— Workshop

II Workshop: Cooperation Project “Urban struggles for the Right
to the city and urban commons in Brazil and Europe”

[Project BR2018-8011. Joint Brazil-Swedish Collaboration in Research Program]

PRESENTATION/GENERAL JUSTIFICATIVE

This project aims to build a partnership between academics from Swedish and Brazilian universities who are currently researching in the areas of urban movements, urban sociology and urban planning.

More specifically, at the end of three years (2019-2022), a new collaborative network should be built between researchers from the Institute of Housing and Urban Research at the University of Uppsala (Sweden) and the School of Architecture at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, Brazil).

By bringing together a group of social scientists, architects, geographers and urban planners, from all stages of their careers, but with an important number of academics at the beginning of their careers, this project seeks to strengthen their research and higher education activities, offering the opportunity to collaborate with international colleagues and learn from their different theoretical structures, case studies and research results.

With a focus on different geographical, economic and social realities, the Swedish and Brazilian researchers who will collaborate in this project agree with the rapid proliferation of urban development processes, which have transformed European and Latin American cities into primary locations for the implementation of a neoliberal agenda. The growing gentrification of neighborhoods, the commercialization and privatization of housing stocks and public space, the displacement, evictions, criminalization and marginalization faced by urban communities and social movements are just some expressions of urban neoliberalism and its negative consequences for the lives of disadvantaged residents.

These strategies, however, were challenged by collective actors mobilized for the “exercise of collective power over the urbanization process” (Harvey, 2012, p.4), claiming their right to the city (Lefebvre, 1991); and rejecting the increasing commodification of urban spaces.

Although several similarities can be found between the past and ongoing analyzes carried out by Swedish and Brazilian scholars, so far they have concentrated on their particular regions, without being involved in an intercontinental perspective of urban neoliberalism and its challenges.

In addition, and since urban movements (such as housing struggles) and popular coalitions on (common urban goods) have rarely been studied from an intercontinental perspective, this project seeks to contribute to filling this gap, bringing together different case-studies researched by project partners in Latin America and Europe.

This will allow a systematic comparison of the characteristics, structures, praxis and results of movements, in order to advance a transnational approach to the study of urban movements.

OBJECTIVES

• Build a collaborative and international partnership between academics from the University of Uppsala (Sweden) and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), focused on the fields of urban movements, the right to housing and the right to the city.
• Promote international academic discussion and the exchange of knowledge on research on urban movements, the right to housing and the right to the city in European countries and Brazil.
• Develop an innovative comparative and transnational approach beyond the North Global / Global South division for the study of urban movements in Europe and Latin America.
• Strengthen academic collaboration and the reach impact through the exchange and involvement of project partners in teaching and outreach activities in Sweden and Brazil.
• Support the development of young researchers and PhD students at the beginning of their careers through exchange, training and scientific dissemination activities.

Espera-se que os trabalhos a serem apresentados durante o workshop abranjam, pelo menos, uma das duas principais razões desse projeto colaborativo (como descrito acima):

• Understand the implementation of a neoliberal urban agenda in Europe and / or Latin America (criticize, discuss strategies and possibilities of opposition, contestation)
• Understand the characteristics, structures, praxis and results of urban movements of the “right to the city / common goods” in Europe and / or Latin America

Comparisons between cases in Latin America and Europe are not necessary at this time. In fact, in this second stage of the initial phase, we will try to add cases from other countries, not just Sweden and Brazil, although these are included centrally.

A special focus should be given to theoretical frameworks, specific contexts related to case studies and research results, since collaborators may have different backgrounds and approaches. This meeting should serve to clarify these differences and seek common bases to advance.

In particular, a key theoretical concern of this project is how to understand the relationship between contentious politics (conflicts between movements and their opponents) and structural conditions (capitalist dynamics, class / gender / ethnic structures, urban development, political, discursive / cultural struggles over hegemony) that restrict these conflicts.

A few days before or after the workshop, we will visit experiences of activists at RMBH. Participation in the workshop is limited to participants from both teams, but several external contributions will also be accepted. Undergraduate students, researchers, local scholars and other interested people (activists, artists, etc.) can also be invited to the workshop if space is available (up to 40 places).

OUR GUESTS

Miguel Martinez
IBF-Uppsala University

Don Mitchell is Professor of Cultural Geography at Uppsala University (since 2017) and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography in the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. From an academic household in California, he is a graduate of San Diego State University (1987), Pennsylvania State University (1989) and received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1992, working with Neil Smith. He taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder before joining Syracuse in the late 1990s. In 1998, he became a MacArthur Fellow, and in 2008 a Guggenheim Fellow. He was awarded the Anders Retzius Medal from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography in 2012.

