Routledge Urban Resettlements in the Global South: Lived Experiences of Housing and Infrastructure between Displacement and Relocation

Urban Resettlements in the Global South provides new perspectives on resettlement through an urban studies lens. To date, resettlement has been theorized through development studies and refugee studies, but urban resettlement is also a major dimension of urban development in the Global South and may help to rethink contemporary urban dynamics between spectacular new town developments and rising incidences of eviction and displacement. Conceptualising resettlement as a binding notion between production/regeneration and destruction/demolition of urban space helps to illuminate interdependencies and to underline significant ambiguities within affected people’s perspectives towards resettlement projects. This volume will offer an interesting selection of ten different case studies with rich empirical data from Latin America, North and SubSaharan Africa, and Asia, focused on each stage of resettlement (before, during, after) through different timescales. By offering a frame for analysing and rethinking resettlement within urban studies, it will support any scholar or expert dealing with resettlement, displacement, and housing in an urban context, seeking to improve housing and planning policies in and for the city. Review "Urban resettlement, a silent phenomenon in the Global South, is given real light and insightful analyses. The destruction, production, and re-production of urban spaces underlie the process of urbanisation and urban development in the Global South yet given less attention in both theory and practice. This is certainly a captivating and a must-read book for both urban practitioners and theorists." George Owusu, Professor of Urban Geography, Institute of Statistical, Social & Economic Research (ISSER) and Dean, School of Social Sciences, University of Ghana, Ghana "Envisioning urban resettlement as an ambiguous, poorly conceptualised yet prevalent urban condition, this critical, fresh and timely edited collection draws together scholarship working to centre the diverse lived experiences of those who are resettled. Global in its reach, and thick with empirical insights, the book advances understanding of the complexities and contradictions of legal, political, economic and subjective facets of resettlement. Claiming the significance of a critical politics of the urban, the book’s subtle and informed analyses speak directly to planning and housing policy and offer a valuable resource for urban researchers." Paula Meth, Reader & Director of Student Experience, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield, UK "A very important intervention, that critically conceptualises the idea of urban resettlement, in order to understand the dual, ambivalent and dialectic process of displacement and relocation in all its complexities. Grounded in the lived experiences of city dwellers, richly woven and careful ethnographies account for the liminal conditions that resettled dwellers experience, their home- and place-making capacities. At the same time, this book offers a cutting-edge political analysis of the governing of everyday life, the production of unequal subjectivities and identities in the Global South, bringing together a truly international collective of researchers and fostering theory-generating connections between variegated sites. A precious, insightful read." Myriam Houssay-Holzschuch, Professor, Institut d’Urbanisme et de Géographie Alpine, Université Grenoble Alpes, France "Urban Resettlements in the Global South is an engaging collection of ‘lived experiences’ of people and places going through often traumatic displacement and relocation induced by urban development projects. It goes far beyond conventionally prescriptive studies on getting resettlement right or critical literature on resettlement as a coercive mechanism. This book establishes a fresh insight into intricacies of resettlement through empirically-rich case studies on lifeworlds of resettled people