South of the North? Segregation in Mediterranean Cities
Call for papers for Méditerranée, Journal of Mediterranean Geography, special issue to be published in 2016
Editors : Thomas PFIRSCH, Université de Valenciennes Giovanni SEMI, Università di Torino
In the last three decades many studies have discussed the social impact of globalization on contemporary cities. Mainly influenced by global cities and urban polarization debates (Mollenkopf e Castells 1991 ; Sassen, 1991), such works have argued for a growing urban segregation due to postfordist transformations. Still, recent contributions praise for a « re-contextualization » of such global theories (Maloutas et Fujita, 2012), highlighting their multiple local translations under several policy, cultural and national regimes. By distinguishing between « Northern » and « Southern » cities, between « North American » and « European » metropolis and between « North European » and
« Mediterranean » cities, they have led to the reconsideration of both the existence and the usefulness of urban regional models in the global age (Robinson, 2006) and the international circulation of urban theories.
Located on one among the largest North –South divides in the world, Mediterranean Cities play a key role in this debate. Since Lila Leontidou’s pioneering works in the early 1990’s, researchers have suggested the idea of a Mediterranean “resistance” to postfordist transformations. In the Mediterranean area, social segregation is often considered a marginal phenomenon because of informal channels in housing, weak spatial mobility, patterns of residential proximity within the family or weak functional zoning. Cities in the Mediterranean are thus associated to a hybrid model between both “North” and “South” (Leontidou, 1996), characterized by a weak social segregation.
Nonetheless such theories have long suffered a lack of empirical validation. Indeed, residential segregation has long been an under-researched topic in Mediterranean Countries, with few official surveys and data, echoing a similar absence in both the media and public discussions (Maloutas, 2012 ; Arbaci, 2014).
We nonetheless have faced a vibrant renewal in Mediterraenan cities segregation analysis in recent years. New works have showed the complexities and diversities of urban segregation at a national scale, both in Greece (Maloutas, 2007) or Italy (Barbagli and Pisati, 2012), while comparative
« Southern Europe Studies » emerged in the Anglophone academic field (Allen et aliter, 2004, Petsimeris, 2004 ; Seixas and Albet, 2012 ; Arbaci, 2014). Discarding the myth of a Mediterranean City such strand of literature praises for the relevance of a “Southern European” model, somehow reinforced by the media coverage of sovereign debt crises within the Euro zone and the recognition of huge differences in welfare state regimes and public policy attitudes between the “North” and the
“South” of Europe (Esping Andersen, 1990). As a whole, these works are, on the one hand, showing the lesser strength of residential segregation in Southern European cities, and even its decrease (Barbagli and Pisati, 2012), while on the other hand they highlight the rising of new urban segregation patterns, less dependent on the sole application of the gentrification model and rather mixing both low residential segregation with social marginalization processes, especially regarding migrants and minorities (Arbaci, 2014). On the south Bank of the Mediterranean, the growing importance of social movements and mobilizations against megaprojects has shown that segregation is still a key urban issue (Florin et alii, 2014).
Bringing together papers on the two banks of the Mediterranean basin, and comparing them with Northern Europe, North America and the Global South, we aim at providing a critical state of the art on segregation within Mediterranean cities that will open up a more general debate on the global-local nexus in the contemporary age.
In that perspective, “Southern European” or “Mediterranean” models are not referring to any ontological reality. They are rather used as analytical tools and frameworks (Hertzfeld, 2005) in order to catch the territorial variations of segregation. Papers will have to compare the “north” and the
“south” of the Mediterranean basin, but will also pay attention to internal differences within these two groups of countries, in a context of growing local diversity of urban policies in association with decentralization and regionalization reforms in the Mediterranean Nation-States. They will also focus on methodological issues and the difficulties associated with the comparative approach.
According to the Méditerranée Journal editorial line, papers from various academic disciplines are accepted (Geography, urban sociology, urban anthropology), but with a spatial approach preferably using maps.
