Urban Conflict Research Articles

Муниципальная общественность и развитие делиберативных процессов на местном уровне (на примере разрешения городских конфликтов)

The study examines the role of the public as an institution of local democracy in deliberative processes, emphasizing its significance in resolving urban conflicts. Specific examples of urban conflict resolution in the city of Surgut, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, are utilized. Methods employed include content analysis of mass media, expert surveys, and mass sociological surveys. The research demonstrates that urban conflicts possess substantial potential for resolution through consensus-based approaches. Therefore, the concept of “deliberative democracy” is quite applicable for analyzing such conflicts at the local level. However, achieving such a consensus necessitates the aggregation and articulation of citizen demands. This, in turn, underscores the need for a local policy actor to function within the political space of the city. In this context, the local community serves as this actor. The internal structure of the municipal public is described, along with the factors contributing to its successful performance as an actor in the deliberative process at the municipal level. In conclusion, the local community plays a crucial role in deliberative processes, especially in the resolution of urban conflicts. The study highlights the structural dynamics and critical factors that enable the local community to effectively function as a deliberative actor in local governance.

Urban conflict management, human‐wild animal interactions, local environmental governance and political participation

AbstractLocal authorities today cope with environmental changes. As urbanization advances, the overlap between nature and the world of human beings increases. The resulting new interactions between humans and wild animals have many consequences. The perspectives of public administration and politics regarding this issue remain unexplored. There is limited research on local environmental crises and local environmental governance regarding the interactions between people and animals in the management of urban spaces. Therefore, we conducted a study using the presence of wild boars in Haifa, Israel. It tests the impact of support for the incumbent mayor through the mediated relationship of the harm caused by wild animals and the moderating effect of local governance on local political participation. Our findings may advance current theory to local administration and local environmental governance. On a practical level, policymakers can design effective local environmental governance, and promote behaviors on the part of politicians and residents.

Interactions and Conflicts between Urbanization and Greenness: A Case Study from Nanjing, China

Urbanization is rapidly occupying green spaces, making it crucial to understand implicit conflicts between urbanization and greenness. This study proposes an ecological greenness index (EGI) and a comprehensive urbanization index (CUI) and selects Nanjing, a megacity in China, as the study area to research the spatial and temporal evolutionary trends of the EGI and CUI in the context of land use/land cover (LULC) changes from 2000 to 2020. Meanwhile, the conflicts and complex interaction characteristics of the EGI and CUI are discussed from both static and dynamic perspectives, and their driving mechanisms are investigated by combining specific indicators. The results demonstrate that over the past 20 years, LULC in Nanjing was dominated by cultivated land, forest land, and artificial surfaces. The encroachment of artificial surfaces on green space was strengthened, resulting in a decrease in the proportion of cultivated land from 70.09% in 2000 to 58.00% in 2020. The CUI increased at a change rate of 0.6%/year, while the EGI showed significant browning (change rate: −0.23%/year), mainly concentrated within the main urban boundaries. The relationship between the CUI and EGI made the leap from “primary coordination” to “moderate coordination”, but there remains a risk of further deterioration of the decoupling relationship between the CUI and ecological pressures. The multi-year average contribution of the CUI to the EGI was 49.45%. Urbanization activities that dominate changes in greenness have changed over time, reflecting the timing of urban conflict management. The results provide important insights for urban ecological health monitoring and management.

Streets of memory: Urban practices of civil antimafia resistance

In this article, we present data from the first dedicated census of commemorative antimafia street names in Italian cities, investigating streets named after innocent victims of the mafia as “lieux de memoire”. We introduce the concept of social amnesia surrounding the mafia to cast light on the impact of mafia violence on socio-spatial relationships and potential societal responses to this trauma. The practice of naming streets to commemorate the antimafia movement is a strategy for countering social amnesia. Antimafia street names are forms of urban resistance and civic education, and as such may be defined as a “common good”. Nonetheless, antimafia street naming can also be a primarily formal or acritical memory practice or – potentially – an expedient for legitimizing illegal relations. This kind of ambiguity is inherent in mafia studies and attests to the ongoing urban conflict between the mafia and the antimafia movement.

