Programme full

Thursday 16 April 2015 at 11:00 - 12:30
PAPER SESSION 4
Cities, Mobilities, Place and Space 1
M532, GEORGE MOORE BUILDING
‘Well It’s Not Like London Here’: The Role of Comparison in Narrations of Place
Byrne, B.
(University of Manchester)
Drawing on fieldwork in Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and London, with a range of different actors, including local
policy makers, workers and activists in local NGOS, this paper will consider the ways in which geographies of place
are mobilised through both comparison and differentiation. The research focuses on what can be seen as 'gateway'
areas for migration, with histories of both the long-term settlement of ethnic minorities and but transition and changing
populations. The paper will explore how areas are understood through particular representations of history and the
temporal dynamics of the different ethnic groups who have settled there. In addition it will trace the role of comparison
in narrating place – as the local is contrasted to other locals – both near and far. Thus, areas can be the 'same' as
everywhere else – unique either in its position as the best or worst exemplar of a characteristic (such as poverty,
ethnic tension, sense of community, diversity etc.). The paper will explore how places can become defined through the
assumed characteristics of the largest (or largest minority) ethnic group. Finally, the paper will explore the implications
of critiques of methodological nationalism for explorations of ethnicity which take areas and localities as their focus.
Impacts of Fleeting Encounters in Mixed Urban Neighbourhoods
Beisswenger, S., Hanhoerster, H., Weck, S.
(ILS - Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development)
Problems of social inequality are often addressed on the level of urban neighbourhoods by fostering residential
mixture. This is based on the assumption that spatial proximity encourages social mixing and helpful exchange
between residents of different capital endowment. Recent studies, however, have questioned these effects of
residential mixture and rather point to bordering and (s)elective belonging strategies of the capital-strong middleclasses
(Atkinson & Kintrea 2000, Blokland 2002, Butler & Robson 2003, Watt 2009, Wittebrood und Permentier
2011). Most of these recent studies focus on exchange within networks, exchanges that take place in mere encounter
settings are widely rated as of insignificant impact – 'ties without significance' (Granovetter 1973) – or discussed from
perspectives that do not focus on resource exchange (Valentine 2008, Vertovec 2007). This paper discusses if, under
which conditions and in which ways helpful exchanges between different social groups take place in mixed urban
neighbourhoods. This is done on basis of a questionnaire and interview survey conducted on inner city playgrounds –
representing foci of low social thresholds – and with families living in the neighbourhood. Results point not only to the
importance of single foci for the enhancement or hindrance of capital exchange but to a net of foci that evolves in
spatial and temporal perspective.
Migrants' Right to The City in a Marginalised Neighbourhood of Rome
Grazioli, M.
(University of Leicester)
Migrants' role in demanding change and social justice inside metropolises has always been controversial in relation to
their status as non-native, then supposedly subordinate beneficiaries of social citizenship's provisions. Nonetheless,
the progressive dismantlement of welfare has spotlighted its loss of centrality as an equalizer of the inequalities innate
to capitalist European societies. This has determined a shift from the ideal expansive drive of welfare to a rhetoric of
scarcity and sacrifice that is determining deep changes also in everyday urban government and management.
In the prolonged aftermath of the economic crisis, the notion of right to the city is thus becoming shaded with a
multifaceted array of quotidian, grassroots organisational forms, enacted by native and migrant dwellers together.
Indeed, they are experimenting a growing proximity in social marginality and labour precariousness, along with a deep
disillusionment in the effectiveness of existing institutions and political representativeness.
Therefore, this paper aims to rethink the abstract notion of right to the city from the perspective of the materiality of
migrants' autonomous organisational practices. In particular, it challenges static understandings of political
subjectivation by observing, first of all, migrants' mobile commons for fostering both mobility and settlement in the city;
secondly, by analysing the triggers for creating alliances with other political subjects. These elements will be
145 BSA Annual Conference 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University