Don Mitchell

Don Mitchell is Professor of Cultural Geography at Uppsala University (since 2017) and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography in the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. From an academic household in California, he is a graduate of San Diego State University (1987), Pennsylvania State University (1989) and received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1992, working with Neil Smith. He taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder before joining Syracuse in the late 1990s. In 1998, he became a MacArthur Fellow, and in 2008 a Guggenheim Fellow. He was awarded the Anders Retzius Medal from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography in 2012.

João Tonucci
FACE-CEDEPLAR UFMG

João Tonucci has a bachelor’s degree in Economic Sciences (UFMG), a master’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism (USP) and a doctorate in Geography (UFMG). He completed a doctoral internship at the City Institute at York University, Toronto. He is a professor of Regional and Urban Economics at the Center for Development and Regional Planning and the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Cedeplar / FACE / UFMG). He is also a collaborating professor in the Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism at EA / UFMG, and a researcher at the Belo Horizonte Nucleus of INCT Observatório das Metrópoles. He has experience in research, teaching and extension in the area of ​​Urban and Regional Planning, Urban Economics, Urban Theory, Economic Geography, Political Economy and Others Economies. His interests and lines of research include: Real Estate Dynamics and Metropolitan Space Production; Metropolitan Planning and Urban-Regional Policies; Common Resources and Land Property; Popular and Solidarity Economy and Other Economies; Housing, Urban Occupations and the Right to the City; Theories and Epistemologies of the Urban. He is the leader of the Research Group “URBANO – Laboratory of Studies in Urbanization, Planning and Others Economies”, based at Cedeplar / FACE / UFMG. 

Timo Bartholl
Coletivo Roça  and Department of Geography-UFF/Niterói

Timo Bartholl has a degree in “Geography of Developing Countries with a Focus on Latin America” from the Eberhard-Karls University in Tübingen, Germany (2006). During the study, in 2002/2003, he took undergraduate courses in Geography at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) with an exchange grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). Between 2003 and 2006, he worked in the context of World, Regional and Local Social Forums and conducted his master’s research by participating in the organizing process of the V. Intercontinental Youth Camp in Porto Alegre in 2004/2005 with support from DAAD. Since 2008 he lives and works with grassroots social movements in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, integrating, since 2010 the collective and community space “Roça!” in Timbau / Maré. He studied “Teaching of Elementary and Secondary Education” at Candido Mendes University (RJ) in 2009, with an internship at Centro Educacional Anísio Teixeira (CEAT) and served as a community teacher of English, German and Geography between 2008 and 2011. In 2011 he joined the course from PhD in Urban and Regional Planning at the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning (IPPUR / UFRJ) and in 2012 migrated to the PhD course in Geography (Urban-Regional Territorial Planning) at Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), where he graduated as a doctor CNPq scholarship between 03/2012 and 02/2014, and FAPERJ between 03/2014 and 02/2016. Member since 2012 and today coordinates, with the founder Rogério Haesbaert, the Center for Territorial and Resistance Studies in Globalization (NUREG / CNPq). In 2016/2 he served as Substitute Professor in the Department of Geography at the Multidisciplinary Institute of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (IM / UFRRJ), teaching the subjects Population Geography and Urban Geography, and in 2017/1 he served as a teacher in the PARFOR program. / UFRRJ, teaching the subject “Political Theory”. Between 2017/2 and 2018 he worked as an Associate Researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Loughborough / England in the NutriCities research project, aiming to reflect the relationship between the horizon of food sovereignty and the urban periphery. Since 6/2019, he is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography at UFF / Niterói. He teaches with a focus on Regional Geography and Geography of the World Blocks of Power and develops Geographies in movement (s): Geographies of social movements and territorial dynamics in urban peripheries and methods of community action research. In the social movement / university interface, it acts in the thematic lines “favelas as territories of resistance – grassroots work – economic collectivism – food sovereignty and agroecology”.

Geandra Nobre do Nascimento

Geandra Nobre, black woman from the urban periphery, drum master of the Bloco se Benze Que Dá. She has participated in a diversity of community mobilization processes in the favelas of the Maré, often together with the collective Roça!, of which she was co-founder in 2010 and which today works collectively in craft food production and maintains a community space in Timbau/Maré where it carries out cultural activities with adults and children, such as the Sarau Cultural and the Cineminha (www.roca-rio.com).

She is an actress and founder of the Cia Marginal, a theater group from the Maré that has existed since 2005, composing the cast of the shows “Você faz parte de uma guerra? (2005) (You are part of a war?), “Qual é a nossa cara?” (What is our face like?) (2007), “Ô, Lili” (2010), “In_Trânsito” (2013), “Eles não usam tênis naique” (They don’t wear Nike sneakers (2015) and “Hoje não saio daqui” (I’m not leaving here today) (2019) (https://www.facebook.com/ciamarginal).

