Infrastructures for disorder. Applying Sennett’s notion of disorder to the public space of social housing neighbourhoods

This paper contributes to the debate on whether introducing too much order into urban regeneration processes hinders social life and interaction in the public space. It engages with Sennett’s call for introducing certain kinds of disorder into city life. While this debate has been addressed in urban literature, many urban regeneration processes in social housing neighbourhoods have attempted to remove all kinds of disorder from the city, thus removing urban life from the streets. This paper proposes ‘infrastructures for disorder’: strategies for intervention that create conditions for the unplanned use of the public realm in social housing estates.     

Resilient urban forms: A macro-scale analysis

Cities need to build on their resilience to cope with a broad range of natural and manmade hazards that threaten their competitiveness, livability, and functionality. Recognizing this need, the resilience concept is increasingly used as an organizing principle to guide research design and facilitate a more informed decision-making process. However, despite the abundance of studies on urban resilience, research on the link between urban form and resilience is limited and fragmented. This study sheds more light on this issue by reviewing and synthesizing theoretical and empirical evidence on how physical structure of cities can facilitate or hinder urban resilience. Acknowledging that each city is located within a nested hierarchy of scales that is characterized by cross-scale dynamics, only the macro-level aspects and elements of urban form are analyzed in this paper. These are namely ‘scale hierarchy’, ‘city size’, ‘development type’, ‘degree of clustering’, and ‘landscape/habitat connectivity’. Key criteria and indicators for analyzing resilience of each element/aspect are specified and used to discuss how macro-scale urban form is related to various resilience properties such as robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness, modularity, flexibility, adaptability, and efficiency. Findings indicate that urban form has major implications for social, ecological, and economic functionality of cities and can play a key role in enhancing their resilience and sustainability.     

Contemporary tendencies in Colombian urban planning: the case of the ‘Planes Parciales’ in Medellín

After decades of internal conflict, Colombia is experiencing economic growth and urbanization. It remains, however, one of the most socially unequal countries in Latin America. Medellín, acclaimed the most innovative city, implemented large-scale transport infrastructures to link socially excluded areas to the city; new educational and cultural facilities; new public spaces and housing projects, rooted in the Barcelona model. This so-called ‘social urbanism’ has shifted local perceptions, though its socio-economic impact has been questioned. This paper focuses on the less analysed transformations in planning policy and management through two instruments: the Land Use Plan (Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial – POT) and the ‘Plan Parcial’. The research, based on a desktop review, interviews and site visits, examines the application of these instruments in Medellín, reflecting on how they contribute to achieving the aims of ‘social urbanism’. The paper explores the differences between ‘rhetoric’ and practice that are reflected in those between the city’s overarching plan (POT) and the implementation of ‘planes parciales’, focusing on redevelopment, urban renewal and urban expansion. Such differences mirror the deficiencies in the adaptation of the ‘urban project’ Barcelona model in Medellín, and provide the basis for a call to develop ‘social urbanism’ that is genuinely more socially, territorially comprehensive and inclusive.     

Differentiated Urban Citizenship and Housing Rights: Analysing the Social Impacts of Urban Redevelopment in Globalizing Istanbul

There is growing interest in the transformation of urban citizenship and the changing right to the city of the urban poor under neoliberal restructuring of cities in the Global South. This article examines a ‘squatter settlement transformation project’ in Istanbul that is intended to contribute towards the transformation of Istanbul into a global city. The transformation projects are based on private homeownership, incorporate the urban poor into a new ‘property regime’ and allocate them differentiated access to housing in the city. Using qualitative data, this article traces the unequal outcomes of the project for its displaced residents and demonstrates the emergence of ‘differentiated urban citizenship’. This emergent urban citizenship regime in Turkish cities organizes the distribution of substantive housing rights based on social inequalities among the urban poor, and thus consolidates and perpetuates these inequalities in society.     

