reclaiming-spaces.org

RECLAIMING-SPACES is dedicated to struggles which react to the process of dispossession and expropriation of inhabitants from their land, housing, infrastructure and/or public spaces. Struggles in most cases start at local levels by organizing the social and/or political defense of commons and public goods against privatization, financial speculation or corruption.

We want to build spaces and tools for exchanging some of these experiences with a focus on those factors which are transnational or global: global financial investors and markets in real estates, the international institutions and arrangements backing them etc.

We want to contribute to a better common understanding of global forces behind the transformation of the human habitats. We want to support the development of improved international networking, practice orientated reflection and interventions. We are asking, if we can consider forms of appropriations, struggles, claims, methods and organizations which allow social actors to proceed from local defence struggles to trans-local pro-active offensives.

How can we reclaim our cities and land ?

THEMES

At the moment we are focussing on struggles, interventions, claims and strategies which interfere with one or more of the following main themes:

- social movements defending housing and other social rights related to settlements and space against forced evictions, demolitions, real estate violence etc.

- the role of real estate investments in financial globalisation vs. the consequences of financial globalisation for land and housing;

- privatisation of housing, spaces, infrastructure, planning…

- mega events and large construction / development projects as well as urban transformation plans as a consequence of globally competing cities and territories;

- housing and territorial policies in the European Union;

- self-managed and other social alternatives.