International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Learning from the pedagogical potentials of Southern city‐making practices is imperative to foste... more Learning from the pedagogical potentials of Southern city‐making practices is imperative to foster emancipatory urban learning settings. However, the ways in which urban learning spaces beyond professional settings operate and how Southern urbanism practices constitute new critical pedagogies are poorly understood. We draw on research about urban learning on ‘slum upgrading’ in the city of Medellín (Colombia), a benchmark in dealing in tandem with informality and urban violence, to analyze the pedagogical potentials of convites. Convites are an essential sociospatial mechanism of self‐build settlements rooted in solidarity networks that initiate collective action and celebration through public cooking. This practice of makeshift community kitchens led by women became the backbone of the response to the scarcities caused by the pandemic in self‐built neighborhoods in Latin America. In this article we ask what Southern urbanism and critical pedagogy can learn from convites. We then an...
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2015
Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban... more Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban environmental sustainability as one of its primary raison deter, we believe cooperation between communities and higher education helps realize planning principles and strengthen social responsibility and 'service-learning' ethics in young professionals. This paper offers an open reflection from local community representatives, students, and professors from diverse institutional and geographic settings on a joint experience in an international, community-higher education planning studio. It focused on analyzing and proposing alternatives to a greenbelt project conceived as a mechanism to contain urban growth while controversially causing the relocation of dwellers of the selfbuilt 'Commune 8' located in Medellín, Colombia. We stress the relevance of community-higher education partnerships when developing action-oriented research and contextually relevant solutions. We also examine critical factors for these partnerships, such as motivations, approaches to community engagement, protocols for knowledge transfer, challenges, and future visions and directions.
This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been th... more This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as
This article argues that the role of storytelling in planning needs to be rethought learning from... more This article argues that the role of storytelling in planning needs to be rethought learning from the decolonial turn in social sciences. I ask how to decolonise storytelling in planning theory and practice. The aim is to explore how key notions from Latin American decolonial thinking, such as pluriverse, epistemological disobedience, border thinking and sentipensar, can help us to reframe storytelling in planning. This reframing can contribute to finding different avenues to build ontological relationality in a framework of epistemological justice and healing to bring about new imaginations for shaping urban planning otherwise.
We all carry an imperative to imagining collectively more just cities, to engaging more meaningfu... more We all carry an imperative to imagining collectively more just cities, to engaging more meaningfully with multiple urban actors and their different sensibilities through their stories. Storytelling helps to foster empathy, to understand the meaning of complex experiences, and, most importantly, to inspire action. With the rise of the digital era and new technologies at hand, we have an opportunity to redefine not only the way we tell, connect, and engage with our collective stories, but also how we work together in forming them. Based on the research design project Patrimonio Vivo | Living Heritage, grounded in the city of Medellín, this article illustrates the dynamics and potentials of co-creation with cultural organizations and creative teams through learning alliances. Our alliance among a cultural community centre, a cooperative of architects, a grassroot organisation and post-graduate students around the world used storytelling to propel an ecology of urban knowledges. Working...
Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban... more Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban environmental sustainability as one of its primary raison deter, we believe cooperation between communities and higher education helps realize planning principles and strengthen social responsibility and 'service-learning' ethics in young professionals. This paper offers an open reflection from local community representatives, students, and professors from diverse institutional and geographic settings on a joint experience in an international, community-higher education planning studio. It focused on analyzing and proposing alternatives to a greenbelt project conceived as a mechanism to contain urban growth while controversially causing the relocation of dwellers of the selfbuilt 'Commune 8' located in Medellín, Colombia. We stress the relevance of community-higher education partnerships when developing action-oriented research and contextually relevant solutions. We also examine critical factors for these partnerships, such as motivations, approaches to community engagement, protocols for knowledge transfer, challenges, and future visions and directions.