Linking Sustainable Development and Urban Spatial Conflicts in Poland: evidence from Warsaw

The article addresses the perception of the concept of sustainability by the participants of urban conflicts that took place in Warsaw in 2015-2019. In the presented article, the research fields for urban conflicts and sustainable development intersect. The aim is to show how the concept of sustainability influences the expectations, attitudes, behaviour and decisions of participants in urban conflicts and, conversely, the relevance of urban conflicts for the implementation of the concept of sustainable urban development. The article is based on material from 96 IDIs with people (residents, city officials, local activists, researchers and media representatives) who were involved in selected conflicts around the functioning of urban space. The findings relate to the public understanding of the concept of sustainability, its relationship to the motivation to participate in urban conflicts, the role of conflicts in setting development directions and the identification and perception of the role of key stakeholders. I demonstrate that: (1) different understandings of what sustainable development is are one of the causes of urban conflicts; (2) the concept of sustainable development contains an agenda of issues around which the 'right to the city' is crystallised, which manifests itself in behavioural form in, among other things, the formula of participation in urban conflicts. The conclusions of the article can support education for urban sustainability and also urban policies to strengthen dialogue and governance.

How Learning from Informal Settlements Contributes to the Community Resilience of Neighbourhoods

Urbanization in the twenty-first century has experienced a significant slowdown, particularly in the Global North. However, population growth continues to escalate, with most of this increase occurring in the Global South. Most of that growth manifests in the urban environment as informal settlements. These types of neighbourhoods deploy unique strategies to emerge and grow and can teach us much about the value of neighbourhoods as urban units in an uncertain future plagued by the challenges imposed by climate change, political polarization, and urban conflict. However, literature on neighbourhoods devotes little time to exploring these urban manifestations as areas of exploration and learning; instead, most of the scholarship focuses on ways to eradicate these places from our cities. As a result of this perspective, I argue that we have overlooked three important lessons that can be gleaned from informal settlements: incrementality, sustainability, and self-reliance. These characteristics contribute to the resilience of the communities, making informal settlements the predominant neighbourhoods of the twenty-first century. This paper examines global informal neighbourhood practices, unveiling unique community strategies. It reassesses neighbourhood value and offers insights into the urban changes necessary to tackle the next century's challenges.

Whether or Not to Open the Pandora’s Box: An Analysis of Latent Conflict in Vulnerable Neighbourhoods with High Socio-Cultural Diversity in Spain

ABSTRACT Worldwide, vulnerable neighbourhoods of large cities are often the scene of collective violent conflicts linked with migration and ethnic minorities’ struggles for social justice. However, urban conflicts of this kind have not taken place in Spanish cities with high immigration rates, even though the country has been deeply affected by two recent socioeconomic crises (2009 and 2020). This article reports findings of a study aimed at understanding what lies behind this apparent social peace. The research methodology was based on an analysis of secondary socio-economic and socio-relational data from the Spanish Institute of Statistics and from key national surveys and reports. Results confirmed that immigrant population living in the country are strongly segregated in the lower strata of the labour and socioeconomic structure and have been disproportionately affected by the crises. However, research findings also pointed to the existence of strong closed support networks where social capital has been effective at palliating members’ disadvantage and unrest. Drawing on the Theory of Rupture Frames, we argue that this is a fragile and unsustainable social peace, rooted in social injustice, and anticipate that unless actively prevented, uncontrolled conflict will eventually emerge in main cities’ neighbourhoods in Spain.

Chacinas urbanas na cidade e na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (2009-2020)

Abstract This article analyzes the slaughters that occurred in São Paulo and its Metropolitan Region between 2009 and 2020. Using data extracted from news and interviews with journalists and public security agents, the article provides a socio-spatial analysis, highlighting features of the victimizations, perpetrators, and modus operandi of that form of extermination. Deaths resulting from slaughters reveal a polysemy of urban conflicts, predominantly linked to disputes over power, “political commodities” (Misse, 2014), and acts of revenge between criminal groups, or between public security agents and these groups. Peripheral populations are the main victims of slaughters, which occur in their places of residence and socialization and disclose power relations in these territories.

