Crisis, Urban Segregation and Social Innovation in Catalonia

Authors

  • Helena Cruz Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  • Moreno Rubén Martínez IGOP. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  • Ismael Blanco IGOP. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1285/i20356609v10i1p221

Keywords:

crisis, neighbourhoods, social inequalities, social innovation, urban segregation

Abstract

This paper questions the contribution of social innovation to the capacity of disadvantaged communities to resist the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and its social repercussions. It does so on the basis of a study on the dynamics of urban segregation and social innovation in the context of the crisis in Catalonia (Spain). The study adopts a multi-method approach that combines statistical analysis of urban segregation dynamics in the 2001-2012 period; the mapping of social innovation practices across the region; and a cross-case comparison of six case studies. The paper highlights the structural and metropolitan character of urban segregation in the region, which has been significantly aggravated both by the crisis and the residential transformation that occurred during the years of the housing bubble. It also shows that social innovation practices are distributed very unevenly in spatial terms, being concentrated in middle-income areas with a tradition of social mobilisation. In summary, the paper states the limits of social innovation as a driver for socio-spatial cohesion in cities and stresses the need for stronger (redistributive) public policies.

Author Biographies

Helena Cruz, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Helena Cruz holds a PhD in Geography from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a Master's Degree in Urban Management from the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. She is a research fellow at the IGOP and a lecturer at the Escola Universitària de Turisme Mediterrani (affiliated to the University of Girona). Previously, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Geography at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a visiting researcher at the University of California Los Angeles, the Instituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the Università Ca ' Foscari. Specialized in spatial planning, her current research focuses on governance and citizen participation in urban policies, territorial conflicts in urban planning, and citizen empowerment in the management of public space. She is a member of the research group URGOCIS (IGOP-UAB) and of Espais Crítics (UB).

Moreno Rubén Martínez, IGOP. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Rubén Martínez Moreno holds a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts (Universitat de Barcelona) and a Master's Degree in Political Science and Social Transformation at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is currently a PhD researcher linked to the Research Group on Urban Governance, Commons, Internet and Social Innovation(URGOCIS). He holds a FPI Fellowship grant from the Government of Spain. His research focuses on the analysis of public policies that foster social innovation, their articulation with community based processes and changes in social power relations.

Ismael Blanco, IGOP. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Ismael Blanco is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Government and Public Policies (IGOP) and Lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Public Law, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He has been a Ramon y Cajal research fellow at the UAB and at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Departament of Public Policy, De Montfort University (UK). His current research focuses on the impact of the economic crisis in the sociospatial configuration of cities and on the emerging forms of governance and participation in the context of the urban crisis. He is a member of the research consortium Collaborative Governance Under Austerity: An Eight-Case Comparison, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (United Kingdom), led by Prof. Jonathan Davies (DMU)

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Published

02-05-2017

Issue

Vol. 10, No. 1 (2017). Special issue: Democracy in Latin America

Section

Special Section

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