STREAM 5: The new urban alternatives

Cities are contested spaces where actors in asymmetric power relations struggle over different conceptions of urban development, justice, planning and politics. By overtly rejecting the neoliberal rationale, grassroots movements aim to re-establish direct democracy and launch new approaches to commoning, social solidarity and alternative values that may crack capitalism.

This stream calls for papers on socio-spatial justice which address the questions below. In addition, it aims to explore the potential of audio-visual methodologies. 

1)  What does the right to the city, social and spatial justice mean in different socio-economic and political contexts?

2)  How have collaborations between social movements and local governments brought about new urban policies and politics?

3)  What is the emerging role for social movements in relation to local, regional and central governments in places in political transition?

4)  How do anti-capitalist movements construct urban social spatial relationships?

5)  What potential is there for visual methodologies and what challenges do they pose?