Proccesuality of Urban Conflicts: Sequence Analysis of Urban Contention in Russia

Proccesuality of Urban Conflicts: Sequence Analysis of Urban Contention in Russia

Urban Political Ecology in Mexico: Metabolism, conflicts, and the need for transformational pathways in the Valley of Mexico, Guadalajara, and Monterrey

This article analyzes urban socio-ecological conflicts in the Mexican metropolitan areas of the Valley of Mexico, Guadalajara and Monterrey from an Urban Political Ecology (UPE) approach. We identify the main triggers of such urban socio-ecological conflicts and the causal links between actors, resources and spaces which make up the uneven production of urban space. This focus includes unequal access to resources, uneven distribution of environmental impacts, and the rise of contestation. We outline UPE theoretically and conceptually, and delineate what is meant by urban socio-ecological conflict. UPE is then contextualized within Mexico's contemporary urbanization process as a prelude for characterizing case studies (including their metabolic profiles) and the analysis of prevailing socio-ecological conflicts. For the latter, we identify the main urban conflicts in the years 2012 and 2022, highlighting some of the main characteristics, similarities, and discontinuities across three metropolitan areas. In the face of an increasing metabolism of contemporary urbanization, we conclude with a brief consideration of the potential role of socio-ecological conflicts for enabling alternative forms of urban space production, particularly through the agency of social movements, including their capacity to propose and build "urban spaces of hope."

Local communities as а tool for urban conflict resolution

A modern city is a concentration of a whole range of diverse processes and activities, residents with different needs, traditions and beliefs. The city is also an arena of clashing economic, political and social interests. Urban development trends are expressed both in the need for centralized determination of the direction of urban environment, and public demand for greater civic engagement. Accordingly, conflicts cannot be avoided, but it is important not to accept this obvious truth, but to create a tradition of constant thoughtful analysis of ongoing processes, identifying causes and searching for solutions. As awareness of the importance of collective efforts in creating a comfortable urban environment grows, knowledge about the approaches and public technologies used to resolve urban conflicts becomes more in demand. One of the effective tools for resolving urban conflicts are local communities created on sub-municipal territories within the city boundaries. However, the effectiveness of this tool depends on the proper organization of intra-urban communities and provision of legal guarantees for their functioning. This study is carried out using a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach, implying the analysis of urban development and urban environment through the prism of law. The study of Russian and foreign doctrinal sources, along with normative legal acts and materials of judicial and law enforcement practice, allows to form a sufficient picture of the state of urban conflictology and substantiate the role of local communities in their resolution.

The city of (stolen) cars - Gabriel Feltran (ed.), Stolen cars: a journey through urban Conflict in São Paulo (Oxford, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, 2022, 272 p.)

The city of (stolen) cars - Gabriel Feltran (ed.), Stolen cars: a journey through urban Conflict in São Paulo (Oxford, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, 2022, 272 p.)

The Battles of Hue: Understanding Urban Conflicts through Wargaming

The Battles of Hue: Understanding Urban Conflicts through Wargaming

Exploratory laparotomy during the battle of Mosul, 2016–2017: results from a tertiary civilian hospital in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan

