Urban Restructuring Research Articles

Ordering power? The politics of state-led housing delivery under authoritarianism – the case of Luanda, Angola

The urban studies literature has extensively analysed the modernist, developmental or neoliberal drivers of urban restructuring in the global South, but has largely overlooked the ways in which governments, particularly those with authoritarian characteristics, try to reinforce their legitimacy and assert their political authority through the creation of satellite cities and housing developments. From Ethiopia to Singapore, authoritarian regimes have recently provided housing to the middle class and the poor, not only to alleviate housing shortages, or bolster a burgeoning real estate market, but also to ‘order power’ and buy the loyalty of residents. To evaluate the extent to which authoritarian regimes realise their political objectives through housing provision, we survey nearly 300 poor and middle class respondents from three new housing projects in Luanda, Angola. Alongside increasing social and spatial differentiation brought about by state policies, we document unintended beneficiaries of state housing and uneven levels of citizen satisfaction. We explain that internal state contradictions, individual agency and market forces have acted together to re-shape the government’s efforts to order power.

Trajectories of ethnic neighbourhood change: Spatial patterns of increasing ethnic diversity

AbstractWestern cities are increasingly ethnically diverse, and in most cities, the share of the population belonging to an ethnic minority is growing. Studies analysing changing ethnic geographies often limit their analysis to changes in ethnic concentrations in neighbourhoods between 2 points in time. Such a temporally limited approach limits our understanding of pathways of ethnic neighbourhood change and of the underlying factors contributing to change. This paper analyses full trajectories of neighbourhood change in the 4 largest cities in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2013. Our modelling strategy categorises neighbourhoods based on their unique growth trajectories of the ethnic population composition, providing insight in processes of ethnic segregation and its drivers. Our main conclusion is that the ethnic composition in neighbourhoods remains relatively stable over time. We however find evidence for a slow trend towards deconcentration of ethnic minorities and increased population mixing in most neighbourhoods. Spatial mixing appears to be driven by the selective mobility patterns of the native Dutch population as a result of urban restructuring programmes. However, these pathways towards deconcentration are mitigated by processes of ethnic natural growth that reinforce existing patterns of segregation. Despite an increasing inflow of the native Dutch into ethnic concentration neighbourhoods, segregation at the top and bottom ends of the distribution seems to be persistent: High concentrations of ethnic minorities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods versus high concentrations of the native population in more affluent neighbourhoods continue to be a feature of Dutch cities.

Shantytown redevelopment projects: State-led redevelopment of declining neighbourhoods under market transition in Shenyang, China

Since 1978, market transition in China has significantly influenced the roles of the state, the market and the residents in urban restructuring. Since 2008, the central government has initiated Shantytown Redevelopment Projects (SRPs) to improve the living conditions of low-income residents. Between 2008 and 2012, about 12.6 million households were involved in SRPs, and forced to move as their dwellings were demolished. This paper investigates how SRPs are implemented by revealing how different stakeholders interact in SRPs in the city of Shenyang, China. Through in-depth interviews with various stakeholders and analysis of policy documentation on SRPs, the paper reveals a complex interplay between different stakeholders, which is characterized by the centralization of the inception of SRPs, the decentralization of actual SRP implementation, changes in the role of market forces, and decreasing housing affordability and multiple deprivation of residents in SRP target areas. Various stakeholders have consensus on the need for improving the living conditions in deprived neighbourhoods and on boosting the housing market. However, conflicts arise due to frictions between the central and local governments regarding the implementation of SRPs. We also find evidence of an entrepreneurial paradox in the relationship between local governments and developers. Finally, a mismatch occurs between the scope of the SRP policy and residents' attempts to improve their socioeconomic situation.

Rendering responsible, provoking desire: women and home in squatter/slum renewal projects in the Turkish context

This article is situated at the intersection of urban restructuring, cultural conservatism and neoliberalism in the Turkish context to understand the new subject formations of poor women as they are relocated to high-rise apartment blocks in slum/squatter renewal projects by the prospect of homeownership via long-term mortgage loans. It contributes by showing the gendered effects of urban transformation on poor women as neoliberalism and conservatism interact. It draws upon two ethnographic studies that reveal women’s experiences embedded both in neoliberalism and patriarchy. In neoliberalism, women’s participation in the informal job market was promoted as they were made responsible for contributing to mortgage payments, and they were brought into consumption as they were provoked the desire for good homes via furnishing, and in patriarchy, women’s traditional roles in social reproduction were demanded in spite of their new roles and responsibilities. The study ponders women’s differentiated negotiations with patriarchy which resisted radical challenges when the family and the home framed women’s new responsibilities and desires. The rising conservatism rooted in Islam in Turkey, which prioritizes the family over individual women, created the conditions for it.

