Conflicts, contestations and confrontations are increasingly recognized as common elements of life in contemporary cities across the globe. The exacerbation of inequalities, on various registers, has contributed to this, characterized in multiple intersecting ways by complexity, segregation and unpredictable flows of people, goods and information. The city is therefore a locus for contestations around space itself, foregrounding the importance of spatial perspectives and analyses. Austerity regimes have in some contexts intensified conflicts over urban resources, infrastructures, participation, income and other opportunities in cities in diverse geographical contexts. Such contexts provide distinct but relationally connected conditions through which urban contestations unfold. Thinking through such diversity based on different case studies can shed new light on common and contrasting dynamics that drive urban conflicts, and can help us question common terms such as resistance, power and social change.
Urban contestations can take a variety of forms, ranging from everyday actions to more open confrontations and the more “spectacular” violence of riots. They can also operate as catalysts for new subjectivities, initiatives and imaginaries of urban life. Can we learn from the nature, dynamics and aftermaths of urban contestations to identify opportunities for more equitable urban futures? And what conceptual, methodological and theoretical tools might urban research need to progress in this task? This collection examines these contestations, processes and challenges in cities in different contexts. The articles individually speak to common themes of power, possession, movement, agency and governance from their own specific geographical contexts, but together produce a collection that can help scholars elucidate fundamental dynamics in urban political life.
This collection of papers stems from two sessions on urban contestations organized by the guest editors at the 7th Nordic Geographers Meeting in Stockholm, June 2017, and we would here like to thank and acknowledge the input made by all participants to making this a thriving academic encounter. We also acknowledge the financial support by FORMAS (Grant No: 2015-01315) for the project “Urban Riots” that made the meeting possible.