Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Justhood ((Un)Just NeighbourhoodsSocio-Spatial Justice in Urban Neighbourhoods)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-01-10 al 2021-01-09
Rapid urbanisation, growing process of globalisation, and the rise of neoliberalism to a hegemonic status, have culminated in the omnipresence of geographically uneven developments and their associated socio-spatial challenges regarding racial segregation, deprivation, stigmatisation, and degradation, in urban settings worldwide. In reaction to this, the search for justice has been a powerful rallying cry for contemporary politicians, activists, and academics. European and North American cities, among others, have initiated urban re-development schemes to mitigate the burden of urban injustice, and in academia social and spatial (in)justice in cities has been the focus of scrutiny in recent decades in philosophy and urban planning disciplines. In this context, the aim of the project is to explore to what extent re-development projects at the neighbourhood scale contribute to achieving socially just and fair environments, and who benefits from these re-developments.
Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco is an urban area in San Francisco that historically suffers from different types of socio-economic problems such as unemployment, crime, displacement, health issues, etc. It is currently under massive re-development that aims at building around 12,000 houses and several thousand feet office, recreational, and commercial space. Starting from mid 1990s, the Navy has conducted clean-up activities dividing the site into different parcels, and the City has prepared plans for re-development. Recently it was revealed that long-term clean-up activities managed by a multi-national company and supervised and overseen by multiple state and federal governmental bodies and regulatory agencies were botched and fraud. These revelations sparked off intense debates around the question of urban and environmental justice at the neighbourhood. The aim of the project was exploring the history of injustice, investigating re-production of urban injustice over time, and studying discursive conflict between the community and city. On the one hand, it analysed the way government and regulatory agencies argued that the decontamination process has been done accurately, that re-development project offers new opportunities for the community members and promises a more just environment, and on the other hand, investigated how the community members and activists challenged the dominant argumentation and called for a transparent clean-up and more socially equitable future for the neighbourhood.
The main objectives of the research included: investigating discursive aspects of urban justice and the state of the art in urban planning; developing a framework for evaluating dimensions of injustice in urban re-development projects; carrying out intensive fieldwork including, site observation, participant observation, interview, archival research, and document analysis; and finally producing a documentary film that narrates re-production of urban injustice in case study neighbourhoods.
Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco is an urban area in San Francisco that historically suffers from different types of socio-economic problems such as unemployment, crime, displacement, health issues, etc. It is currently under massive re-development that aims at building around 12,000 houses and several thousand feet office, recreational, and commercial space. Starting from mid 1990s, the Navy has conducted clean-up activities dividing the site into different parcels, and the City has prepared plans for re-development. Recently it was revealed that long-term clean-up activities managed by a multi-national company and supervised and overseen by multiple state and federal governmental bodies and regulatory agencies were botched and fraud. These revelations sparked off intense debates around the question of urban and environmental justice at the neighbourhood. The aim of the project was exploring the history of injustice, investigating re-production of urban injustice over time, and studying discursive conflict between the community and city. On the one hand, it analysed the way government and regulatory agencies argued that the decontamination process has been done accurately, that re-development project offers new opportunities for the community members and promises a more just environment, and on the other hand, investigated how the community members and activists challenged the dominant argumentation and called for a transparent clean-up and more socially equitable future for the neighbourhood.
The main objectives of the research included: investigating discursive aspects of urban justice and the state of the art in urban planning; developing a framework for evaluating dimensions of injustice in urban re-development projects; carrying out intensive fieldwork including, site observation, participant observation, interview, archival research, and document analysis; and finally producing a documentary film that narrates re-production of urban injustice in case study neighbourhoods.
"A comprehensive investigation on ‘Critical Discourse Analysis’ (CDA) was conducted, and the way this methodology has been applied to the field of urban planning and urban studies was analysed. This analysis was based on studying more than 125 research works, mainly peer-reviewed journal articles, that directly or indirectly employed CDA as the main methodology. The result provided an in-depth understanding from CDA on the one hand, and the advantages and challenges of its application to the urban planning discipline on the other. This study paved the way for developing framework that suggested indicators for studying urban justice from CDA perspective.
