Infra-structural violence: On the violence that holds us together

How to define, and conceptualise, violence? This is a problem the social sciences and humanities have long wrestled with, often framing violence as an abstract, moral, and normative question, which prevented them from capturing its complexity. Violence, we suggest, is a tensional force that is constitutive of and immanent to social, material, and spatial relations, simultaneously weaving them together and threatening to disrupt them. At the same time, violence cannot be reduced to an epiphenomenon of an overarching process such as capitalism: it does not simply result from the unfolding of structures and global processes. Rather, it takes material existence in the frictional encounter with these very structures and processes. In this article, we build on and push beyond recent theorisations on infrastructure and infrastructural violence to introduce the concept of ‘infra-structural violence’ – where the hyphen emphasises the relational, tensional, and somatic in-between – as a way to rework symbolic, economic, and other notions of structural violence towards an ontological, epistemological, and ethical ‘statics’ of violence, which is attuned to its disruptive, constructive, and preserving qualities.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Planning (in) the next century? On the futures of planning that are already here

What if the problem with planning was its very relation with normativity and future? In this article, we challenge the idea that “the future that we want” can be designed in the sense that planning has historically done—by imagining a future that should be sought by action in the present. In so doing, we explore the possibility of planning as a strategy to release the futurial, excessive presences that already exist in the present, through Stefano Harney and Fred Moten's notion of “fugitive planning,” and Giorgio Agamben's idea of “destituent power.”info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

FEARSCAPES. SENTIMENTI DI PAURA, RETORICHE SULLA SICUREZZA E PIANIFICAZIONE URBANA NELLA CITTA' CONTEMPORANEA.

La ricerca Fearscapes affronta l’analisi delle relazioni tra sentimenti di paura – connessi al pericolo di essere vittime di crimine nello spazio urbano –, discorsi di paura – testi diretti alla generazione di sentimenti di paura –, politiche e pratiche urbane, forme spaziali della città contemporanea. A partire dagli anni ‘90, nelle città occidentali, ad una diminuzione dei volumi di criminalità corrispondono accresciute sensazioni di insicurezza. Nella convinzione che esista un uso strumentale dei discorsi di paura per giustificare politiche e pratiche, Fearscapes analizza, dal punto di vista della pianificazione urbana, questioni come le politiche urbane di sicurezza, processi di fortificazione, privatizzazione e militarizzazione dello spazio urbano

Comparative planning and housing studies beyond taxonomy: a genealogy of the special programme for rehousing (Portugal)

Recent European comparative studies in the fields of housing policy and spatial planning have been dominated by taxonomical and linear approaches, and by normative calls for convergence toward systems considered more ‘mature’ or ‘advanced’. In this article, we adopt a genealogical perspective and consider those cultures that are central to the shaping of policy. We set out a long-term exploration of the intersection between spatial planning and housing policy in Portugal and focus on the Special Programme for Rehousing (Programa Especial de Realojamento, PER), a programme that has had changing roles (from a financial instrument to a core component of policies of urban regeneration) in connection with political and planning cultures changing in time and space. In this way, we provide evidence of the limited capacity of taxonomic and linear approaches to describe planning and housing systems undergoing processes of change and, conversely, show the potential of genealogical research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Social housing policy or social policy for housing? The role of the Programa Especial de Realojamento (PER) in the housing/planning nexus in Portugal

Recent (European) comparative studies in the fields of housing policy and spatial planning have been dominated by taxonomical approaches (attempts at categorising systems and temporal stages of state action) and measures of the ‘maturity’ of national systems. In this paper, we adopt a genealogical perspective and consider (national and local) cultures central to the shaping of policy (differences and convergence). We set out a long-term, in-depth exploration of the planning-housing nexus in Portugal – a case that helps adding nuances to mainstream theorisation – and focus on the Programa Especial de Relojamento (PER; Special Programme for Rehousing), a programme that has had changing roles (from a financial instrument to a core component of policies of urban regeneration) in connection with political and planning cultures changing in time and space. Our goal is contributing to making sense of the intersection between planning cultures in transition and changing housing policy, namely the generalised shift toward regeneration and concurrent retrenchment of state action – and the relation among housing as welfare (‘social housing policy’) and housing as urban policy (‘social policy for housing’).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Social housing policy or social policy for housing? The role of the Programa Especial de Realojamento (PER) in the housing/planning nexus in Portugal

