Resisting Redevelopment : Protest in Aspiring Global Cities

This study of twenty-nine protest cases in ten global cities shows how residents facing displacement - in the forms of urban redevelopment and gentrification - mobilize their neighborhoods and change policies. Heretofore understudied, creative residents emerge as the key to mobilization, as they craft hip and transformative protest experiences.

The politics of urban development is one of the most enduring, central themes of urban politics. In Resisting Redevelopment, Eleonora Pasotti explores the forces that enable residents of ''aspiring global cities,'' or economically competitive cities, to mobilize against gentrification and other forms of displacement, as well as what makes mobilizations successful. Scholars and activists alike will benefit from this one-of-a-kind comparative study. Impressive in its scope, this book examines twenty-nine protest campaigns over a decade in ten major cities across five continents, from Santiago to Seoul to Los Angeles. Pasotti sheds light on an approach that is both understudied and remarkably effective - the practice of successful organizers deploying ''experiential tools,'' or events, social archives, neighborhood tours, and performances designed to attract participants and transform the protest site into the place to be. With this book, Pasotti promises to provide a creative and novel contribution to the literature of contentious politics.