The unraveling of Amsterdam’s unitary rental system

The Netherlands has traditionally been considered an iconic ‘unitary’ rental housing market in which social and private sectors directly compete. More recently however, this unitary market has been undermined by changes in the status of housing associations, the privatization of social housing stock and the promotion of home ownership. It has subsequently been suggested that the Netherlands is drifting toward a ‘dualist’ system in which social and private sectors are critically unequal. This paper takes on this claim, providing, on the one hand, palpable evidence of the waning influence of the unitary housing system in the Netherlands and, on the other, a deeper examination of processes of dualisation as well as the outcomes. We focus on Amsterdam, where housing privatization has been most intense. We specifically draw on a geospatial analysis of changing tenure distributions at the neighbourhood level as well as a household analysis of the shifting profile of tenants and home owners to show how the unitary rental market, which helped establish Amsterdam as an iconic ‘just city’, has been unraveling. We demonstrate the relevance of the unitary/dualist model to understanding contemporary urban processes, especially those featuring social and economic polarization.     

Building Competitiveness and Cohesion: The Role of New Housebuilding in Central Scotland's Cities

This paper begins by mapping out the ways in which new private housebuilding may impinge on two of the key themes of contemporary urban policy, economic competitiveness and social cohesion. It then examines aspects of this relationship in more depth, drawing on evidence from Central Scotland. First, it considers the pattern of new housing provision in two adjacent city regions. Second, it examines buyers' choice of new housing per se and between higher density, urban locations versus lower density suburban locations for new housing. Third, it looks at the role of new building in promoting social cohesion/integration. A mixture of sources of evidence are drawn on, particularly surveys of residents of selected new housing schemes and existing neighbourhoods in Central Scotland, but also linked analyses of planning and market data. The conclusions draw attention to the significant role of new housebuilding in supporting city competitiveness and regeneration, at the same time as its rather uneven contribution to sustainability and balanced communities becomes apparent. This leads to some positive pointers for policy while recognising the inherent conflicts between different dimensions of social cohesion.     

Maintaining an Arm's Length? Housing,Community Governance and the Management of ‘Problematic’ Populations

This paper examines how contemporary social problems of community care, anti-social behaviour, ethnic and racial tensions and the housing of sex offenders are conceptualised in UK housing and urban policy. It explores how and why the populations of social housing areas disproportionately bear the risks arising from these social problems, and how the responses of these populations are subsequently problematised. The redefining of social landlords' roles in managing ‘problematic’ populations is explored, and similarities in the responses to social problems in both private and social housing developments are identified, based around parochial ‘community’ forms of governance. The paper concludes that the increasing secession of local housing governance from a ‘public’ model of provision increases the ‘subsidiarity of responsibility’ upon deprived populations for managing social problems, reflecting a wider imbalance in the societal distribution of risks.     

A review of the role of urban agriculture in the sustainable city discourse

The debate on the role of urban agriculture in the sustainable city discourse remains unresolved in the conventional literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to review relevant literature to clarify the role of urban agriculture in sustainable cities. The search for literature was guided by themes such as: a) urban agricultural practices, b) indicators for the measurement of sustainable cities, c) economic, social and environmental benefits of urban agriculture, and d) negative effects of urban agriculture on the city. The results from a synthesis of the literature indicate that urban agriculture supports the economic, social and environmental sustainability of cities. However, if the discussion gives credence to only the economic dimension of sustainability, then urban agriculture loses the debate. This is because the economic benefits of prime city land that is used used for non-agricultural purposes (such as commercial or industrial) is profound. However, the social and environmental functions of responsible urban agriculture, particularly in reducing the rift between urbanisation and nature, may be difficult to quantify. These social and environmental functions underscore the importance of urban agriculture in the city landscape. The paper concludes by arguing that focussing on only economic sustainability in the urban agriculture-sustainable city discourse is a travesty of the idea of sustainable development. The paper presents practical steps that can be taken to preserve agriculture in cities towards their sustainability.     

