, exploitation and marginalization. This article explores the limitations of a market-orientated approach to fostering refugee self-reliance in the context of Delhi and departs from the burgeoning literature on refugee self-reliance by examining it from a spatial perspective. Building on recent work in political geography, the article highlights historic and ongoing practices of spatial exclusion of refugees and other poor migrant groups in India’s capital city, as well as a diverse range of (non-economic) social networks and activities that have emerged as safety nets. We argue that, in addition to livelihoods, humanitarian actors must also explore non-economic initiatives that might contribute to refugee self-reliance and, importantly, must pay more attention to how the urban environment both delimits and enables these activities.

Mémoire transculturelle et discours multimodaux sur la migration -une analyse exploratoire de l’exemple de la «Jungle» de Calais

Recent trends in patterns of mobility, and specifically the spatial exclusion of exiles into detention centers and camps, point to an urgent need to re-examine different forms of narratives on migration and exile, and to the representation of transcultural memory in these settings. The article presents a qualitative and exploratory analysis of the visual and linguistic representation of the orthodox church in the Calais “Jungle”. The findings suggest that the representation of the church contributes to the construction of a collective memory, and that recurrent linguistic and visual formulae, or topoï, such as shared traditions and respect for the sacred, contribute to the commemorative function of the texts and images that represent the church. In addition, the analyses indicate that the commemorative function of the church contributes to the development of innovative modes of contestation and solidarity with the exiles. 

Trading places: Inclusive cities and market vending in the Pacific Islands

Rapid population growth in Pacific island cities far exceeds employment opportunities and is contributing to rising urban inequality and social exclusions. Livelihoods in the informal urban sector, such as market vending, provide much needed income, rural–urban connectivity and food security, but remain largely excluded from policy and planning frameworks. Spatial, economic and social exclusions limit vendors’ economic advancement, their influence over decision‐making, and their access to basic services. Local communities close to informal markets fill some of the gaps left by the policy neglect, but investment and strategic management remains inadequate when vendors do not have secure market places and recognised rights to work. This article reports on a study of three informal markets in Honiara, Solomon Islands. These markets lack legal status but make significant contributions to urban development and economic opportunities. Drawing on surveys and focus groups with vendors and urban decision‐makers we explore the impact of informal markets on urban economies, how social and institutional relationships hinder vendors’ economic advancement, and the opportunities to create more inclusive livelihoods that could contribute to equitable cities.

Urban planning, exclusion and negotiation in an informal subdivision: the case of Bombay Hotel, Ahmedabad

Urban planning as conceptualised and practiced in the global South has enacted inequitable distribution of resources, produced social and spatial exclusions and denied substantive citizenship to low-income groups. This article examines urban planning as one of the key drivers of exclusion and conflict by unpacking the ways in which it has produced layers of informalities over the years in Bombay Hotel, a low-income Muslim locality in Ahmedabad. A key planning instrument implicated in these processes in recent years is the Town Planning Scheme (TPS), a land pooling and readjustment mechanism portrayed nationally and internationally by the government as an example of best practice. The article also interrogates political processes, their interface with the TPS implementation in the locality, and the outcomes of these interactions. The article ends by reflecting on the possibilities and limits of these processes for addressing the exclusions and everyday conflicts faced by residents of low-income informal localities.

Spatial Patterns of Residential Fragmentation and Quality of Life in Nairobi City, Kenya

Residential fragmentation undermines integration by physically excluding some urban dwellers through walling, fencing and use of barriers limiting interactions. Research has shown that many cities in the Global South are experiencing spatial fragmentation issues associated with increasing inequalities, social exclusion and proliferation of gated communities. This results in distinct residential fragments with limited interactions and unequal quality of life (QoL) conditions of the residents of the fragments. The aim of this paper is to describe the association between residential fragmentation and QoL based on three residential fragments in the city of Nairobi (Kenia). A mixed method approach was applied to understand fragmentation in the city and analyse integration and QoL satisfaction in the fragments. Household surveys and key informant interviews were main data collection methods. Data analysis methods used included descriptive statistics, spatial and content analysis. The results show, as expected, slum residents felt the least integrated symbolically compared to the planned non-gated and gated community residents. Similarly, gated community residents have higher QoL satisfaction compared to other types of fragments. There is a strong positive correlation between symbolic integration and QoL domains related to housing and safety in the slum, indicating that people who are satisfied with housing also have a sense of belonging to their neighbourhood. In contrast, community integration has a negative correlation with safety in the gated community implying that when the residents are satisfied with safety, they tend to have low social networks. Based on the empirical evidence, fragmentation is related to specific domains of QoL as it is associated with spatial exclusion through barriers and gating and marginalization of the poor making it harder for them to feel integrated. The residential fragments reflect the intense divides in Global South cities in terms of QoL conditions and access to services.