The developed methodology was applied to case study neighbourhoods of Bayview and Hunters Point in San Francisco. These neighbourhoods are under a massive re-development scheme, called Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Redevelopment Project, that aims at building more than 12,000 residential units and several million square feet of office, commercial, and recreational space. These areas have been historically suffering from different types of disparities, and the official claims that these ongoing projects have contributed, and will contribute, to a more just environment have been challenged by residents and activists. Intensive archival research was conducted to understand the history of the neighbourhood and development of the project. More than 670 newspaper articles and TV reportages were collected and analysed. Around 1290 official documents including remediation plans, redevelopment plans, minutes of townhall meetings, etc. were reviewed and analysed. Besides site observation, researcher also attended more than 30 events (community meetings, town hall meetings, protests, etc.) and recorded the events. 54 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted during May-December 2019, including scholars, local authorities, activist, and residents. These interviews were transcribed resulted in 970 pages of document. An in-depth content analysis was conducted to analyse the interviews.
To produce an experimental documentary film that covers the struggle for urban justice in case study neighbourhoods, all the footages of events recorded by the researcher (more than 100 hours) were used. After cutting and editing, a documentary film entitle 'Never Surrender' was produced (53 minutes length). This film was screened on October 28 as part of the ""Urban Documentary - Virtual Movie Nights"", and on Thursday, November 12, 2020, for the community members followed by a panel discussion with the director, community members, and activists, where around 96 people watched the film online through zoom. Six new screenings has been planned for the first half of 2021.
Link to documentary film: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/tde/projects/just-neighbourhoods/never-surrender-film/"
The developed methodology was applied to case study neighbourhoods of Bayview and Hunters Point in San Francisco. These neighbourhoods are under a massive re-development scheme, called Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Redevelopment Project, that aims at building more than 12,000 residential units and several million square feet of office, commercial, and recreational space. These areas have been historically suffering from different types of disparities, and the official claims that these ongoing projects have contributed, and will contribute, to a more just environment have been challenged by residents and activists. Intensive archival research was conducted to understand the history of the neighbourhood and development of the project. More than 670 newspaper articles and TV reportages were collected and analysed. Around 1290 official documents including remediation plans, redevelopment plans, minutes of townhall meetings, etc. were reviewed and analysed. Besides site observation, researcher also attended more than 30 events (community meetings, town hall meetings, protests, etc.) and recorded the events. 54 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted during May-December 2019, including scholars, local authorities, activist, and residents. These interviews were transcribed resulted in 970 pages of document. An in-depth content analysis was conducted to analyse the interviews.
To produce an experimental documentary film that covers the struggle for urban justice in case study neighbourhoods, all the footages of events recorded by the researcher (more than 100 hours) were used. After cutting and editing, a documentary film entitle 'Never Surrender' was produced (53 minutes length). This film was screened on October 28 as part of the ""Urban Documentary - Virtual Movie Nights"", and on Thursday, November 12, 2020, for the community members followed by a panel discussion with the director, community members, and activists, where around 96 people watched the film online through zoom. Six new screenings has been planned for the first half of 2021.
Link to documentary film: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/tde/projects/just-neighbourhoods/never-surrender-film/"
Developing an evaluation framework based on Critical Discourse Analysis to study the relationship between urban justice and discourse was a main achievement. This framework, suggested for the first time in urban studies context, serves as a generic framework and is applicable to other case studies.
There are 2 main findings for the research: Firstly, urban justice has a discursive dimension and is produced through discourse. Secondly, urban injustice is a historical construct: injustice has its roots deep into the history of place that needs to be unearthed and discovered. Without this knowledge, understating multidimensionality and intersectionality of urban injustice is partial and problematic.
Results of the research will be of interest for both local community and city authorities. Several articles have been published in the local newspaper, that provided residents with the results of the research. In one case, findings of the research that explored a false claim by a Mayor-appointed panel of experts from University of California led to issuing an open letter of apology by the panel leader to the community members.
The screening of documentary film has been well received by the local community, and on November 12, 2020, around 96 individuals watched the film online through zoom and participated in a panel discussion and Q&A. Since then there has been a growing interest in organizing new screenings from both community members and local/international universities.
There are 2 main findings for the research: Firstly, urban justice has a discursive dimension and is produced through discourse. Secondly, urban injustice is a historical construct: injustice has its roots deep into the history of place that needs to be unearthed and discovered. Without this knowledge, understating multidimensionality and intersectionality of urban injustice is partial and problematic.
Results of the research will be of interest for both local community and city authorities. Several articles have been published in the local newspaper, that provided residents with the results of the research. In one case, findings of the research that explored a false claim by a Mayor-appointed panel of experts from University of California led to issuing an open letter of apology by the panel leader to the community members.
The screening of documentary film has been well received by the local community, and on November 12, 2020, around 96 individuals watched the film online through zoom and participated in a panel discussion and Q&A. Since then there has been a growing interest in organizing new screenings from both community members and local/international universities.