The high profile attributed to African urban economies in the global market, the promise of the evergreen ‘development project’ and the contradictions produced by the rapid urbanization process contribute to make African cities important... more
The high profile attributed to African urban economies in the global market, the promise of the evergreen ‘development project’ and the contradictions produced by the rapid urbanization process contribute to make African cities important domains for the affirmation and maintenance of hegemonic projects. The discourse about the city is a key terrain through which hegemony is fought.
Nairobi is a point in case, where power and discourse have been interwoven with the production of the city. Since independence, the World Bank and United Nations have largely influenced urban policies. Nowadays, new players and interests are engaged in this battle for ideas.
Four urban projects initiated in the last decade by actors operating at multiple political and geographic scales are analysed in the paper. The main objective is to reveal the imaginaries they embed and explain why they have become hegemonic.
Nairobi is a point in case, where power and discourse have been interwoven with the production of the city. Since independence, the World Bank and United Nations have largely influenced urban policies. Nowadays, new players and interests are engaged in this battle for ideas.
Four urban projects initiated in the last decade by actors operating at multiple political and geographic scales are analysed in the paper. The main objective is to reveal the imaginaries they embed and explain why they have become hegemonic.
... Angelelli, Mauro Baioni, Giorgia Boca, Ilaria Boniburini, Giovanni Caudo, Ferdinando Fava, Elisabetta Forni, Roberto Giannì, Maria Cristina Gibelli, Chiara Girotti, Graziella Guaragno, Elettra Malossi, Barbara Nerozzi, Giancarlo Paba,... more
... Angelelli, Mauro Baioni, Giorgia Boca, Ilaria Boniburini, Giovanni Caudo, Ferdinando Fava, Elisabetta Forni, Roberto Giannì, Maria Cristina Gibelli, Chiara Girotti, Graziella Guaragno, Elettra Malossi, Barbara Nerozzi, Giancarlo Paba, Raffaele Radicioni,Edoardo Salzano, Paola ...
This Cahier de la Faculté d’Architecture LaCambre-Horta aims to contribute to the scientific debate on the right to the city, exploring the variety of objects, processes, structures, and relations – both at the conceptual, abstract and... more
This Cahier de la Faculté d’Architecture LaCambre-Horta aims to contribute to the scientific debate on the right to the city, exploring the variety of objects, processes, structures, and relations – both at the conceptual, abstract and theoretical level as well as at the practical, experiential, and material one – that this idea has inspired. The publication offers multiple analysis of the relations between this concept and its application in the urban planning domain, providing a number of examples on how the concept of the right to the city can give practical guidance on urban development. The focus is thus on policies, programmes and projects that aim to intervene in the diverse processes of urbanization and different forms of urban structures and urbanity present in the northern and southern countries, addressing issues of equity, rights, democracy, differences (socio-economic, cultural, etc.) and ecology. The publication aims to explore the socio-spatial relations embedded in alternative approaches – at policy, planning and design level – and emergent practices of urban regeneration, upgrading, development, and management activated by grassroots movements, government agencies or different actors/institutions. This is the reason why we decided to explore the idea of the right to the city within the dialectical confrontation of “social politics” and “urban planning”.
The rationale of this Cahier rests on two main principles. First of all, cities are built on the basis of both semiotic and the material contributions, which means that both imaginaries and practices are fundamental in shaping the urban space, its physical form and technology, its socio-economic structure, the social and spatial relations, the subjectivities, the relations with nature, and the daily life reproduction. Second, as the neo-liberal hegemonic culture has emphasized the urban horizon and the city-level in all its physical, social and cultural aspects, the city is the place where oppositional discourses and practices take place. Alternative imaginaries can challenge prevailing worldviews, show the contradictions of the neo-liberal hegemonic project and propose various forms of alternative sets of norms, beliefs, ideals; while alternative practices emerge at various scales of contestation, springing from deprived and often marginalised local groups and places, but also as national projects: there is a need to analyse the variety of imaginaries and practices that in spite of, and because of, the hegemony of the neoliberal culture, are resilient or are emerging (see Boniburini infra).
The rationale of this Cahier rests on two main principles. First of all, cities are built on the basis of both semiotic and the material contributions, which means that both imaginaries and practices are fundamental in shaping the urban space, its physical form and technology, its socio-economic structure, the social and spatial relations, the subjectivities, the relations with nature, and the daily life reproduction. Second, as the neo-liberal hegemonic culture has emphasized the urban horizon and the city-level in all its physical, social and cultural aspects, the city is the place where oppositional discourses and practices take place. Alternative imaginaries can challenge prevailing worldviews, show the contradictions of the neo-liberal hegemonic project and propose various forms of alternative sets of norms, beliefs, ideals; while alternative practices emerge at various scales of contestation, springing from deprived and often marginalised local groups and places, but also as national projects: there is a need to analyse the variety of imaginaries and practices that in spite of, and because of, the hegemony of the neoliberal culture, are resilient or are emerging (see Boniburini infra).