Contested Markets, Contested Cities

2017 | Business & Finance

During the past decade many markets have been rediscovered as tourist attractions, food meccas and even regeneration flagships. These transformations are pushing markets to a gentrification frontier clashing with markets' traditional role as public meeting places that support, economically and socially, a diverse range of communities including the urban poor, migrant workers, ethnic minorities and the elderly. This book is the first to explore the contemporary challenges taking place in traditional retail spaces, drawing on rich international case studies from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Bulgaria, and the UK. It draws on three key themes. Firstly, contemporary transformations in markets are part of wider processes of neoliberal urbanisation. Secondly, markets can become political spaces for resistance or contestation between different groups and actors. The contested "public" nature of markets, their buildings or streets, becomes at stake as battleground for different notions of what the city itself means. Finally, markets offer opportunities for alternative practices for solidarity, cooperation and for bottom up "commoning".

They can become semi-autonomous spaces in the face of corporatized food networks or exploitative labour relations through for example the exchange of locally and non-commercially produced food. This book adopts a relational and multi-scalar approach to explore markets from the inside and out, connecting to wider local, national and global processes. It will be of great interest to those studying Urban Studies, Geography, Planning, Sociology.

Sara Gonzalez (Author)