BackgroundThe Battle of Mosul (2016–2017) was an urban conflict resulting in over 9000 civilian deaths. Emergency Management Centre (EMC), located 90 km from Mosul, was designated as a civilian-run trauma centre as part of the novel Mosul Trauma Pathway. Patients necessitating exploratory laparotomy (ex-lap) provide a unique window into the system of care delivery in conflicts, given the importance of timely, resource-intensive care. However, there is insufficient knowledge regarding the presentation and outcomes for conflict-related ex-lap in civilian institutions.MethodsThis is a descriptive study retrospectively analyzing routinely collected data for all patients who underwent ex-lap at EMC for injuries sustained during the battle of Mosul. Differences in demographics, pre-hospital/hospital course, and New Injury Severity Scores (NISS) were analysed using student t-test, Hotelling T-squared, and linear regression.ResultsDuring the battle, 1832 patients with conflict-related injuries were admitted to EMC. Some 73/1832 (4.0%) underwent ex-lap, of whom 22/73 (30.1%) were children and 40/73 (54.8%) were non-combatant adults. Men constituted 51/73 (69%) patients. Gunshot wounds caused 19/73 (26.0%) injuries, while ordnances caused 52/73 (71.2%). Information regarding hospital course was available for 47/73 (64.4%) patients. Children had prolonged time from injury to first laparotomy compared to adults (600 vs 208 min, p < 0.05). Median LOS was 6 days (IQR 4–9.5); however, 11/47 (23%) patients left against medical advice. Post-operative complications occurred in 11/47 (23.4%) patients; 6/11 (54.5%) were surgical site infections. There were 12 (25.5%) patients who underwent relaparotomies after index surgery elsewhere; 10/12 (83.3%) were for failed repairs or missed injuries. Median NISS was 18 (IQR 12–27). NISS were significantly higher for women (vs men; 28.5 vs 19.8), children (vs adults; 28.8 vs 20), and relaparotomy patients (vs primary laparotomy patients; 32.0 vs 19.0). Some 3 patients died, 2 of whom were relaparotomies.ConclusionAt this civilian tertiary trauma centre, conflict-related exploratory laparotomies were associated with low morbidity and mortality. Long transport times, high rates of repeat laparotomies, and high numbers of patients leaving against medical advice raise questions regarding continuity of care along the Mosul Trauma Pathway.Trial registrationThe study protocol was registered at Clinicaltrails.gov, ID NCT03490305, prior to collection of data.

Managing urban conflict in Africa: Insights from social work

The paper examined urban social conflict in Africa from the perspective of the utility of social work in mitigating such conflict. It depended on the desk review of extant literature for its information and was anchored on a structural or macro-environmental explanation of the drivers of urban social conflict. The paper is also premised on the fact that while African cities have enjoyed an ever-increasing urbanization, such urbanization has come with several social pathologies including different forms of social conflict. Such conflict is especially prevalent in inner-city areas or urban slums where squalid physical environment and socio-economic deprivation conduce to social conflict among residents. The inescapable reality is that social conflict is largely a social phenomenon generated by the sociability or otherwise of living and thus social work as a discipline and practice anchored on enabling citizens achieve optimal social functioning can be useful in the mitigation of social conflict. It concluded that given that conflict is a social phenomenon, social work given its nature can build a reliable niche in urban conflict management. It thus calls attention to not only improving urban social work practice but equally engendering a practice that tackles the peculiar nature of urban social conflict in Africa.

From Watershed Moment to Hydrosocial Movement: Patagonia without Dams and The Free-Flowing Rivers Network in Chile

In this article, we examine how social movement activists draw on the hydrosocial dynamics of the watershed unit to build a river protection network in resistance to extractivist development. We apply a critically engaged activist anthropological focus, and drawing on four years of collaborative fieldwork, we describe how activists formed a hydrosocial movement to reconfigure Chile as an interconnected territory of living watersheds. In 2014, the Patagonia Without Dams movement successfully stopped the development of a mega-dam complex in Chilean Patagonia, catalyzing a major upheaval in environmental politics. The Free-Flowing Rivers Network harnessed momentum from Patagonia Without Dams and jumped scales from place-based campaigns that defend singular rivers against dams to translocal actions that protect watersheds from an array of extractive industries. We show how this movement bridged rural and urban conflict zones, seeking to protect watersheds from forms of extractivism beyond dams, including mining and irrigation projects. By focusing on the Free-Flowing River Network’s efforts to translate its political-ecological platform into policy, we show how hydrosocial territories may be established, defended, expanded, and stabilized through strategies that explicitly connect water and society.