Modelling prehistoric settlement activities based on surface and subsurface surveys

This study resumes our research into variations in settlement patterns from the Neolithic to the Migration Period (5600 BC–570 AD). After using a large dataset of less precisely localized finds from the Czech Republic, we now examine data from large-scale surface surveys. The higher spatial precision allows us to analyse settlement activities in terms of quantity, size, duration, continuity, stability and degree of complexity. First, we analysed the data using descriptive methods regarding its spatial structure, dating and environmental setting. We assessed the possibility of integrating data from surface and subsurface research. In the second stage, we reconstructed possible configurations of habitation areas and their adjacent primary production areas (settlement cores) and chronologically ordered the finds using algorithmic modelling. A more detailed phasing transcending the chronological resolution of the data was achieved by using mutual spatial exclusion of settlement cores as a chronological marker. The resulting ordering was then analysed using probabilistic methods. The results portray the intensity of settlement activities during various periods as well as changes in their structural organization. The observed patterns suggest higher-order social organization starting in the Early Bronze Age, culminating in the Final Bronze Age followed by a gradual decline. In later periods, we observe hot spots in the landscape with stable habitation over hundreds of years. The method used is widely applicable for all periods of agricultural prehistory regardless of region. Original data and an example implementation of the method are available as supplementary material and online at https://github.com/demjanp/chrono_spatial_modelling .

Eksklusi Spasial di Era Demokratisasi: Politik Ruang dan Zonasi Kawasan di Selayar

This research aims to know how the politics of space and developments area in Bontosunggu, has correlation with rural democratization’s discourse, especially in rural development planning. Some years ago, Bontosunggu had so many developments area program, such as building transportation infrastructure (Bandara) and rural economy development in west coastal area from this village. Some of this program namely KEK (Kawasan Ekonomi Khusus), PISEW (Pengembangan Infrastruktur Sosial-Ekonomi Wilayah). This study was conducted in Bontosunggu, Selayar in November 2018 until January 2019. Data was collected using in-depth interview, observation, and photograph interview. The participants in this research, consist of rural government, society in Kampung Bau, and policy government of Kabupaten Kepulauan Selayar (BAPPEDA and Dinas Pemerintahan Desa). The research finding indicates: Firstly, process of planning developments (KEK and PISEW) area in Bontosunggu has an impact on rural development orientations. Secondly, the politics of space in Bontosunggu has made a process of spatial exclusion to Kampung Bau. Thirdly, process of spatial exclusion to Kampung Bau, has correlated to the legitimation and regulation’s mechanism, then also with the development area and rural democratization’s process.

Out of place, out of time: towards a more-than-human rhythmanalysis of smoking

Geography has in the last two decades showed an increasing interest in smoking and while mainly within the purview of health geographies, some have also utilised Foucauldian concepts of ‘governmentality’ and Goffman’s notion of ‘stigma’ to study smoking’s spatial exclusion and purification of public spaces. More recently, cultural geographers have started to investigate the more embodied, sensory as well as affective elements of smoking. Notwithstanding recent developments, the temporalities of smoking have largely remained unaccounted for, while the more-than-human in smoking has received little sustained attention. This article aims to fill this gap and in doing so intervenes in this body of critical work by developing a framework that can account for the pharmacological and habitual affordances of smoking, without descending into the pathologisation of smoking bodies that has characterised a public health focus on the addictive qualities of nicotine. To develop this framework, the article brings theories of the more-than-human into dialogue with rhythmanalysis, in order to examine the messy human–nonhuman ties through which everyday rhythms of smoking are enacted, embodied and performed. By focusing on the spatio-temporal patterns of two nonhuman elements, nicotine and the cigarette, the aim is to dislodge the human body from the centre of analysis. This conceptual more-than-human rethinking of smoking offers a means to account for the agency and affects of nonhumans in relation to smoking, and addiction more broadly, without slipping back into deterministic, public health understandings of the body.

