Metropolitics

Manifested Stories

Rebecca Blythe Pryor — 2021-01-05T06:00:00Z

Rebecca Pryor traces the history of the revitalization of the Bronx River, illustrating an alternative narrative to the urban-frontier myth—one that centers Black and Brown communities and is community-generated.
At the beginning of the film The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), which takes place in the not-so-distant future, a curbside preacher asks passersby why San Francisco is only now cleaning the Bay when residents have lived by its toxicity for decades. The cleanup is not for us,

- From the Field / New York, Bronx, urban regeneration, revitalization, gentrification, community-based organizations

The Brazilian Experience of Financialization Through Urban Redevelopment: The Case of “Urban Operations”

Laisa Eleonora Marostica Stroher — 2020-12-01T06:00:00Z

Laisa Stroher examines the history of large-scale urban regeneration projects in Brazil and shows how a policy instrument initially designed to respond to a lack of public funding has morphed into a tool that has helped transform urban land into a financial asset, leading ultimately to the displacement of populations without delivering on the initial social promises.
---- Series: Cities in the Age of Financialization Large-scale urban development projects and their contradictions feature

- From the Field / financialization, urban regeneration, urban development, Urban Operations (Brazil), Brazil, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, redevelopment, urban planning, real estate, Latin America, South America, displacement

When Memory is Confined: Politics of Commemoration on Avenida 26, Bogotá

Violante Torre — 2020-04-07T05:00:00Z

After more than five decades of conflict, the Colombian capital, Bogotá, is undergoing processes not just of regeneration, but also of commemoration. The decision to create spaces of memory along one particular road in the city, Avenida 26, has highlighted the stark differences between neighborhoods on either side of its congested lanes—and runs the risk of reinforcing existing segregation.
Bogotá, Colombia, is a socially divided city in a post-conflict country marked by clashing spatial and

- From the Field / Colombia, Latin America, South America, Bogotá, conflict, urban regeneration, urban renewal, memory, commemoration, institution, memory-making

Deafening Discord: Reclaiming Residents' Anger in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Pierre Chabard & translated by Oliver Waine — 2018-10-26T05:00:00Z

We recently published an article showing how, in Roubaix in northern France, elected officials took steps to “prevent the creation of a cohesive residents' collective seeking to challenge an urban-renewal project that risks being imposed upon their neighborhood.” Pierre Chabard revisits this interpretation of the situation and shows that, while it is true that the association studied by the author of this article was systematically hindered, it was not the only initiative that tried to give a

- Debates / architecture, participation, housing, urban planning, working-class neighborhoods, urban renewal, urban regeneration, Roubaix, working classes, associations, Lille, mobilization, Hauts-de-France, Northern France, Nord–Pas-de-Calais

Silent Suppression: How Local Politicians Stifle Collective Action in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Julien Talpin & translated by Oliver Waine — 2018-10-19T05:00:00Z

Taking as its starting point a study of a neighborhood roundtable in the northern French city of Roubaix, this article examines the discreet but effective way in which public institutions, and local politicians in particular, have sought to thwart the collective action organized by local residents regarding an urban-renewal project. Working-class neighborhoods are all too often described as political deserts, but this experience shows this couldn't be further from the truth, and that in fact

- Debates / France, participation, housing, democracy, working-class neighborhoods, urban renewal, local councillors, local democracy, urban regeneration, Roubaix, working classes, associations, Lille, mobilization, Hauts-de-France, Northern France, Nord–Pas-de-Calais

Overcoming Decline Through Graffiti? The Case of the Open Space Gallery in Halle (Saale)

Nina Gribat — 2017-04-04T05:00:00Z

Open Space Gallery, a collective in Halle (Saale), Germany, turned the marginalized neighborhood of Freiimfelde into an open-air street-art gallery by painting the façades of vacant houses, improving the area's image—and, unintentionally, also its marketability. Nina Gribat examines how, following invitations by policymakers to participate in other projects, they have managed to walk the line between grassroots and mainstream action.
---- Series: Shrinking Cities Open Space Gallery (OSG;

- From the Field / Germany, urban regeneration, graffiti, urban decay, street art, community development, shrinking cities, Halle (Saale), makeshift urbanism, creative city, urban decline

Streetcars Named Desire

Luc Gwiazdzinski & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-03-15T06:00:00Z

Luc Gwiazdzinski provides an original and critical analysis of the changes affecting today's cities and contemporary urban production by focusing on the trams, streetcars and light-rail systems that increasingly form part of the urban landscape. He shows in particular how these vehicles, as vectors for urban regeneration, are used as tools for the “staging” of the city.
Humanity has always cultivated the art of storytelling – an art that is at the heart of social ties everywhere (Salmon

- Debates / public transportation, urban planning, governance, storytelling, transport, Strasbourg, urban regeneration, Bordeaux, Montpellier, mass transit, urban project, tramway, tram, streetcar, light rail, fictional urban planning, Tours

“Gentrification or ghetto”: making sense of an intellectual impasse

Anne Clerval & Mathieu Van Criekingen & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-01-29T06:00:00Z

The debate on the causes, effects and extent of the “gentrification” of working-class neighbourhoods in the central areas of our cities has animated (and divided) the fields of geography and urban sociology for the last decade or so in France. This debate was reignited in September 2013 by the publication of a book by Anne Clerval titled Paris sans le peuple (“Paris Without the People”). In this article, Anne Clerval and Mathieu Van Criekingen reply with force to those fellow researchers and

- Debates / France, ghetto, gentrification, segregation, urban renewal, social diversity, suburbanization, periurban, metropolis, urban regeneration, metropolization, metropolitan areas, urban geography, urban sociology, depoliticization

Nantes' urban project: putting the Bilbao model to the test

Amélie Nicolas & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-11-13T05:50:00Z

The experiences of Bilbao and its urban transformations have been shared and integrated into the urban-planning cultures of numerous European cities. In Nantes, the success of Bilbao initially inspired much of the strategic thinking and planning for the Île de Nantes project, until criticisms of the “Bilbao model” began to come to the fore, ultimately leading to the development of a “Nantes-style urban planning” that takes account of the city's specificities – and which could even be considered

- From the Field / urban planning, urban renewal, urban regeneration, heritage, Nantes, Bilbao, urban project, dissemination of urban references, flagship facility, culture-based economy, tourism, museum

Regeneration and the Legacy of Thatcherism

Juliet Carpenter — 2014-10-15T04:55:00Z

What was Margaret Thatcher's legacy in terms of the way inner-city areas are regenerated in the UK? Juliet Carpenter shows that while the highly market-driven approach of 1980s “urban development corporations” was later officially abandoned in favour of more community-led action, certain elements of the Thatcherite philosophy survived under New Labour, resulting in the “state-led gentrification” of Britain's cities.
Much has been written about Margaret Thatcher's legacy since her death in

- Essays / urban renewal, inequalities, liberalism, deindustrialization, urban development, United Kingdom, territorial development, urban regeneration, redevelopment, Thatcher, centralism