Special Issue "Urban Inequality and Exclusion"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Andreas Koch
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Geology, and Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, University of Salzburg, Austria
Interests: social geography; urban inequality and poverty; geospatial modelling and simulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The past ten or so years have been characterized by recurring crises, including the financial and economic crisis, the migration and refugee crisis, and the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, the climate change crisis is a long-enduring crisis. Although all these crises affect global society comparably in principle, cities are impacted more severely and comprehensively, because they represent places where social, political, economic, and cultural conflicts are tightly and densely interrelated. In fact, a continuously growing urban population will accentuate the effects of crises in the future.

Political and societal measures which seek to cope with problems of urban inequality and mechanisms of exclusion have long been available, and have been further developed to date. Human and civil rights in general and the right to the city [1] or the right to housing movements in particular, illustrate an endeavor to approach the idea of a just city [2]. Currently, efforts to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals are being taken up to reduce poverty and inequality or to safeguard a healthy environment.

However, these efforts are threatened by a global capitalist economy whose inherent incitement is capital accumulation for profit-making [3]. Markets are prevailing, providing selective access based on power, money, and exclusive social networks. Social infrastructure such as housing, public transportation, and public and open space is suffering under these circumstances. The politics of urban austerity [4] obey the neoliberal paradigm, but aggravate the problems of urban injustice, exclusion, and inequality.

With this Special Issue on Urban Inequality and Exclusion, we invite conceptual, empirical, or exploratory papers which contribute to our understanding of the relationships between human and social needs, the application of fundamental rights, and how the capitalistic logic of commercial exploitation jeopardizes them. We welcome submissions focusing on urban austerity, housing markets, and strategies that try to realize resilient, just, and sustainable cities.

References:

[1] Butler Chris (2012): Henri Lefebvre. Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City. Taylor & Francis.

[2] Fainstein Susan (2010): The Just City. Cornell University Press.

[3] Harvey David (2009): Social Justice and the City. Revised Edition, The University of Georgia Press.

[4] Schönig Barbara & Schipper Sebastian (eds.) (2016): Urban Austerity. Theater der Zeit.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Koch
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban austerity
  • urban poverty
  • city and justice
  • environmental justice
  • capitalist economy
  • sustainable development goals
  • housing markets
  • right to the city
  • segregation and stigmatization

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
A Smart Right to the City—Grounding Corporate Storytelling and Questioning Smart Urbanism
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9590; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179590 (registering DOI) - 26 Aug 2021
Viewed by 232
Abstract
Against the backdrop of multiple ongoing crises in European cities related to socio-spatial injustice, inequality and exclusion, we argue for a smart right to the city. There is an urgent need for a thorough account of the entrepreneurial mode of technocapitalist smart urbanism. [...] Read more.
Against the backdrop of multiple ongoing crises in European cities related to socio-spatial injustice, inequality and exclusion, we argue for a smart right to the city. There is an urgent need for a thorough account of the entrepreneurial mode of technocapitalist smart urbanism. While much of both affirmative and critical research on Smart City developments equate or even reduce smartness to digital infrastructures, we put actual smartness—in the sense of social justice and sustainability—at centre stage. This paper builds on a fundamental structural critique of (1) the entrepreneurial city (Harvey) and (2) the capitalist city (Lefebvre). Drawing upon Lefebvre’s right to the city as a normative framework, we use Smart City developments in the city of Graz as an illustration of our argument. Considering strategies of waste and mobility management, we reflect on how they operate as spatial and technical fixes—fixing the limits of capitalism’s growth. By serving specific corporate interests, these technocapitalist strategies yet fail to address the underlying structural causes of pressing urban problems and increasing inequalities. With Lefebvre’s ongoing relevant argument for the importance of use value of urban infrastructures as well as his claim that appropriation and participation are essential, we discuss common rights to the city: His framework allows us to envision sustainable and just—actually smart—alternatives: alternatives to technocapitalist entrepreneurial urbanisation. In this respect, a smart right to the city is oriented towards the everyday needs of all inhabitants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Inequality and Exclusion)
Article
Residential Racial and Socioeconomic Segregation as Predictors of Housing Discrimination in Detroit Metropolitan Area
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10429; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410429 - 13 Dec 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1147
Abstract
This study examined neighborhood racial and socioeconomic characteristics associated with housing discrimination (HD) in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, Michigan. Using novel neighborhood level data from the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit in combination with the American Community Survey, incidence rate ratios (IRRs) [...] Read more.
This study examined neighborhood racial and socioeconomic characteristics associated with housing discrimination (HD) in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, Michigan. Using novel neighborhood level data from the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit in combination with the American Community Survey, incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were derived to examine associations between HD cases and percentage of homeowners, non-Hispanic White (NHW) residents, and median income. Models were stratified to examine these associations for race-, disability- and rent-related HD outcomes. Between 2008–2017, 988 HD incidents were reported. Independently, neighborhood proportion NHW, income, and homeownership were inversely associated with all-types of HD. Jointly, the neighborhood predictors remained significant indicators. Similar patterns were observed in race-, disability- and rent-related HD when neighborhood predictors were examined independently. In the joint models, household income no longer predicted race-related HD, while proportion NHW no longer predicted disability- and rent-related HD. Results suggest HD may be more frequent in neighborhoods with greater proportions of NHB or Hispanic residents, those with lower incomes, and greater proportion of rental households. These findings have great social and health implications and warrant further exploration of how HD contributes to social and health inequities in lower income, predominantly NHB and Hispanic neighborhoods and those with more renters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Inequality and Exclusion)
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