From Farm to Table : productive alliances as a pathway to inclusive development in Peru

Peru’s gastronomic ascent has been a source of national pride and a motor for the local economy: providing new sources of employment and a pathway to inclusive development. At the heart of the gastronomic discourse are productive alliances, farm-to-table schemes that aim to revalue the role of farmers by (re)connecting excluded farmers with the urban gastronomy sector. This paper examines how the normative principles of productive alliances manifest at gastronomy festivals and are implemented in the day-to-day sourcing practices in Limenian restaurants and at farmer markets. Data from field research in Lima shows that the discourse on productive alliances and strong public and private support has led to a higher awareness of social and environmental concerns within the local food system. Yet, direct sourcing relationships remain the exception and are hindered by infrastructure problems, lack of information and quality concerns. To substantially contribute to inclusive development, the gastronomy discourse requires a stronger emphasis on structural factors and spatial exclusion.

Dispersão e concentração espaciais dos cursos de Relações Internacionais no Brasil

O crescimento acelerado dos cursos de Relações Internacionais (RI) no Brasil revelacontrastes e desafios. Esse processo de expansão pode ser periodizado em cinco momentos:protoperíodo, expansionismo privado, transição privado-pública, expansionismo público eperíodo de reconcentração geográfica. O penúltimo deles foi caracterizado pelo fomento públicode novos cursos de RI a partir do Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansãodas Universidades Federais (Reuni) em 2007. Nesse período, cria-se vários cursos de RI emuniversidades federais. Contudo, a aprovação da Emenda Constitucional n. 95 em 2016, queestabeleceu o contingenciamento de gastos públicos, parece marcar o fim desse período.Este artigo investiga a dispersão e a concentração espacial decorrente desse crescimento,demonstrando, por meio da análise espacial e quantitativa, a herança deixada pelo Reunipara a universalização do ensino de RI. Para tanto, utilizou-se dados secundários sobre os cursos de RI disponibilizados no Portal do Ministério da Educação e Cultura (E-MEC).A análise revela que a expansão de cursos de RI caracteriza-se pela concentração espacial, emque a lógica da universalização do ensino é suplantada pela exclusão espacial, originando umperíodo de reconcentração geográfica. Essa herança indica a estagnação do número de cursos.

Socio-spatial in the Context of the “Ghettozation” Discourse

Ekonomik, kültürel, sosyal ve politik süreçlerin kent mekânındaki izdüşümü olarak mekânsal dışlama ve kentsel eşitsizliklerin ortaya çıktığı görülmektedir. Bu bağlamda kent peyzajında ortaya çıkan kümelenmeler, 1970 sonrası gelişmiş ülkelerde görülen kentsel hareketler ve aktörler arasındaki ilişkilerin kentsel eşitsizlikleri nasıl tetiklediği sorusu önem kazanmaktadır. Kentsel sosyo-mekânsal kapanma ya da inziva biçimleri olarak getto ve banliyölerin yapısal ve işlevsel farklılıklarının altının çizildiği; bu tiplerin aynılaştırılmaya çalışılan söylemlerinin arka planında neler olacağı yönündeki tartışmayı içeren çalışmada bir dizi politik ve medya söylemlerine yer verildi. Sömürge sonrası dünya kentlerinde ileri marjinalliğin mekânları olarak genel kabul gören, şiddet ile yaftalanan, heterojen demografinin emek piyasasından dışlandığı, sistemle sorunlu ilişkisinin tanımlandığı sürgün yerleri kentsel bir oluşum olarak apaçık karşımızda durmaktadır. Gettolaşan Avrupa söylemlerine, Wacquant’ın değerlendirmeleri paralelinde bakan bu yazının temel endişesi; mekânın sosyal boyutu ve topluluk üzerindeki etkilerini anlamaya yöneliktir. Getto, hipergetto, antigetto kavramları arasındaki farkların neler olduğuna ilişkin tartışma La Haine filmi okuması üzerinden yürütüldü. Bu metnin ortaya çıkışındaki süreçte Fransa’da yaşanan “sarı yelek” protestolarının ekonomik, kültürel ve sosyo-mekânsal bagajlarını deşmek düşüncesi yer alır. Mekânsal dışlamanın etno-ırksal, sınıfsal formlarının arkasındaki ilişkiler ağının haritasının çıkartılması; bu çalışmanın hedefini oluşturmaktadır.

