Urban Austerity

What started as a mortgage crisis in 2007 and became a global financial and economic crisis in 2008, has transformed into a sovereign debt crisis since 2010. Throughout, cities all over Europe have been at the heart of the turmoil in multiple ways: indebted homeowners have been evicted, masses impoverished, public budgets tightened, municipal infrastructures privatized, and public services downsized. In short, austerity measures have been implemented.In view of the above, this book focuses on an issue that affects most people living in urban regions across Europe: the idea that fiscal austerity is a necessity that politics cannot avoid, no matter how harsh the consequences might be. To bring the effects of austerity politics to the forefront, the authors of this book expose actual urban problems in their spatiotemporal dimensions, discuss regulatory restructurings under a new regime of austerity urbanism, and reflect on the role of urban social movements struggling for progressive alternatives.Barbara Schönig is Professor for Urban Planning and Director of the Institute for European Urban Studies at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany.Sebastian Schipper, PhD, is a researcher at the Department for Human Geography, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

IntroductionImpacts of the Global Financial Crisis on Cities in EuropeAn Introduction to Urban Austerity von Barbara Schönig und Sebastian Schipper / Seite 7Urban governance in times of austerityFinancializing the Entrepreneurial City von Jamie Peck und Heather Whiteside / Seite 21The (Post)politics of Fiscal Retrenchment Managing Cities and People in a Context of Austerity Urbanism von Joe Penny / Seite 40Social Impact Bonds: A "Social Neoliberal" Response to the Crisis? von Robert Ogman / Seite 58Urban Politics towards a New Paradigm? Reflections on the Crisis-driven Regulatory Reforms in Greece von Thanos Andritsos und Dimitris Poulios / Seite 70Urban infrastructure and public services Extracting Value from the Public CityUrban Strategies and the State-market Mix in the Disposal of Municipal Assetsvon Elena Besussi / Seite 89Who governs? Struggles over Public-landed Property Policy in Berlin under (a not so new) Austerity Regime von Katja Thiele / Seite 103Value Capture as a Tool to Finance Urban Transportation Infrastructure in the Era of Crisis von Anastasia Roukouni und Basil Stefanis/ Seite 117From Austerity to Self-organization - The Changing Landscape of Social Services and Infrastructures in Rome von Daniela Patti und Levente Polyak / Seite 128Housing crisisChanges in Housing and Property under the Austerity Regime in Greece Challenges for Movements and the Left von Dimitra Siatitsa / Seite 145A New Socio-spatial Order in Crisis-stricken Greece - The Housing Crisis and the (In)visibility of the New Marginals von Matina Kapsali und Maria Karagianni/ Seite 161Financialization of Rental Mass Housing in Germany - Understanding the Transaction Cycles in the Mass Rental Housing Sector 1999–2015 von Knut Unger / Seite 176Moving to Berlin from the European South - Post-crisis Mobility Patterns and Uneven Development in the EU von Stefania Animento / Seite 176Geographic Analysis of Evictions in Spain von Ícaro Obeso Muñiz / Seite 207Urban conflicts and contestationsUrban Social Movements in Times of Austerity Politics von Margit Mayer / Seite 219Crisis and the City: Producing Space on Both Sides of the Barricade in Athens' City Center von Daniel Mullis / Seite 242Tales of Crisis from the Walls of Athens - An Exploration of Urban Austerity through the Cultural Practice of Street Art von Julia Tulke / Seite 257Shades of (In)justice - The Right to the City and the Right to the Housing in Sant'Elia, Cagliari von Silvia Aru und Matteo Puttilli/ Seite 271AppendixShort bios of all authors / Seite 287Imprint / Seite 294