In audiovisual works she was part of the supporting cast of the film “Elite squad II” (2014); acted in the short film “Rosália Marginal” (2016), in the film “Das nuvens pra baixo” (From the clouds downwards) (2015); acted in and produced the film “Relatos de exílios” (Reports from exiles) (2016). She acted in the short film “A mulher do fim do mundo” (The woman from the end of the world) (2018). She is currently part of the cast of the film “Breves miragens do sol” (Brief mirages of the sun) (2019).

In addition to her community involvement and work as an actress, she also worked as a theater educator in the project “Rede de Adolescentes Promotores de Saúde” (Network of Teenage Health Promoters) of the Municipal Health Secretariat and in the Centro de Referencia Maré Mulher – UFRJ (Women’s Reference Center of the Maré) and was a researcher in the project Musicultura of the UFRJ. She also was a researcher of the project NutriCities (2018-2019) which sought to reflect on the struggle for food sovereignty in the urban periphery (www.soberania-alimentar-mare.home.blog).

Silvia Regina Nunes Baptista
Coletiva Popular de Mulheres da Zona Oeste (CPMZO) 

Black and quilombola researcher, doctoral student at the Postgraduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning (IPPUR / UFRJ), Master of Science at PPGICS / ICICT / FIOCRUZ. She has a degree in Pedagogy from the Adventist School of Education and a specialization in Innovation Management in Phytomedicines. She has experience in social mediation, popular education, mobilization, popular communication, planning and participative management of projects and services. The frontiers of her research interests are set by agroecology and public health. Within the practical, theoretical and methodological limits of these fields, she works prioritizing the social construction of knowledge in networks territories constituted by interdisciplinary actions between education, information and communication in health as focus of investigation. She adopts as keywords: agroecology, education, feminism, health information and communication, network territory, social production of space; traditional peoples and communities, traditional and local knowledge, social construction of knowledge. She developed the research called “Oral communication in sociotechnical networks oriented to medicinal plants: the relationship between scientific information and traditional knowledge”. Currently participate in Ethnobotanical action research and conservation applied to medicinal plants as subsidies for the introduction of native species from the Amazon Biome in the Universal Health System of Oriximiná – Pará, Brazil (Fitorixi Project), she is the administrative director of the Vargem Grande Organic Farmers Association (Agrovargem), she is co-author of the Political Convergence Project in Vargens: The Empowerment of Women and Youth, where she works as a volunteer.

Caren Freitas
Coletiva Popular de Mulheres da Zona Oeste (CPMZO) 

Graduada em economia , especialista em Planejamento Urbano e Regional pelo IPPUR/UFRJ. É mestre pelo Programa de Pós Graduação em Desenvolvimento Territorial e Políticas Públicas pela UFRRJ. Participante da Rede Carioca de Agricultura Urbana e da Coletiva Popular de Mulheres da Zona Oeste. Faz parte da coordenação do projeto Mulheres em ação  e também da ABED – Associação Brasileira dos Economistas pela Democracia do Rio de Janeiro.

André dal’Bo

Urbanist architect graduated from the State University of Campinas (2009), master (2013) and doctor (2019) from the Institute of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo, with a research internship at the Université de Paris Nanterre (2017). He has experience in research and teaching in the area of ​​architecture, urbanism and urban planning, acting mainly on the following themes: cities, social movements, neoliberalism, neoliberal subjectivity and space production.

Isadora Guerreiro

She is a postdoctoral researcher at the FAU-USP Public Space and Right to the City Laboratory (Labcidade), supervised by Profa. Dr. Raquel Rolnik. Graduated (2005), Master (2010) and Doctorate (2018) in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of São Paulo. Former coordinator of Coletivo Usina – Work Center for the Inhabited Environment. Her research line is linked to the production of Housing, Urban and Territorial Planning, Public Policies and Popular Movements, articulating the local reality of Brazil with the conjuncture of global financial predominance.

Harley Silva

Professor at Facecon-UFPA. PhD in Economics from Cedeplar-UFMG, CNPq fellow. Visiting researcher, with a Doctorate-Sandwich scholarship abroad from Capes, at the Tropical Conservation and Development, at the University of Florida (Nov / 2014 – Aug / 2015). Master in Demography (Cedeplar-UFMG 2008), with a degree in Economics (2005) and History (1998) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. He works as a professional, teacher and researcher in the areas of urban and regional economics, metropolitan urban planning, socioeconomic development in the Brazilian Amazon, urban-environmental planning and development, space organization and the environment.