Cities of possibility: performing care-full urban justice

Abstract

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Urban theory has a well-documented set of knowledges on actually existing injustice shaping cities in the here and now. Inspired by a politics of possibility, weak theory, theories of situated knowledges and an understanding of knowledge-making as performative, this research project reveals moments where people are doing/thinking/being cities differently by uncovering actually existing justice and care in three urban commons. Viewing the everyday as a potentially transformative site and understanding utopia as a ‘process-of-becoming’ (Swyngedouw and Kaika, 2003: 16) I read the city for possibility. By developing connections between urban justice-thinking and care-thinking I argue for a new way of approaching the possibility of the city—a concept I term care-full urban justice. This research documents actually existing forms of care-full urban justice manifest in three urban commons in Sydney, Australia: The Women’s Library, Newtown; Our Place Support Centre, Enmore; and Alfalfa House organic food cooperative, Enmore. Through engaging in an average of 15 months volunteering at each organisation, along with conducting 36 semi-structured interviews, I explore how these spaces are brought into being through everyday material practices and connections. I demonstrate that much is possible through connecting the grounded, everyday, relational, and radical focus of care-thinking with the rich history of justice-thinking in urban theory. The insights gained offer new ways of thinking through the role of urban commons and reveal how care-full urban justice might be used as a theory to uncover actually existing practices of care and justice in the here and now