Contested and Contesting:

Understanding Bottom-Up Territories of Culture in Unequal Cities

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.28939/iam.debats-137-1.1

Abstract

‘Contestation’ is a term often used to describe various kinds of conflict in 21st-Century urban areas. Yet Urban planning literature
lacks a cultural approach to such resistance — an oversight that this paper seeks to redress. We argue that the concept of
‘contested territories of culture’ plays a key role in the informal construction of urban areas, highlighting them as heterogeneous
drivers of ‘contestation’ and the fight for rights in Latin America’s inequality-riven cities. The authors use two methodological
approaches to define said ‘contestation’: (1) contextual analysis of the literature on the concept of ‘territories’ to discover their
cultural character, and (2) ethnographic analysis of a case study on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The example of the Realengo Flyover
Cultural Center, a cultural appropriation of a leftover site under a flyover on Rio’s outskirts, shows the complexity of improvised,
bottom-up squatting through cultural activities. The study reveals the need to understand these territories in order to draw up more
equitable public policies and urban plans. It also highlights that such territories are both culturally rich and socially vulnerable.

Author Biographies

  • Claudia Seldin, Technische Universität Berlin

    Urbanista, investigadora postdoctoral i professora convidada al Centre d’Estudis Metropolitans - Technische Universität Berlin (Alemanya). Becària de la Fundació Alexander von Humboldt/CAPES. Té un doctorat en Urbanisme de la Universitat Federal de Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) en col·laboració amb la Bauhaus - Universität Weimar (Alemanya). Responsable del Laboratori de Resistència Cultural i Urbana - CURL.

  • Caio César de Azevedo Barros , National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

    Científic social, professor de Sociologia i Filosofia a l’Escola Ao Cubo. Té un mestratge en Antropologia Social del Museu Nacional - Universitat Federal de Rio de Janeiro (Brasil), on actualment és candidat a doctorat. Exbecari del CNPq en el PROURB/UFRJ i editor d’Habitus (revista). Membre actual de CURL.

  • Pedro Vitor Costa, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

    Actor, arquitecto y urbanista, licenciado en la Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo - Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro (Brasil). Actualmente, es estudiante de Maestría en el Programa de Postgrado en Urbanismo de la UFRJ, donde obtuvo diferentes becas del CNPq. Cofundador de Tre+Co Arquitetura y actual miembro de CURL.

  • Victória Michelini, Program in Architecture, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

    Actriz, arquitecta y urbanista graduada en la Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo - Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro (Brasil) con un periodo de colaboración en el Politecnico di Milano (Italia). Exbecaria del CNPq en el Programa de Postgrado en Urbanismo de la UFRJ. Cofundadora de Tre+Co Arquitetura y actual miembro de CURL.

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Published

2023-05-30

Issue

Vol. 137 No. 1 (2023)

Section

SPECIAL ISSUE

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How to Cite

Seldin, C. (2023) “Contested and Contesting: : Understanding Bottom-Up Territories of Culture in Unequal Cities”, Debats. Journal on culture, power and society, 137(1), pp. 10–30. doi:10.28939/iam.debats-137-1.1.