Urban Activism in Western Europe from the 1950s to the 1980s

Bringing together contributions from social, political, and urban historians, this collection examines social movements in Western European cities from the 1950s to the 1980s. Since their post-war recovery and reconstruction, cities in this part of the world underwent far-reaching societal transitions such as deindustrialisation and the rise of the service economy, the expansion and decline of local welfare regimes, suburbanisation and urban redevelopment, and the democratisation of urban politics. Indeed, the sources for urban activism have been manifold and the rehistoricization of this era through an urban lens is therefore valuable. The authors of this volume seek to provide a comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of how structural socio-economic, political, and cultural changes; ideological shifts; and urban spaces were intertwined in various place-dependent ways. By doing so, they offer fresh comparative and conceptual perspectives on urban activism. The book focuses on the ‘long 1970s’ – a structural break in time across the industrial West, which corresponded with the emergence of new social movements and an urban crisis that left a wasteland of abandoned factories, dilapidated workers’ housing, and stalling redevelopment schemes in its wake. Addressing how the post-industrial revolution socially, ideologically, and physically manifested itself in the urban environment, this book provides useful insights for colleagues in the fields of urban history, social history, political history, and social movement studies. Series Editors’ Preface Contents List of Contributors List of Figures Introduction: Urban Activism in Western European Cities from the 1950s to the 1980s A History of Urban Movements or Urban Social Movements? The 1970s as a Turning Point for Urban (Social) Movements? Contributions to This Volume Urban (Social) Movements and the Urban Crises of Today: Looking Back and Forward Provocations at the Limits of Urbanity: Historical Perspectives on Cold War Urban Social Movements The Destruction of Urban Renewal Urbanity: Cities as Hubs of Contestation, Provocation, and Protest Castells’ Theory of Urban Social Movements: A Heuristic and Ideal–Typical Reading Advertent and Inadvertent Provocations: Provo and Gammler Poverty and Self-Help Prendiamoci la città Conclusion The Magic Centre: The Provo Movement and Sociocultural Critiques on Urban Redevelopment in Amsterdam 1965–1970 Introduction A City at the Crossroads Power to the Urban Imagination Banks and Automobiles Conclusion Between Local Roots and Transnational Networks: The Case of the Squatter Barricades of 1980 and 1981 in Amsterdam and Nijmegen Squatters, Movements and Urban Democracy Physical and Virtual Connections: Squatters on the Road Political Transfer: Building Barricades in Amsterdam and Nijmegen Local Legitimacy and Local Support ‘This Is War’: Evictions and Outcomes Conclusion Transcending the Local: World Shops and the Politics of Place, 1969–1988 Talking Shop Establishing a Local Presence A Gateway to the City Fixing a Place Conclusion: Transcending Place Contested Neighbourhoods of Arrival: Migration and Conflicts Over Urban Space in the 1970s in Hamburg Hamburg: Labour Migration and Urban Structure “Housing Misery”: Conflicts Over Housing Conditions of Migrant Workers Dangerous “Concentrations of Foreigners”: Conflicts Over Settlement Patterns Conclusion Let's Take the City: Turin's Urban Movement, 1968–1975 Introduction Turin in the Italian and European Context Student Movements and Extra-Parliamentary Groups in Turin: From the University to the Factory The Labour Movement: From the Factory to the City Turin’s Urban Movement: A Synthesis of Civil Society and Politics Final Reflections Fighting for the City at the Neighbourhood Scale: The Comitati di Quartiere in 1970s Rome Rome in the 1970s The Making of a ‘Red Neighbourhood’: The Comitato di Quartiere Magliana ‘Participation and Direct Democracy’ in a Middle-Class Neighbourhood: The Comitato di Quartiere delle Valli Conclusion Castlemilk Claimants Union and Local Community Activism on the Urban Fringe in Glasgow in the 1970s Introduction Community Activism in Castlemilk in the 1970s Unemployment and the Formation of Castlemilk Claimants Union The Claimants Union Movement in the UK A Network of Support and Solidarity Conclusion In Defence of a Coalfield Community: Resisting Urban Redevelopment in 1950s Wales A Petit Bourgeois Urban Social Movement? The Case of Britain’s National Union of Small Shopkeepers The Nation of Shopkeepers The Shopkeeper in the Post-war Age The End of the Urban Renewal Era and Beyond Conclusion Index Bringing together contributions from social, political, and urban historians, this collection examines social movements in Western European cities from the 1950s to the 1980s. Since their post-war recovery and reconstruction, cities in this part of the world underwent far-reaching societal transitions such as deindustrialisation and the rise of the service economy, the rise and decline of local welfare regimes, suburbanisation and urban redevelopment, and the democratisation of urban politics. Indeed, the sources for urban activism have been manifold and the rehistoricization of this era through an urban lens is therefore valuable. The authors of this volume seek to provide a comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of how structural socio-economic, political, and cultural changes; ideological shifts; and urban spaces were intertwined in various place-dependent ways. By doing so, they offer fresh comparative and conceptual perspectives on urban activism. The book focuses on the ‘long 1970s’ – a structural break in time across the industrial West, which corresponded with the emergence of new social movements and an urban crisis that left a wasteland of abandoned factories, dilapidated workers’ housing, and stalling redevelopment schemes in its wake. Addressing how the post-industrial revolution socially, ideologically, and physically manifested itself in the urban environment, this book provides useful insights for those researching urban history, social history, political history, and social movement studies.