Metropolitics

Making Their Own History: Squatters on Manhattan's Lower East Side

Benjamin H. Shepard — 2017-12-19T06:00:00Z

During the 1970s, when Manhattan's Lower East Side was full of derelict real estate, activists laid claim to left-behind buildings and vacant lots. Over time, the squatters' challenge to conventional forms of property ownership endured, though in greatly modified forms. Benjamin Shepard reviews Amy Starecheski's oral history.
Amy Starecheski's Ours to Lose is a compelling oral history of the squatting movement in the Lower East Side of New York City in the years that it moved from conflict to

- Reviews / squat, New York, right to the city, vacant lots, property rights, squatters, Lower East Side, property ownership, community gardens

Demystifying Urban Agriculture in Detroit

Flaminia Paddeu — 2017-12-14T05:30:00Z

Urban agriculture projects in North American shrinking cities have been the subject of much media attention in recent years. Taking the example of Detroit as her starting point, Flaminia Paddeu asks what the real benefits of this practice are for the residents of cities in decline.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities The French documentary Demain, showcasing a world tour of ecological alternatives and viewed by more than a million people to date, depicts the city of Detroit as a Mecca of

- From the Field / deindustrialization, Rust Belt, Baltimore, urban agriculture, agriculture, farming, Detroit, Philadelphia, vacant lots, urban decay, shrinking cities, urban decline, Cleveland, smart shrinkage, urban shrinkage, degrowth, shrinkage, wasteland, revegetation, ecological transition, socio-ecological transition

The participatory production of temporary public spaces in times of crisis

2015-05-08T04:54:00Z

Are participatory measures a viable solution when it comes to developing urban spaces in times of crisis? According to the right-of-centre city council that came to power in Barcelona in 2011, the answer is “yes”, as reflected in the roll-out of its “empty spaces plan”, or “Pla Buits”, whereby the city subsidises associations and other groups in exchange for developing municipally approved activities on vacant urban lots, until such time as the coffers are replenished – and better uses found for

- From the Field / participation, public space, Spain, green spaces, Barcelona, urban agriculture, crisis, vacant lots, wasteland