Contested Cities and Urban Activism

Editors: Yip, Ngai Ming, Martínez López, Miguel A., Sun, Xiaoyi (Eds.)

About this book

Contested Cities and Urban Activism

This edited volume advances our understanding of urban activism beyond the social movement theorization dominated by thesis of political opportunity structure and resource mobilization, as well as by research based on experience from the global north. Covering a diversity of urban actions from a broad range of countries in both hemispheres as well as the global north and global south, this unique collection notably focuses on non-institutionalised or localised urban actions that have the potential to bring about radical structural transformation of the urban system and also addresses actions in authoritarian regimes that are too sensitive to call themselves “movement”. It addresses localized issues cut off from international movements such as collective consumption issues, like clean water, basic shelter, actions against displacement or proper venues for street vendors, and argues that the integration of the actions in cities in the global south with the specificity of their local social and political environment is as pivotal as their connection with global movement networks or international NGOs. A key read for researchers and policy makers cutting across the fields of urban sociology, political science, public policy, geography, regional studies and housing studies, this text provides an interdisciplinary and international perspective on 21st century urban activism in the global north and south.

About the authors

Ngai Ming Yip is Professor at the Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on housing activism as well as movement networks of homeowner activists in China and has published an edited volume entitled Neighbourhood Governance in Urban China(2014).

Miguel Angel Martínez López is Professor of Housing and Urban Sociology at the IBF (Institute for Housing and Urban Research), Uppsala University, Sweden. A sociologist and political scientist, his academic work deals with urban movements, anti-neoliberal struggles, autonomous social movements, citizen participation, urban sociology and urban politics.

Xiaoyi Sun is an Assistant Professor at School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, China. Her research focuses on environmental politics, contentious politics, and urban governance in China.

Table of contents (12 chapters)

Introductory Remarks and Overview
Yip, Ngai Ming (et al.)

Framing Urban Movements, Contesting Global Capitalism and Liberal Democracy
Martínez López, Miguel Angel

Housing Activism Against the Production of Ignorance: Some Lessons from the UK
Slater, Tom

Urban Food Activism in Athens: Recovering More Autonomous Forms of Social Reproduction
Morales-Bernardos, Inés

From Obedience to Resistance: Understanding Equal Rights to Education Movement as a Cultural Process
Liu, Anqi

Has Urban Cycling Improved in Hong Kong? A Sociopolitical Analysis of Cycling Advocacy Activists’ Contributions and Dilemmas
Tan, Hongze (et al.)

Urban Activism in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Deprived and Discontented Citizens Demanding a More Just City
Roitman, Sonia

From the Squatters’ Movement to Housing Activism in Spain: Identities, Tactics and Political Orientation
González, Robert

Squatted Social Centres Activists and ‘Locally Unwanted Land Use’ Movements in Italy: A Comparative Analysis Between Two Case Studies
Piazza, Gianni (et al.)

‘We Are Quality Citizens of Bangkok Too’: Urban Activism in Bangkok During the 2011 Floods
Marks, Danny

The Evolution of Housing Rights Activism in South Korea
Lee, Seon Young

The Squatters’ and Tenants’ Movement in Buenos Aires. A Vindication of Centrality and the Self-Managed Production of Space
Díaz-Parra, Ibán