Parisian eco-districts: low energy and affordable housing?

This paper examines how policies and practices for affordable housing in Paris, especially ‘green’ housing for the poor, are being subverted to retain or attract the middle class: the ‘greentrification’ of lower-class neighbourhoods. From the 1960s onward, many middle- and working-class households have left Paris due to de-industrialization and the city’s high housing costs. To bring these middle classes back, the municipality initiated a policy calling for increased social diversity, using social housing as its main policy tool. In France the provision of public housing is legally mandated, and compared with international standards, the income ceilings for gaining access to it are high. Thus, municipalities may pursue urban renovation and construct social housing for the middle class to replace substandard buildings occupied by low-income populations. The Paris municipality has established ‘green’ residential eco-districts known as ‘eco-quartiers’. In the national eco-district programme, the neighbourhoods must meet environmental performance criteria, show potential for economic development, and provide social and functional diversity. Thus, housing location and price must fit the needs of the existing residents. However, most ‘green’ subsidized housing in Paris is for the middle class. Social diversity has become a means of redistribution: more middle class and fewer poor people.     

Exploring the ‘Just City principles’ within two European sustainable neighbourhoods

The objective of this paper is to analyse and compare in detail the social structure of the two most acclaimed European sustainable neighbourhoods, which have had a completely different implementation approach: bottom-up urban development in Vauban (Freiburg) and top-down urban development in Western Harbour (Malmö). The goal is to uncover the unrevealed urban elements that determine social sustainability. The paper uses an innovative methodological framework - the Fainstein’s ‘Just City’ concept, which encompass several social determinants within three main pillars/principles: democracy, equity and diversity. The ‘Just City’ principles and its determinants add a new perspective to social urban manifestation encompassing ‘social justice’ and ‘local governance’ dimensions. These dimensions represent innovative research approaches in exploring urban social sustainability. Through the Just City framework, the social structure of the two representative case studies is dissected to establish the level of urban social sustainability in each urban area. The aim of the paper is to answer to the question: “Do the most acclaimed leading sustainable neighbourhoods embody democratic values, assure equality and respect (allow) diversity?”     

On the Social Relations of Contract Research Production: Power,Positionality and Epistemology in Housing and Urban Research

The growing interest in reflexive social science has been matched by a voluminous literature on the epistemological consequences of positionality in social research. Inter-subjectivist approaches to positionality emphasise how social interactions within the field produce ‘interpretative moments’ and thereby consciously affect the process of knowledge production. Objectivist approaches to positionality emphasise the ‘background thinking’ that social researchers carry into the field, unexamined, as occupants of social positions that are class, gender etc. based. It follows that this (class, gendered) background thinking unconsciously influences the process of knowledge production. However, since this literature has had little impact on the field of housing and urban research, its relevance to these fields remains to be established and vice versa. In this paper, I discuss both of these approaches and find them helpful but limited in their relevance to housing and urban research. Since housing and urban research tends to be undertaken on behalf of ‘policy funders’, I argue that constant exposure to the ‘disciplinary gaze’ of those funders means that the positionality of housing and urban researchers is also moulded during the course of the academic career. This means that the positionality of housing and urban researchers is not simply established within the field nor carried into the field. Rather, the positionality of housing and urban researchers develops over time of constant exposure to the ‘disciplinary gaze’ of research funders and manifests itself in what Foucault refers to as ‘docility’, i.e. research practices intuitively and uncritically oriented to satisfying the needs and demands of research funders. I draw on my own research career experiences to demonstrate this argument and, in doing so, show how my docility manifested itself during recent ‘policy funded’ research into the housing and urban problems of visual impaired children.     