This working paper serves as the basis for a critical examination of the notion of knowledge co-p... more This working paper serves as the basis for a critical examination of the notion of knowledge co-production. First, the paper examines how the idea of knowledge co-production has emerged in relation to the parallel but distinct concept of service co-production and the participatory development planning tradition. Second, the paper examines the variety of processes of knowledge co-production that may take place in the context of academic research. In doing so, the working paper highlights the centrality of knowledge co-production in the KNOW project's research strategy, with a focus on actionable knowledge that may support transformative trajectories towards urban equality. Such an approach is based on the view that knowledge production underpins the process, ethics, and outcomes of any urban development intervention. Looking at well-documented examples of knowledge coproduction in research for urban equality, the review examines how knowledge co-production is delivered in practice. The focus on how knowledge co-production is used in action research also helps to identify some limitations and key challenges, and existing mechanisms to overcome them. The working paper ends with a proposal for a research agenda on knowledge coproduction in the context of the KNOW project.
How are civil society organizations responding to COVID-19’s impacts on informal settlements? In ... more How are civil society organizations responding to COVID-19’s impacts on informal settlements? In Latin America, civil society organizations have developed a repertoire of collective action, seeking to provide immediate and medium-term responses to the emergency. This paper aims to map these initiatives and identify strategic approaches to tackle the issues, given the strengths of those undertaking the initiative, and the scope, purpose and sphere of intervention. Using direct contact, a survey, and a virtual ethnography with social organizations has allowed us to identify and characterize the initiatives. The repertoire focuses on emergency measures around food security, and pedagogies for prevention, sanitation and income relief at the neighbourhood and district levels. We argue that the civil society response repertoire is diverse in form and resources but limited in scope; meanwhile the urgency of the situation and the mismatch with state action mean that crucial spheres of infor...
structures) to empirical (events) and to (agents’) experience of them” (Banai, 1995: 565). Theref... more structures) to empirical (events) and to (agents’) experience of them” (Banai, 1995: 565). Therefore, this model is question-driven and builds on extant theory to unveil connections between extra-local forces and local processes. Table I. Critical realism ontology Domain Real Actual Empirical Mechanisms X Events X X Experiences X X X Source: Banai, 1995 based on Bhaskar, 1975 Instead of looking for universality and predictability of mechanisms and events, this methodological approach seeks to explain the multiple causalities of social processes. Since these processes are contingent upon spatial-temporal processes, I attempt to unravel large-scale projects’ enabling conditions and agents’ negotiation strategies/tactics. Following CR rationale (Banai, 1995) the enabling conditions refer to the long-term geopolitics of space or the contextual mechanisms of structures. These conditions are revealed in the events derived from the entanglements of uneven geographies of knowledge productio...
Osuteye, Ortiz, Lipietz, Castán Broto, Johnson & Kombe 4 “Knowledge is socially constructed, and ... more Osuteye, Ortiz, Lipietz, Castán Broto, Johnson & Kombe 4 “Knowledge is socially constructed, and it is therefore ‘situated’ and affected by the social position of the producer of everyday life, challenges the dominant viewpoint, and provides ‘partial visions’ which are subjective, embodied and diverse” (Böhm et al, 2017: 230). The notion of knowledge co-production underpins the project Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality (KNOW). This notion refers to a collective process of creation. Initially developed with reference to service provision, co-production came to the fore as a response to the failures of top-down and centralised approaches to service delivery (Percy, 1984; Warren, Rosentraub et al., 1984; Weschler & Mushkatel, 1987; Ostrom, 1996). By recognising the difficulty of delivering equitable and sustainable service provision without the active participation of service beneficiaries, co-production was defined as a process through which inputs from individuals who are not “i...
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Learning from the pedagogical potentials of Southern city‐making practices is imperative to foste... more Learning from the pedagogical potentials of Southern city‐making practices is imperative to foster emancipatory urban learning settings. However, the ways in which urban learning spaces beyond professional settings operate and how Southern urbanism practices constitute new critical pedagogies are poorly understood. We draw on research about urban learning on ‘slum upgrading’ in the city of Medellín (Colombia), a benchmark in dealing in tandem with informality and urban violence, to analyze the pedagogical potentials of convites. Convites are an essential sociospatial mechanism of self‐build settlements rooted in solidarity networks that initiate collective action and celebration through public cooking. This practice of makeshift community kitchens led by women became the backbone of the response to the scarcities caused by the pandemic in self‐built neighborhoods in Latin America. In this article we ask what Southern urbanism and critical pedagogy can learn from convites. We then an...