Papers are invited to discuss three key issues :
1) Patterns and intensity of residential segregation in Mediterranean cities
Features of residential segregation which are often described as typical of Mediterranean cities will be discussed :
- Intensity and measure of residential segregation : is segregation lower in Mediterranean cities ? And has it increased in recent years, due to the globalization context ?
- Spatial patterns of residential segregation : Are “micro-segregation” or “vertical segregation” more important than “neighbourhood segregation” in Mediterranean Cities ? Classical patterns of segregation such as the concentric zone or sector models are of any relevance to describe Mediterranean Cities ?
- Social groups and residential segregation : Which groups are most affected by segregation in Mediterranean Cities ? Besides class, which variables (“Race”, gender, “generation”…) play a key role in urban segregation in the Mediterranean ?
2) Spatial distance and social distance in Mediterranean cities
While most of the studies about Segregation focus on its residential dimension, papers will also discuss other forms of urban segregation, such as school segregation or segregation in accessing public space.
3) Making segregation / Dealing with segregation in Mediterranean cities…
Papers are asked to analyze the making of segregation in Mediterranean cities, focusing on the effect of public policies and « neoliberal » megaprojects on segregation, but also on the role of the built environment, historical and economic profiles of cities, and Mediterranean social features (such as the
“family model”). The relationship between global models of urban policies and local context will be discussed.
Moreover, papers will also pay attention to desegregation processes in Mediterranean Cities, whether these are due to public policies or spontaneous reactions and strategies of urban residents trying to resist or deal with urban segregation…
The deadline for full texts submission is 30 october 2015. Papers will be formatted in accordance to the Journal editorial standards (see http://mediterranee.revues.org/584), with bilingual title, abstract, key words, and a list of the main places mentioned in the text.
Papers, in electronic files, will be sent to both guest editors Thomas Pfirsch (thopfirsch@hotmail.com) and Giovanni Semi (giovanni.semi@unito.it).
References
Allen J., Barlow J., Leal J., Maloutas T., Padovani L., 2004, Housing and Welfare in Southern Europe, Oxford, Blackwell
Arbaci S., 2014, “(Re)viewing Ethnic Residential Segregation in Southern European Cities : Housing and Urban Regimes as mechanisms of Marginalisation”, Housing Studies, vol 23.4, p.589-613
Barbagli M., Pisati M., 2012. Dentro e fuori le mura. Città e gruppi sociali dal 1400 a oggi, Bologna, Il Mulino
Esping-Andersen G., 1990, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge, Polity Press
Florin B., Legros O., Semmoud N., Troin B., 2014, Marges urbaines et néolibéralisme en Méditerranée, Tours, Pufr
Herzfeld M., 2005, “Practical Mediterraneanisms: Excuses for everything, from epistemology to eating”, in Harris, W.V. (ed.), Rethinking the Mediterranean, Oxford, Oxford University Press
Leontidou L. 1990, The Mediterranean City in Transition : Social Change and Urban Development, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Leontidou L. 1996, "Alternatives to Modernism in (Southern) Urban Theory : Exploring In-Between Spaces", International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol.20
Maloutas T. & K. Fujita (eds), 2012, Residential segregation around the world. Why context matters, Farnham, Ashgate
Maloutas T., 2007, “Segregation, social polarization and immigration in Athens during the 1990’s : theoretical expectations and contextual difference”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol.31, p.733-58
Petsimeris P., 2005, "Out of squalor and towards another urban Renaissance ? Gentrification and neighbourhood transformations in Southern Europe", dans R.Atkinson et G.Bridge, Gentrification in a global Context : the new urban colonialism, Londres – New York, Routledge
Robinson J., 2006, Ordinary Cities. Between Modernity and Development, London, Routledge Sassen S., 1991, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, Princeton University Press Seixas J., Albet A. (eds), 2012, Urban Governance in Southern Europe, London, Ashgate