Housing entry pathways of refugees in Vienna,a city of social housing

This article presents the findings of an empirical study investigating refugees’ difficult entry into Vienna’s ‘tight’ housing market. Arguing that newcomers’ access to housing can be better understood by a closer look at the actors involved in the housing search process, an actor-centred approach is used. Complementing the constructivist pathway framework with a model of search based on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, four types of housing entry pathways could be identified. This study draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews with forced migrants who arrived in Austria in recent years. The analysis of newcomers’ housing entry pathways not only sheds light on the coordination structures at work in a city of social housing, but also on ‘good’ and ‘bad’ rental housing submarkets that have emerged in the course of the recent refugee movement. The paper concludes that a high proportion of social housing does not provide any indication that newcomers are granted better access to secure affordable housing.     

Urban Form and Housing Density,Australian Cities and European Models: Copenhagen and Stockholm Reconsidered

Stockholm and Copenhagen have been widely regarded in English-speaking countries as exemplifying aspects of the compact city—from well planned, mixed use, higher density, transit-oriented development to sociable urban spaces. So how is it that the development of these two cities has also been located in the garden city tradition? This article tackles this question in the context of the implications European cities are often thought to have for low-density Australian cities. Comparisons of the urban form of Stockholm and Brisbane and of higher density housing in Copenhagen and Brisbane emphasise that the ‘Scandinavian model’ is as much about the role of open space in shaping urban form and in housing design as our current preoccupation with density.

     

Repackaging the poor? Conceptualising neoliberal reforms of social rental housing

This paper considers the need for conceptual renewal in comparative housing research. Since the mid-1990s, Kemeny’s model of ‘unitary’ and ‘dualist’ rental markets and Harloe’s classification of ‘mass’ and ‘residual’ social housing provision have been repeatedly recycled in comparative studies of ‘social’ and ‘public’ housing provision. Amidst international neoliberal policy mobilities, their models based on liberal welfare regimes wield particular power. Conceived during neoliberal cutbacks of public services, Kemeny’s ‘dualist’ rental market and Harloe’s ‘residual’ model of social housing similarly depict state-subsidised rental housing provision as bureaucratic, and targeted to the poor. Despite empirical change, these models are still used to describe liberal welfare regimes, and to theorise international policy convergence. Based on a review of recent market-oriented reforms of state-subsidised rental housing provision in the US, Australia and England; original neoliberal ‘sites of production’, this contribution asks whether these conceptual models still reflect the empirics. Findings diverge from the models, undermining their assumptions about how neoliberal reforms progress.     

Shelter,Location, and Livelihoods: Exploring the Linkages in Mexico City

For many low-income households in cities of the developing world, ‘self-help’ or informal housing provides not only their shelter, but also functions as a vital productive asset. The land accessible to the urban poor for informal housing, however, is often remotely located in the urban periphery. While providing access to shelter, such peripheral locations may undermine the potential of shelter to serve as a productive asset, especially for women whose mobility is constrained by their dual roles as care-givers and wage-earners. This research explores how location influences the potential of housing to serve as a productive asset in two informally settled communities in different parts of Mexico City. The paper argues that the ‘right to shelter’ associated with informal housing needs to be ‘scaled-up’ to include the ‘right to the city’ through closer consideration of the linkages among shelter, location, and livelihoods. Such a policy focus necessarily situates housing in a broader socio-spatial context and would serve to complement the prevailing emphasis on community or place-specific upgrading activities in informal or low-income settlements. Finally, the paper raises questions about the role of planning in improving the livelihood opportunities of lower-income households.     

The Private Finance Initiative in English Council Housing Regeneration: A Privatisation too Far?

Despite the enormous body of scholarship that has tracked the transformation of social housing from the ‘public housing model’ of the welfare state era to the ‘social housing model’ of today, large gaps remain in our understanding of this shift. This paper addresses on one such vacuum—the controversial use of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as part of the Labour Government's Decent Homes programme in England. Focusing on ‘council housing’ schemes, a critical overview is presented of the housing PFI experience so far. The main purpose is to understand the motives and drivers behind the use of PFI in housing at different scales, assess the progress of the national PFI programme and explore the significant issues, controversies and challenges encountered. The paper concludes that PFI has proved to be more complicated and expensive than its proponents predicted and should be discontinued in the social housing sector.     