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2015
Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban... more Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban environmental sustainability as one of its primary raison deter, we believe cooperation between communities and higher education helps realize planning principles and strengthen social responsibility and 'service-learning' ethics in young professionals. This paper offers an open reflection from local community representatives, students, and professors from diverse institutional and geographic settings on a joint experience in an international, community-higher education planning studio. It focused on analyzing and proposing alternatives to a greenbelt project conceived as a mechanism to contain urban growth while controversially causing the relocation of dwellers of the selfbuilt 'Commune 8' located in Medellín, Colombia. We stress the relevance of community-higher education partnerships when developing action-oriented research and contextually relevant solutions. We also examine critical factors for these partnerships, such as motivations, approaches to community engagement, protocols for knowledge transfer, challenges, and future visions and directions.
This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been th... more This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as
This article argues that the role of storytelling in planning needs to be rethought learning from... more This article argues that the role of storytelling in planning needs to be rethought learning from the decolonial turn in social sciences. I ask how to decolonise storytelling in planning theory and practice. The aim is to explore how key notions from Latin American decolonial thinking, such as pluriverse, epistemological disobedience, border thinking and sentipensar, can help us to reframe storytelling in planning. This reframing can contribute to finding different avenues to build ontological relationality in a framework of epistemological justice and healing to bring about new imaginations for shaping urban planning otherwise.
We all carry an imperative to imagining collectively more just cities, to engaging more meaningfu... more We all carry an imperative to imagining collectively more just cities, to engaging more meaningfully with multiple urban actors and their different sensibilities through their stories. Storytelling helps to foster empathy, to understand the meaning of complex experiences, and, most importantly, to inspire action. With the rise of the digital era and new technologies at hand, we have an opportunity to redefine not only the way we tell, connect, and engage with our collective stories, but also how we work together in forming them. Based on the research design project Patrimonio Vivo | Living Heritage, grounded in the city of Medellín, this article illustrates the dynamics and potentials of co-creation with cultural organizations and creative teams through learning alliances. Our alliance among a cultural community centre, a cooperative of architects, a grassroot organisation and post-graduate students around the world used storytelling to propel an ecology of urban knowledges. Working...
Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban... more Since planning is an applied discipline that deals with real places and communities and has urban environmental sustainability as one of its primary raison deter, we believe cooperation between communities and higher education helps realize planning principles and strengthen social responsibility and 'service-learning' ethics in young professionals. This paper offers an open reflection from local community representatives, students, and professors from diverse institutional and geographic settings on a joint experience in an international, community-higher education planning studio. It focused on analyzing and proposing alternatives to a greenbelt project conceived as a mechanism to contain urban growth while controversially causing the relocation of dwellers of the selfbuilt 'Commune 8' located in Medellín, Colombia. We stress the relevance of community-higher education partnerships when developing action-oriented research and contextually relevant solutions. We also examine critical factors for these partnerships, such as motivations, approaches to community engagement, protocols for knowledge transfer, challenges, and future visions and directions.
This working paper serves as the basis for a critical examination of the notion of knowledge co-p... more This working paper serves as the basis for a critical examination of the notion of knowledge co-production. First, the paper examines how the idea of knowledge co-production has emerged in relation to the parallel but distinct concept of service co-production and the participatory development planning tradition. Second, the paper examines the variety of processes of knowledge co-production that may take place in the context of academic research. In doing so, the working paper highlights the centrality of knowledge co-production in the KNOW project's research strategy, with a focus on actionable knowledge that may support transformative trajectories towards urban equality. Such an approach is based on the view that knowledge production underpins the process, ethics, and outcomes of any urban development intervention. Looking at well-documented examples of knowledge coproduction in research for urban equality, the review examines how knowledge co-production is delivered in practice. The focus on how knowledge co-production is used in action research also helps to identify some limitations and key challenges, and existing mechanisms to overcome them. The working paper ends with a proposal for a research agenda on knowledge coproduction in the context of the KNOW project.
