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The Urban Politics of Squatters' Movements

Miguel A Martínez López editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan

Published:30th Aug '18

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Urban Politics of Squatters' Movements cover

This volume sheds light on the development of squatting practices and movements in nine European cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Rotterdam and Brighton) by examining the numbers, variations and significant contexts in their life course. It reveals how and why squatting practices have shifted and to what extent they engender urban movements. The book measures the volume and changes in squatting over various decades, mostly by focusing on Squatted Social Centres but also including squatted housing. In addition, it systematically compares the cycles, socio-spatial structures and the political implications of squatting in selected cities. This collection highlights how squatters’ movements have persisted over more than four decades through different trajectories and circumstances, especially in relation to broader protest cycles and reveals how political opportunities and constraints influence the conflicts around the legalisation of squats.

“The book achieved its aim in terms of tracing the change of the European squatter movement comprehensively. ... this vivid history of squatters’ battle against urban renewal, regeneration, and gentrification in Europe after the 1970s has a wide appeal for activists and researchers of urban social movements, gentrification, and urban policy.” (Meric Kirmizi, Sociological Research Online, February 10, 2019)

“The collection of essays presented in The Urban Politics of Squatters’ Movements presents a valuable resource for researchers by establishing a replicable methodology for application in different localities, having demonstrated the process for developing a community-driven knowledge bank spanning many geographies to add significant value to first-hand accounts from squatter communities. The act of mapping squatting activity in this way also provides a unique resource for researchers, decision-makers and policy developers … .” (Jack Barton, Housing Studies, Vol. 34 (6), 2019)

“The Urban Politics of Squatters’ Movementstherefore represents a useful contribution allowing readers to familiarize themselves with the complex and variegated history of squatting in Western Europe. … The edited volume is definitely recommended for activists, students and scholars willing to learn more about the histories of the squatting movements in Western Europe, emphasizing the importance of considering the (complex and dynamic) relations between squatters, formal institutions and urban processes of transformation.” (Cesare Di Feliciantonio, Antipode, April, 2019)

“This book is a collaborative product by a group of activists, academics and researchers working together, both online and offline, on squatting and squatters’ movements throughout Europe. … The book is a must for those working on squatters’ movements and will also be of benefit to researchers, academics and students in the wider field of urban studies, especially those studying urban social movements.” (International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, February, 28, 2019)


“The Urban Politics of Squatters’ Movements is an important contribution from an empirical perspective. It does not just provide a variegated description of the main features of squatting in the nine cities under analysis; it also looks at the past decades of squatting with a demystifying lens, revealing the constraints and repression to which squatter movements are always subjected.” (Carlotta Caciagli, Partecipazione e Conflitto, Vol. 11 (2), 2018)
“The Urban Politics of Squatters’ Movements provides a valuable addition to a growing body of literature documenting and analysing a modern history of urban squatter's movements across Europe. … this collection offers a detailed account of an array of urban squatting movements across Europe, the contents of which will be of interest to all sociologists concerned with social organisation, social change, and the social movements that arise out of (and contribute to) these key facets of sociological interest.” (Rhiannon Craft, thesociologicalreview.com, December, 2018)

ISBN: 9781349957934

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 454g

299 pages

Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018