Del derecho al consumo al derecho a la ciudad: contradicciones y convergencias

Brazil has experienced the restructuring of the productive sector linked to processes of urban and city restructuring. In this context, population segments of lower acquisitive power have been recently incorporated to the society of consumption. This fact results in changes in the production of spaces and urban sociability. Therefore, the aim of this article is to discuss the dialectical contradiction inherent to the role of consumption in the construction of the right to the city. We consider that consumption must be understood as a matter of alienation, social demobilization and catalyzer of socio-spatial fragmentation as well as it is a potential element for city integration, the establishment of identities and citizenship construction. These are fundamental dimensions for theoretically repositioning and concretely achieving the right to city. The results obtained from fieldwork and interviews with city inhabitants of eight intermediate Brazilian cities allows us to observe the need to understand consumption through citizenship and politics, which is what allows the requalification of the spatial justice question.

Colonia Patricia (Corduba), capital de la Bética

This paper approaches the developments of Corduba during the reign of Augustus, when its situation changed dramatically after a first Republican historical span which had ended with the destruction of the city at the end of the civil war between Caesarians and Pompeians. During Augustus’ rule of Rome, Corduba became the capital of the new province of Hispania Ulterior Baetica. With this development, the city experimented a radical urban restructuring, two colonial deductiones which revitalized its population, and a prominent role of the economy in the middle of an invigorated communication network. The turn also had deep effects in the social fabric, where new horizons of change, wealth an individual promotion were opened.

Neoliberalization and mega-events: The transition of Rio de Janeiro’s hybrid urban order

ABSTRACTThe current developments in Rio de Janeiro in the wake of the 2014 International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games have accelerated the transition from a hybrid urban order to a new urban order of intensified neoliberalization and commodification. This transition is a complex and contradictory process that entails both rollback and rollout features of neoliberalism, as well as a permanent restructuring of sociospatial relations and political arrangements. By discussing the ongoing policies and politics of urban restructuring, we examine the creative destruction of urban structures, institutional arrangements, and regulations of urban space with the transformation of 3 sites in Rio de Janeiro—Barra da Tijuca, the port district, and the South Zone. The process of variegated neoliberalization generates new modes of production and reproduction, which threaten the principles of democratic governance and universalization of rights to the city.

From state restructuring to urban restructuring: The intermediation of public landownership in urban development projects in France

Many urban development projects (UDPs) in Europe take place on lands belonging to public bodies and administrations, and publicly owned firms. Yet, the literature has failed to explain why a substantial proportion of the remaking of European cities is shaped on public properties, and with what outcomes. My underlying hypothesis is that the redevelopment of such properties depends primarily on the restructuring of the state. Firstly, this paper provides evidence of the relationships between three dynamics of state restructuring and the disposal of public land and real estate properties owned by one sector of the French state, that is, the railways. Secondly, the paper focuses on two UDPs of railway sites, respectively located in Paris and Nantes, in order to disclose the specificity of the redevelopment process associated with public railway properties, due to the socio-legal infrastructure of railway land disposal stemming from these dynamics. The paper demonstrates that (i) state restructuring impels various levels and organisations of the state to redevelop public land and real estate properties; and (ii) the effects of state restructuring can be explained only by analysing the mediating role of the socio-legal infrastructure of these properties, which frames the processes and outcomes of the redevelopment projects. In so doing, the paper offers a specific account of the explanatory factors, processes and outcomes of the relationship between state restructuring and a significant proportion of the restructuring of urban areas in Europe.

The landscape of education “reform” in Chicago: Neoliberalism meets a grassroots movement

This article examines the dialectics of Chicago’s neoliberal education policies and the grassroots resistance that parents, teachers, and students have mounted against them. Grounding the analysis in racial capitalism and neoliberal urban restructuring, I discuss interconnections between neoliberal urban policy, racism, and education to clarify what is at stake for communities resisting Chicago’s policies. The paper describes deep and pervasive racial inequities, school closings, privatization, and disenfranchisement driving organized opposition and the labor-community alliance at the center of organized resistance. I argue that neoliberal education policy is racialized state violence, and education is a battleground for racial justice and Black self-determination. I conclude with observations on Chicago’s experience so far that might be useful in other contexts.

City profile: Jaipur

Jaipur is the tenth largest metropolitan region in India, grown to be a popular tourist destination and a centre of business, commerce, and education. It has been the central focus of the state governments' visioning strategies by virtue of it being an urban heritage and the capital of state of Rajasthan, hence the efforts have been made to develop it into the ‘world-class’ city. After the inclusion of Jaipur City in the Smart City Program, the city is expected to undergo massive urban restructuring. This paper presents an outline of the history and planning of Jaipur, followed by an exploration of emerging urban and infrastructural challenges with a focus on management and governance.

Travelling concepts and universal particularisms: A reappraisal of gentrification’s global reach

Some concepts travel worldwide, although they remain unobtrusively attached to the contexts in which they were produced and, therefore, are insufficiently abstract and general. Gentrification is a travelling concept with lingering attachments to the Anglo-American urban context. Three issues related to gentrification’s global reach are discussed in this paper. The first is the definition of gentrification. The simple definition adopted by the current gentrification research agenda leads us to accept gentrification’s global reach literally by definition. The second issue is the question of contextual boundaries. Boundaries that are too broad and ill-defined – such as the metropolis of the Global North versus the metropolis of the Global South – conceal what contextual difference may be about. The third issue is the reification of cultural differences, which may lead to them being used to explain attitudes towards gentrification, even though such attitudes could be explained by more prosaic socioeconomic motives compatible with Western rationalism. This paper concludes that the metamorphoses of gentrification through its different waves in the Anglophone world do not provide the script for understanding other cities’ urban histories and making sense of their urban restructuring processes. These cities must realize that new processes emerging under increasingly neoliberal policy orientations are regressive compared with previous arrangements, especially when they tend to exclude political alternatives. The Anglo-American world may have been a pioneering laboratory for the application of gentrification policies, but other parts of the world have shown more effective resistance that can be an asset in future struggles and sociopolitical arrangements and make a difference in people’s lives.

Pushed off the map: Toponymy and the politics of place in New York City

This article examines conflicts over neighbourhood renaming and the politics of place. Toponymy, or the practice of place naming, is central to the constitution of place, and neighbourhood renaming is a pervasive urban strategy. But despite its prevalence, the role of neighbourhood toponymic conflict in processes of urban restructuring has not been given sustained engagement from urban scholars. This article uses archival and ethnographic data from an area in Brooklyn, New York to argue that contemporary neighbourhood renaming facilitates uneven local development. Real estate developers and residents of expensive private housing use toponymy to legitimise their privileged positions, while public housing residents experience the same toponymic change as a form of symbolic displacement. Conflicts surrounding neighbourhood renaming should therefore be seen as elements of struggles over resources, property, identity, and belonging in urban space.

Configuring growth coalitions among the projects of urban aggrandizement in Kunming, Southwest China

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we examine two urban projects in Kunming, Southwest China, one a massive scheme to build a new city center on rural land outside the city, and the other, an act of urban restructuring involving the rebuilding of an old Hui (Muslim) neighborhood in the old city center. We analyze the coalition of forces configured to undertake these large-scale projects; we underline the role of specially formed city-building organizations and the support provided by the state-owned institutions that dominate the city’s political economy; and we draw attention to the caution with which the city government handled resistance to urban restructuring among Hui residents. We argue that urban growth projects in inland cities like Kunming are marked by certain features that distinguish them from similar projects in Eastern Chinese cities but maintain that nonetheless the drive for profit maximization at the expense of residents is unchanged.

Exploring notions of fair practice in urban renewal and the position of post-colonial citizens in Amsterdam’s Bijlmer

Social scientists in the Netherlands have pleaded for circumspection when using the colonial paradigm to discuss racism, at times ignoring the latent racialization of post-colonial migrants in political and academic discourses throughout the later half of the twentieth century. This has led to a lack of critical reflection regarding the position of the post-colonial migrant in contemporary Dutch society. This paper describes the historical and social contexts surrounding two housing renewal projects in Amsterdam’s Bijlmer to illustrate how presuppositions regarding post-colonial citizens, race relations and neo-liberal urban restructuring have brought about an unequal approach to urban renewal in a historically Afro-Dutch neighbourhood.

Beyond Inclusion and Exclusion: Community Gardens as Spaces of Responsibility

Geographers have a sustained interest in urban community gardens because such spaces provide a meaningful lens to interrogate the complexities of living at the intersection of nature–society relationships. Most community gardens strive to perform the dual functions of reconnecting urban residents with nature and strengthening the community. More recently, in the context of neoliberal urban restructuring, community gardens have also been viewed as platforms for the mobilization of inclusive sociopolitical arrangements to counteract the ill effects of urban problems. Common to this literature is the implicit assumption that a good community garden must necessarily be inclusive or that, conversely, community gardens that are exclusionary are bad. We argue that framing community gardens as spaces of responsibility is another way to reengage with the epistemology of community gardens. Instead of only asking how, and to what extent, community gardens are inclusionary or exclusionary, we can augment our understanding of the realities of managing a garden by asking what responsibilities are associated with any given community garden. Among other things, the answer to this question requires one to trace the responsibilization process of gardeners. Through the case study of Singapore, we argue that responsibilization invariably engenders practices of inclusion and exclusion in community gardens. Framed thusly, we first move away from the reductive view that apparent exclusionary practices in a community garden render that garden to be normatively undesirable. Second, we can appreciate why many community gardens—even seemingly inclusive ones—have shades of exclusions embedded in them.