From hotbeds of depravity to hidden treasures: the narrative evolution of Melbourne’s laneways

Places are both sustained and shaped by the stories we tell about them. In turn, stories of place are influenced by cultural, political, and socioeconomic forces. A form of ‘unplanned’ urban architecture, over almost two centuries Melbourne’s inner-city laneways have been inscribed with multiple layers of narrative. This paper tracks the unfolding tensions around these evolving urban spaces, from Melbourne’s founding up until the present day. Drawing upon site visits, theorists of place, narrative and memory, and analysis of select historical and contemporary texts, the articles explores how the uses of Melbourne’s back lanes have changed over time, and how these changes have been both reflected in, and influenced by, narratives of place. From their genesis as makeshift service lanes, to their early reputation as sites of moral disorder; from shanty towns to celebrated tourist destinations; from public health risks to sites of urban renewal and cultural memorialisation – the transformation of these atmospheric passageways illustratesthe fluid and contested nature of place, and its intrinsic yet unstable relationship with narrative. In considering how narrative has been deployed to stake or negate claims to the laneways, the article traces the role and impact of various actors: government, social reformers, slum residents, novelists, journalists and media outlets, business interests, street artists, and people experiencing homelessness. Melbourne’s inner-urban back lanes emerge as liminal sites where questions of spatial exclusion, cultural capital, and belonging are navigated in complex and shifting ways.

Hatescape? A relational geography of disability hate crime, exclusion and belonging in the city

Disabled people experience significant social discrimination and spatial exclusion in their everyday lives in the city. In recent years, discriminatory acts have increasingly been labelled as 'hate crimes'. We argue that hate crime's association with harassment and violence has obscured the more common prejudicial attitudes and actions, which create anxiety and fear. Further, the paper seeks to shift the disability hate crime discourse from its present focus on individual victimisation, to the micro and local spaces, social relations and wider socio-political contexts, within which these acts emerge. We set out a critique of hate crime discourse, offering instead a relational interpretation of people's experiences of place, drawing on aspects of non-representational theory. We argue that everyday movements through the city and encounters with others, produce senses of anxiety and precarity, as well as experiences of belonging, in the context of structural disablist attitudes. The paper draws on a collaborative research project in a city centre in Scotland, using a methodology of walking interviews and focus groups. The findings are presented in four themes, illustrated by qualitative GIS mapping: (i) recorded and experienced hate crime and harassment in the city; (ii) routes into and mobility within the city; (iii) spaces of fear and anxiety, and inclusion and welcome; and (iv) encounters and relations with others. We conclude by arguing that a relational approach, examining the dynamic unfolding or emergence of people's embodied and emotional experiences and encounters (both negative and positive), in a range of contexts, is a significant contribution to the hate crime debate.

Using Auto-Photography to Explore Young People's Belonging and Exclusion in Urban Spaces in Accra, Ghana

This paper examines young people's ‘lived' experience of urban spaces in Accra, the capital of Ghana, by focusing on the use of auto-photography as an appropriate method for this investigation. Accra has a very young population and low rates of employment among the young people, demographics that are often associated with societal instability and increased risk of civil conflict. Research into African youth and the urban spaces they occupy is scarce and involves real challenges, but it is necessary and urgent due to various issues of exclusion and identity. This paper reports part of a larger phenomenological study on the spatial exclusion of youth in Accra's urban spaces. The theoretical framework builds on Lefebvrian dialectics of space and focuses on how notions of belonging and exclusion are reflected in the mode of ‘lived space'. The fieldwork was completed on a small sample of young people in two distinct neighborhoods of Accra. In essence, the focus of the paper is on the urban spaces occupied by young people and on the utility of the participatory research tool adopted, auto-photography. In this context, the tool is less intrusive than direct observation and therefore well equipped to allow an ‘insider' view into personal experiences and perceptions of place that are otherwise difficult to access and study. The paper concludes with a call for urban professionals and decision makers to produce inclusive urban environments that cater for all while allowing for differences and belonging to co-exist.

Marginal youth: mapping spatial capability exclusion in Bogota

Although the analysis of urban poverty has advanced towards the integration of objective and subjective approaches to assessing urban development, evaluation of quality of life in cities remains tied to a commodity framework which conceptualises it as the mere dotation of urban amenities. Multidimensional indicators of quality of life attempt to overcome this sort of restriction by considering broader informational spaces to assess well-being in cities. The capability approach has gone some way in addressing this as a multidimensional approach, however the interpretation of spatial phenomena has been absent from its application, meaning that the role of space in the configuration of urban poverty has been neglected. Drawing on cross-sectional data, this paper examines a multidimensional measure of urban poverty based on capabilities of young adults in Bogota in order to identify clusters of deprivation and affluence of well-being and determine levels of urban segregation based on this type of metric. The result is a spatialised index of capabilities that allow us to assess well-being from a perspective of socio-spatial differences. The findings support the importance of considering spatial patterning of capabilities in understanding poverty dynamics in cities. Spatialised capabilities may help to support urban policy design and promote greater understanding of spatial inequalities in cities.