ABSTRACT

In October 2016 a broad range of representatives and stakeholders convened in Quito for the United Nations’ Habitat III conference to create and adopt a New Urban Agenda, signalling their collective commitment to the initiation of no less than an urban paradigm shift. The social sciences in general, and urban studies in particular, have produced numerous fields and traditions in which difference, otherness, and alternatives have been explored both theoretically and empirically. Examples of alternative spaces of dwelling include squatting, slum dwellings and other informal settlements, co-living arrangements and radical enclaves. Space itself – and landscape and place likewise – far from being firm foundations for disciplinary expertise and power, are insecure, precarious and fluctuating. In short, an alternative disposition to the production of urban space emits a radical potency to recast the status quo and can therefore be understood as interjecting revolutionary potential. The chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed in this book.