Buildings where people have been evicted, Nigeria. Julian Walker. All rights reserved.In cities across the world the dramatic increase in forced and market-driven evictions disproportionately affects the urban poor. While the issue of evictions remains a massive preoccupation for civil society, urban planning processes continually face an intricate balancing act between the entitlement rights of urban dwellers on the one hand, and the stimulation of urban prosperity on the other.
The UN Habitat III conference that has just taken place in Quito presented a unique opportunity to support a truly transformative New Urban Agenda, though the agreed draft is limited in terms of the extent to which evictions are explicitly articulated. Once again, this raises the question of whether academia can play an effective role in influencing the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
What the researchers say
Alexandre Apsan Frediani of the Bartlett Development Planning Unit at University College London (DPU) explains how evictions regularly occur due to urban development processes that have been stimulated by governments: “there are often market forces that start permeating urban areas, due to governments not finding mechanisms to reconcile economic or market development with the protection of marginalised groups living in inner city areas”. Through research undertaken in Johannesburg and São Paulo, Alexandre finds that “in reality, when you see the trade-offs on the ground the economic development agenda starts being prioritised over the rights of the urban poor”.