Place revisited: class, stigma and urban restructuring in the case of Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games

This paper reappraises the meaning of space and place in contemporary class analysis. We explore how class is reshaped and mediated by neoliberal urban restructuring, of which the processes of gentrification and territorial stigmatization form critical parts. We focus on the contemporary interrelation of class and urban restructuring in the post-crash city by looking at the local lived experiences of the 2014 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Glasgow’s East End. This high-profile regeneration effort in a deprived working-class neighbourhood reveals much about the functions of neoliberal financial capitalism, austerity and contemporary class formation. We show that gentrification and territorial stigmatization work in tandem within urban regeneration policy interventions as a punitive strategy for managing poor populations. This involves land value and (de)valuing of people and creates new localized class inequalities and insecurities. Our research highlights that in the face of national level cuts and commodification, residents’ local relations and support become essential social, economic and political resources. Yet, paradoxically, at the very same time, their local attachment to place is devalued, stigmatized and is at its most precarious. This exposes the coercive elements of the neoliberal class project; a distinct urban class inequality of our time and therefore, we suggest, a critical direction in class analysis.

Post-socialism and urban transition: Transforming the socialist city

The paper investigates causal relationships and correlations between transitional reforms and various levels of urban restructuring that has taken place in the Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Numerous urban changes were not regarded as series of separate ?events? with a specific background in political, institutional, economic and/or social context of transition, but as a set of results which, in a radical and chaotic manner, deconstructed socialist and stimulated formation of the post-socialist city. The post-socialist city is treated as a temporary phenomenon that adapted to the rules and conditions of transferring from socialism to capitalism or as a socio-spatial manifestation of various transitional processes. The aim of the paper is to detect common influential factors of genesis of the post-socialist urban landscape.

Valorización e internacionalización de Medellín, 2008-2015

Within the framework of urban restructuring are implemented in Medellin since 2004, the municipal authorities applied the contribution valuation as the ideal instrument for financing infrastructure projects planned in the project of recovery of the Town Zoning Plan. Problematize the relationship between the internationalization of the city and urban regeneration through the construction of works that are funded valuation is the objective of this text, as it is part of the logic of global capital in which is inserted the city several years. And amid the logic of capital pressing for the internationalization of Medellin, are the taxpayers of this sector of the city, who in this case resorted to tax protests to reject unsuccessful application of this type of financing instruments to consider unfair and did not correspond to an orderly city planning.

Place-making Tactics or Strategies? A Case Study on Governmental Strategies in Urban Restructuring Processes and the Effective Challenge of Asylum Seekers’ Trying to Find a Place and Way of Place-making in Bolzano

Place-making Tactics or Strategies? A Case Study on Governmental Strategies in Urban Restructuring Processes and the Effective Challenge of Asylum Seekers’ Trying to Find a Place and Way of Place-making in Bolzano

The Effects of Physical Restructuring on the Socioeconomic Status of Neighborhoods: Selective Migration and Upgrading

In the last few decades, urban restructuring programs have been implemented in many Western European cities with the main goal of combating a variety of socioeconomic problems in deprived neighborhoods. The main instrument of restructuring has been housing diversification and tenure mixing. The demolition of low-quality (social) housing and the construction of owner-occupied or private-rented dwellings was expected to change the population composition of deprived neighbourhoods through the in-migration of middle and high income households. Many studies have been critical with regard to the success of such policies in actually upgrading neighborhoods. Using data from the 31 largest Dutch cities for the 1999 to 2013 period, this study contributes to the literature by investigating the effects of large-scale demolition and new construction on neighborhood income developments on a low spatial scale. We use propensity score matching to isolate the direct effects of policy by comparing restructured neighborhoods to a set of control neighborhoods with low demolition rates, but with similar socioeconomic characteristics. The results indicate that large-scale demolition leads to socioeconomic upgrading of deprived neighborhoods through the in-migration of middle and high income households. We find no evidence of spillover effects to nearby neighborhoods, suggesting that physical restructuring only has very local effects.