Contested
urbanisms:
Equity
planning
and
the
remaking
of
socio-spatial
peripheries
in
Medellín
Speaker:
Luisa
Sotomayor
PhD,
MCIP,
RPP
Dr.
Luisa
Sotomayor
is
an
Assistant
Professor
in
the
Faculty
of
Environmental
Studies
at
York
University,
where
she
is
also
the
Coordinator
of
the
MES
Planning
Program.
Her
research
and
teaching
focus
on
urban
inequalities,
governance,
urban
politics,
community
planning
and
housing.
Luisa
holds
a
PhD
and
a
M.Sc.
in
Planning
from
the
University
of
Toronto,
and
a
B.A.
in
Sociology
from
the
National
University
of
Colombia.
This
paper
investigates
the
politics
of
social
housing
in
contemporary
Medellín
as
an
ongoing
process
of
remaking
of
socio-spatial
peripheries,
where
several
entities
of
state
are
deeply
implicated.
I
engage
with
these
processes
in
a
city
that,
like
others
in
the
Americas,
is
characterized
by
high
levels
of
segregation
and
urban
inequality.
In
particular,
I
examine
Medellín’s
urban
policies
in
relation
to
the
making
of
Ciudadela
Nuevo
Occidente,
a
new
large-scale
social
housing
development
complex
sponsored
directly
by
the
national
government
to
produce
20,000
new
mid-rise
social
housing
units
in
the
city’s
northern
peri-urban
area.
Based
on
this
case,
I
aim
to
transcend
some
of
the
concepts
that
are
typically
employed
to
analyze
urbanization
dynamics
in
low-income
cities
of
the
Global
South,
such
as
informality,
regularization
and
upgrading
to
instead
focus
on:
first,
the
complex
state-society
relationships
that
exist
in
spaces
that
are
typically
auto-constructed;
second,
the
role
of
the
state
as
a
large
and
ambivalent
entity
operating
under
contradictory
rationalities
in
the
formulation
and
implementation
of
urban
policy;
and
third,
the
new
forms
of
urban
life
and
the
politics
that
may
emerge
out
of
these
contexts.
Everyone
is
welcome
to
attend!
Light
refreshments
will
be
provided.
For
more
information
about
this
event
please
contact AGP.
Contested
urbanisms: