The Urban Politics of Squatters’ Movements

This volume sheds light on the development of squatting practices and movements in nine European cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Rotterdam and Brighton) by examining the numbers, variations and significant contexts in their life course. It reveals how and why squatting practices have shifted and to what extent they engender urban movements. The book measures the volume and changes in squatting over various decades, mostly by focusing on Squatted Social Centres but also including squatted housing. In addition, it systematically compares the cycles, socio-spatial structures and the political implications of squatting in selected cities. This collection highlights how squatters' movements have persisted over more than four decades through different trajectories and circumstances, especially in relation to broader protest cycles and reveals how political opportunities and constraints influence the conflicts around the legalisation of squats.p>

This volume sheds light on the development of squatting practices and movements in nine European cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Rotterdam and Brighton) by examining the numbers, variations and significant contexts in their life course. It reveals how and why squatting practices have shifted and to what extent they engender urban movements. The book measures the volume and changes in squatting over various decades, mostly by focusing on Squatted Social Centres but also including squatted housing. In addition, it systematically compares the cycles, socio-spatial structures and the political implications of squatting in selected cities. This collection highlights how squatters’ movements have persisted over more than four decades through different trajectories and circumstances, especially in relation to broader protest cycles and reveals how political opportunities and constraints influence the conflicts around the legalisation of squats.

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Introduction. The Politics of Squatting, Time Frames and Spatial Contexts.- PART I. Case Studies.- Socio-Spatial Structures and Protest Cycles of Squatted Social Centres in Madrid.- Squatting Cycles in Barcelona: Identities, Repression and The Controversy of Institutionalisation.- Shifting Socio-Spatial Contexts and The Space of Social Movements: Squatting in Seville..- Occupations of Housing and Social Centers in Rome: A Durable Resistance to Neoliberalism and Institutionalisation.- The Squatting Movement(s) in Paris: Internal Divides and Conditions for Survival.- The Cycles of Squatting in Berlin (1969-2016).- Cycles of The Copenhagen Squatter Movement: From Slumstormer to Bz Brigades and The Autonomous Movement.- The Political Squatters' Movement and Its Social Centres in The Gentrifying City of Rotterdam.- The Ebb and Flow of Resistance: The Squatters' Movement and Squatted Social Centres in Brighton.- PART II. Comparisons.- More Than Four Decades OF Squattin

g: Cycles, Waves and Stages of Autonomous Urban Politics in European Cities.- Keep Your Piece of Cake, We’ll Squat The Bakery! Autonomy Meets Repression and Institutionalisation.- Squatted Social Centres and The Housing Question.