ABSTRACT
The idea of citizenship is discussed in the literature from various points of view, yet there is some convergence on one notion and two perspectives. The notion upon which various ideas of citizenship converge is that of belonging to a political community. As for the two perspectives, the first considers citizenship as something static – a status that is defined and institutionalised by the members of a political community themselves. The second considers citizenship, in addition to a status, as a political activity in which the members of the political community are engaged. In this second perspective, citizenship is a social process, a body of practices, an experience, and an activity carried out by citizens who act to reshape rights, duties, and forms of belonging. In this view, in addition to being a status, citizenship is a project and a way of life. The planning skill of citizenship brings it closer and welds it to spatial governance – that is, to the political processes that oversee decisions for the ordering and control of the use of space.
