Whose City? Labor & The Right To The City Movements

The Center for Labor Studies & the Urban Studies Research Cluster at the University of California Santa Cruz are pleased to present:

WHOSE CITY? LABOR & THE RIGHT TO THE CITY MOVEMENTS

A one-day conference

David Harvey, keynote speaker

February 26, 2011

9:30 am - 5:00 pm

Humanities 206, University of California Santa Cruz

Workers, environmentalists, and urban social movements have recently converged under a new banner: "the right to the city." The phrase refers to the right of city dwellers-now the world's majority-to democratically control development and resources in the cities in which they live . In today's global economy, this "right" is profoundly challenged. Social divisions are experienced increasingly in spatial terms- through gentrified housing markets and polarized job markets; unequal access to green space and unequal exposure to environmental risk; and new modes of segregation, exclusion, and policing of public space. Against this backdrop, the process of urbanization itself has become a significant site of political contestation for a wide range of groups, and the idea of the "right to the city" both a critique and call to organize. Bringing together leading scholars, practitioners, and activists from across California and the U.S., "Whose City?" will provide an opportunity to think critically and creatively about these emerging labor and urban-based coalitions-- from their historic roots to their possible futures, from their local to their global manifestations.

For more information about the event, go to: http://urban.ihr.ucsc.edu/events/whose-city/
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