Recent (European) comparative studies in the fields of housing policy and spatial planning have been dominated by taxonomical approaches (attempts at categorising systems and temporal stages of state action) and measures of the ‘maturity’ of national systems. In this paper, we adopt a genealogical perspective and consider (national and local) cultures central to the shaping of policy (differences and convergence). We set out a long-term, in-depth exploration of the planning-housing nexus in Portugal – a case that helps adding nuances to mainstream theorisation – and focus on the Programa Especial de Relojamento (PER; Special Programme for Rehousing), a programme that has had changing roles (from a financial instrument to a core component of policies of urban regeneration) in connection with political and planning cultures changing in time and space. Our goal is contributing to making sense of the intersection between planning cultures in transition and changing housing policy, namely the generalised shift toward regeneration and concurrent retrenchment of state action – and the relation among housing as welfare (‘social housing policy’) and housing as urban policy (‘social policy for housing’).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digital mediated short-term rentals in the (post-)pandemic city

In this section, we reflect, both empirically and speculatively, on the perspectives for STRs and related digital platforms in the (post-)pandemic city, on the grounds of early signals of change in relation to spatial justice and institutional arrangements. The discussion is opened by Tulumello and Cocola-Gant, who, by investigating the case of Lisbon, Portugal, reflect on the flexible nature of platforms vis-a`-vis the (neoliberal) cloud of de- and re-regulation in housing and rental markets, discussing how this intersection allows STRs to adapt and succeed, also during the pandemic. Similarly, Iacovone explores the professionalisation of platform-mediated STRs and their adaptability to increasingly more flexible and malleable requests from the market – dimensions that allow them to successfully outcompete smaller actors. Finally, Pettas and Dagkouli–Kyriakoglou, by focusing on the case of Athens, Greece, discuss the ways STRs could be transformed into housing infrastructure for remote workers in connection to the restructuring of the post-pandemic labour market

Planning amid crisis and austerity : in, against and beyond the contemporary conjuncture

This article introduces the special issue ‘Planning amid crisis and austerity: in, against and beyond the contemporary juncture’. It starts by acknowledging two limits of the existing body of literature on the planning/crisis/austerity nexus: on the one hand, the excessive reliance on cases at the ‘core’ of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, with impacts on the understanding of austerity as a response to economic crises; and, on the other, the limited attention given to the impacts of austerity on planning, and their implications for planning practice and research. Based on the contributions in the special issue, the article reflects on some lessons learned: first, the need for a more nuanced understanding of the multiple geographies and temporalities of crisis and austerity; second, the problematic standing of planning practice and research in the face of crisis and austerity; and, third, the potential and limitations of (local) responses and grassroots mobilizations in shaping alternatives

Outcomes of Urban Requalification Under Neoliberalism: A Critical Appraisal of the SRU Model

The context of crisis and austerity has provided a legitimate alibi for the inscription of neoliberal narratives grounded in the virtues of the market in Portugal. In 2004 the state enacted a new model of ‘urban requalification’, enabling the creation of Urban Requalification Societies (SRU in the Portuguese acronym) that initiated entrepreneurial and discretionary models of decision and delivery beyond existing state bureaucracies. Based on both quantitative and qualitative evidence from the cases of Lisbon and Porto, this paper offers a critical appraisal of the efficacy of these organizations to secure the provision of affordable rental housing in situ and to maintain less resourceful families in the city centres. Results show that the SRU model, combined with restrictive funding schemes and neoliberal politics, which have promoted the gradual liberalization of rent controls and real estate speculation, have reinforced processes of social and spatial inequality