Routledge Changing Landscapes of Urban Citizenship: Southern Europe in Times of Crisis

Since the 2008 financial crisis, politics of austerity in Europe have engendered far-reaching socioeconomic and political transformations. The recent refugee ‘crisis’ has also deeply affected the sociopolitical terrain. Contrary to past arguments about the reduced significance of the nation state, Europe is experiencing a resurgence of nationalisms. Simultaneously, often as a counter-response, several European cities are experiencing an emergence of social practices that claim urban politics as a dynamic field of action and contestation potentially transcending national boundaries. In the past, such practices tended to focus mainly on claims for the 'right to the city'. Currently, however, we observe a greater range of argumentations that re-signify the arena of urban citizenship. Through the entanglement of different scales and actors, emerging practices of solidarity and needs-based claims, and alliances between differently entitled subjects, involving both natives and foreigners, challenge and reshape institutions of governance and reactivate the field of urban politics against austerity and securitisation. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in Citizenship Studies. About the Author Alexandra Zavos is a Senior Researcher at the Gender Institute, Panteion University, Greece, and a sociologist of gender and migration. Her work focuses on feminist and antiracist politics. Penny (Panagiota) Koutrolikou is Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, Greece. She works on critical urban theory and her work focuses on urban conflicts and sociospatial justice. Dimitra Siatitsa completed her PhD at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, National Technical University of Athens, Greece. She works on housing and urban social movements, with a special geographical focus on Southern Europe.