How are civil society organizations responding to COVID-19’s impacts on informal settlements? In ... more How are civil society organizations responding to COVID-19’s impacts on informal settlements? In Latin America, civil society organizations have developed a repertoire of collective action, seeking to provide immediate and medium-term responses to the emergency. This paper aims to map these initiatives and identify strategic approaches to tackle the issues, given the strengths of those undertaking the initiative, and the scope, purpose and sphere of intervention. Using direct contact, a survey, and a virtual ethnography with social organizations has allowed us to identify and characterize the initiatives. The repertoire focuses on emergency measures around food security, and pedagogies for prevention, sanitation and income relief at the neighbourhood and district levels. We argue that the civil society response repertoire is diverse in form and resources but limited in scope; meanwhile the urgency of the situation and the mismatch with state action mean that crucial spheres of infor...
structures) to empirical (events) and to (agents’) experience of them” (Banai, 1995: 565). Theref... more structures) to empirical (events) and to (agents’) experience of them” (Banai, 1995: 565). Therefore, this model is question-driven and builds on extant theory to unveil connections between extra-local forces and local processes. Table I. Critical realism ontology Domain Real Actual Empirical Mechanisms X Events X X Experiences X X X Source: Banai, 1995 based on Bhaskar, 1975 Instead of looking for universality and predictability of mechanisms and events, this methodological approach seeks to explain the multiple causalities of social processes. Since these processes are contingent upon spatial-temporal processes, I attempt to unravel large-scale projects’ enabling conditions and agents’ negotiation strategies/tactics. Following CR rationale (Banai, 1995) the enabling conditions refer to the long-term geopolitics of space or the contextual mechanisms of structures. These conditions are revealed in the events derived from the entanglements of uneven geographies of knowledge productio...
Osuteye, Ortiz, Lipietz, Castán Broto, Johnson & Kombe 4 “Knowledge is socially constructed, and ... more Osuteye, Ortiz, Lipietz, Castán Broto, Johnson & Kombe 4 “Knowledge is socially constructed, and it is therefore ‘situated’ and affected by the social position of the producer of everyday life, challenges the dominant viewpoint, and provides ‘partial visions’ which are subjective, embodied and diverse” (Böhm et al, 2017: 230). The notion of knowledge co-production underpins the project Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality (KNOW). This notion refers to a collective process of creation. Initially developed with reference to service provision, co-production came to the fore as a response to the failures of top-down and centralised approaches to service delivery (Percy, 1984; Warren, Rosentraub et al., 1984; Weschler & Mushkatel, 1987; Ostrom, 1996). By recognising the difficulty of delivering equitable and sustainable service provision without the active participation of service beneficiaries, co-production was defined as a process through which inputs from individuals who are not “i...
This work is the product of an international collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of... more This work is the product of an international collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture + Planning, the Architecture Department, the School of Planning at Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the planning council of Comuna 8. The goal of this project is to envision, plan and design prototypical criteria and design alternatives as relevant proposals for decision makers in the community. The project also aims to make institutions and other stakeholders aware of various alternatives for the growth of informal settlements in the City of Medellin’ Comuna 8 (District 8)
This paper aims to reveal how urban 'development-induced displacement' (Koenig, 2015; Neef and Si... more This paper aims to reveal how urban 'development-induced displacement' (Koenig, 2015; Neef and Singer, 2015) shapes and perpetuates modalities of spatial violence in the context of rapidly urbanising Southeast Asia. While Southeast Asian postcolonial scholars have explored some manifestations of spatial violence such as displacement, a comprehensive regional analysis is still lacking, especially in relation to urbanisation impacts and planning. Through a comparative lens, this study looks at the urban development contexts and histories of displacement in six cities; Ho Chi Minh,
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Papers by Catalina Ortiz