Environmental gentrification and emerging collectives in uncertain times

Project Information

TAKEBACK

Grant agreement ID: 101103870

DOI

10.3030/101103870

EC signature date 13 April 2023

Start date 1 August 2023

End date 31 July 2026

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 280 202,88

Coordinated by

POLITECNICO DI TORINO
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TAKEBACK (Environmental gentrification and emerging collectives in uncertain times)

Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2025-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In the Global North in the face of the looming threats of manifold environmental “crises”, there is an increasing sense of urgency to enhance cities’ sustainability. Yet, top-down paradigms of urban regeneration can contribute creating enclaves of environmental privilege, thereby excluding lower income and minority groups from their benefits. Much recent scholarly debate has focused on the multiple effects of evictions and displacements, as well as on active practices of resistance. But what happens if, after years of protests, grassroots groups become the main actors in processes of collective re-appropriation and management of urban spaces?
TAKEBACK is an anthropological study of emerging forms of collective care at a moment where the interlocking crises of capitalism, democracy, and the environment have become more apparent than ever before. It follows a comparative case study design, through the analysis of different urban mobilizations focused on the collective reappropriation and/or use of post industrial areas, in North America (Montreal, Canada) and Europe (Turin, Italy). It is based on in-depth ethnographic research, which includes the analysis and production of visual materials. By exploring evolving practices and understandings of care within activism, TAKEBACK will contribute to debates on the shifting meanings of urban citizenship in an increasingly vulnerable world. Ultimately, the project will expand theoretical and practical knowledge about grassroots solutions to the challenge of building more equal and sustainable urban environments.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The fieldwork for Case Study 1 (Montreal) is fully achieved, while fieldwork for case Study 2 (Turin) is ongoing. The analysis of the fieldwork materials is progressing steadily. Throughout the project, I have established productive collaborations with several civil society organizations, facilitating knowledge exchange and contributing to the development of new perspectives on innovation in the field of community-based urban spaces. These collaborations also supported my training objectives, by providing hands-on experience in participatory research methods.
The research fieldwork has been highly productive so far, yielding meaningful qualitative data that is useful for achieving the project's main objectives:

1. Enhance our understanding on the ground of contemporary grassroots organizing against top-down urban revitalization projects.
2. Advance theories of citizenship and everyday urban politics, by combining the study of shifting practices and understandings of collective care with an attention to temporal orientations of activism.
3. Investigate strengths and weaknesses of grassroots projects focused on the collective management of urban spaces.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

While the project is still ongoing, analysing the qualitative data collected during fieldwork is yielding meaningful results that advance scholarly understandings of the different manifestations of green gentrification and socio-environmental injustice, as well as the forms of contestation they generate. A fine-grained, in-depth analysis of the perspectives of various social actors (such as activists, city officials, various experts) is offering new insights into evolving understandings of “urban biodiversity”.
I have written a chapter and submitted two original research articles based on the project’s fieldwork. These are currently under review.
Productive collaborations have been established with urban activist movements and civil society organizations, paving the way for potentially significant societal impacts. Preliminary findings have also been shared with some of the research participants, in order to ensure an approach as collaborative as possible.