ПРИНЦИПЫ ИНВЕСТИЦИОННОЙ ПРИВЛЕКАТЕЛЬНОСТИ ТЕРРИТОРИЙ ИНДУСТРИАЛЬНОГО НАСЛЕДИЯ САХАРНЫХ ЗАВОДОВ СЕРЕДИНЫ XIX – НАЧАЛА XX В.В.

Industrial heritage objects reflect the history of the nation, the peculiarities of its thinking, and also have great potential in the context of the sustainable development of small towns and villages in which they are located. Sugar factories of the Central Black Earth region are historically city-forming enterprises. However, at the moment, industrial territories that do not perform a city-forming function, on the one hand, and an acquired socio-cultural function as a significant cultural heritage, on the other hand, have degraded and are partially in a ruined state. The study considers the factors affecting the investment attractiveness of industrial heritage objects of sugar factories: restrictions on the creation of a new function, location in small towns and rural settlements, low transport accessibility, the problem of property rights, the unsatisfactory state of the territory and objects of industrial heritage, imperfection of the legislative base in the field of cultural heritage preservation, lack of tourist and recreational attractiveness. The features in the legal documentation that negatively affect the investment attractiveness of the object of cultural heritage are revealed. The principles of investment attractiveness based on the resolution of urban conflicts are proposed, which are recommended when adapting the industrial heritage of sugar factories of XIX – early XX centuries It is assumed that the application of the developed principles for the territories of the industrial heritage of sugar factories will increase their level of attractiveness for the investor (public/private).

Peace in cities, peace through cities? Theorising and exploring geographies of peace in violently contested cities

ABSTRACT This special issue explores geographies of peace in violently contested cities – cities where the socio-political order is contested by actors who use violence and repression to either challenge or reinforce the prevailing distribution of power and political, economic, and social control. The articles within the special issue theorise and explore where, when, how, and why urban conflicts manifest themselves in the context of contested cities. Together, they also uncover strategies and mechanisms that can break dynamics of violence and repression, lead to urban coexistence, and generate peaceful relations in cities, grounding their analyses in rich case studies of different violently contested cities. The special issue thereby advances the research front on violently contested cities by studying their previously underexplored constructive potential. Bringing together different disciplinary perspectives, the special issue speaks to broader issues of conflicted and conflict-driven urbanisation, political violence in cities, and wider processes of urban change.

Towards a Global Urban Geopolitics: Inhabiting Violence

ABSTRACT This introduction to the special section explores geopolitical dimensions of conflict and violence in cities, pointing at the need to continue learning from marginal urban settings. It broadens the scope across differentiated approaches, such as the francophone and anglophone urban geopolitical traditions. By opening up a wider perspective, the emphasis is not on cities as part of a matrix of global hierarchies of geographical power but on the multiscalar relational significance of urban geopolitical inquiry. The introduction positions the special section articles within a wider review of urban geopolitical provocations outlining a new political vocabulary of urban conflict and violence. It concludes with a general call for a methodological and empirical broadening of the field of urban geopolitics as part of a broader de-colonial social and spatial science research agenda bridging the disciplines of political geography, urban studies, architecture and planning.

Exploring the water–food nexus reveals the interlinkages with urban human conflicts in Central America

Hydroclimatic extremes have been shown to enhance conflict in fragile societies. Quantitative research in this field has historically focused on rainfall anomalies, without accounting for their effects on the water–food system. Here we explore the water–food nexus and its interlinkages with urban conflicts in Central America. We use an agrohydrological model to assess the effects of drought on water availability and food production, accounting for regional food trade. A biophysical parameterization is then coupled with an econometric Bayesian zero-inflated Poisson model to detect dynamic spatial relations among social and hydrological variables. We find that drought-induced water deficit affects food security in major cities in the region and is correlated with the rise of conflict. Moreover, low population density and higher human development enhance the probability of permanent absence of conflict. Our analysis reveals the crucial role of food redistribution between rural and urban areas and its association with livelihoods and urban violence. Droughts pose a threat to water availability for food production, enhancing urban conflicts. This study explores the drought–conflict nexus by accounting for the effects of droughts on the food-security pillars of availability, economic access and stability.