Sustainable homes,or simply energy-efficient buildings?

Environmental consideration within the Swedish construction sector can no longer be considered marginal. It is here discussed whether the same commitment is extended to facilitate deeper dimensions of sustainability in the provision of housing, beyond simply energy-efficient residential buildings? The paper presents the case of a multi-family ‘green’ residential area being developed in Göteborg, Sweden. An interview study with the seven housing developers building in the area provides primary empirical insights, further complemented by findings from a workshop with architects involved in the project. Conceptualizations of sustainability in housing are explored, based in discourses among these market actors. Issues identified in the inductive data analysis relate to the ambitions set and measures taken in new ‘green’ building, as well as market perceptions of housing standards, lifestyles and household configurations that are reproduced in the built environment. The paper shows that interpretations of sustainability in market-led housing development do not radically challenge the normative and resource intense contemporary ideals surrounding the urban home and that the realization of goals undertaken in the case of Kvillebäcken is generally dependent on economic considerations and market assessments. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes the need to formulate an integrative approach to more holistic sustainable residential environments.     

Historical continuity and post‐1945 urban redevelopment: the example of Lee Bank,Birmingham, UK

The reconstruction of British cities following World War II is characterized by a marked gap between the rhetoric and the reality. Visions for ideal cities, in particular those growing out of the modern movement in architecture, were diluted and warped by the ‘messy’ business of reconstructing actual cities, filled with real people whilst operating within democratic structures. This paper examines elements of this confrontation of the ideal and the real, by looking at the context for changes to the urban fabric within a single housing estate in Birmingham, self‐nominated ‘second city’ of Britain. The overarching theme is of historical continuity and change – the extent to which the urban fabric has been destroyed and remade. As such, the paper examines not only the nominally ‘modern’ post‐war reconstruction, but also how a contemporary, ‘post‐modern’ phase of redevelopment is dealing with the city form created in the 1950s and 1960s.     

High-rise Dubai urban entrepreneurialism and the technology of symbolic power

Twenty-first century metropolises are often engaged in a rivalry for primacy in many different geographical scales. Dubai, a relatively new urban settlement, is not immune from such endeavor. The Emirate has undertaken an impressive urban revolution in a rather explicit attempt to become a novel New York.This viewpoint explores the present evolution of the city, illustrating how a centralized and hyper-entrepreneurial approach has characterized Dubai’s attempt to ascend in the ‘world urban hierarchy’ and establish itself as the image of the 21st century metropolis. Contrary to much of the eulogistic take that often features in city rankings, an analysis of this venture through the city’s contemporary urban restructuring unveils the problematic social effects of Dubai’s quest for “symbolic power” – that technique of ‘worldmaking’ that confers influence by constituting the given by stating and mediating it. The compulsive sprawl of ‘icons’ and ‘vertical cities’ associated with this practice might set the Emirate on a perilous course with disastrous social consequences. In this view, the article draws upon some of the most astonishing works-in-progress of this city – and the Burj Dubai in primis – to explain the complexity of this power, and the many contradictions that can arise with it as quickly as Dubai’s skyscrapers.     

How participatory processes impact children and contribute to planning: a case study of neighborhood design from Boulder,Colorado, USA

Young people have much to offer urban planning, yet are not often included in such processes. A unique partnership in Boulder, Colorado, provides a venue for young people’s participation in city planning. Boulder is in many ways a learning laboratory with progressive ideals and sustainability thinking. As the city began planning for its Comprehensive Housing Strategy, tensions about the future of density within the city emerged. Participatory planning can have significant impacts on children and can also contribute new ideas to planning processes. In this study, young people demonstrated attitudinal changes toward government, increased recognition of diverse needs within a city, and integration of social and environmental sustainability into their recommendations for neighborhood planning.