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| Semester | fall semester 2024 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Claske Dijkema (claske.dijkema@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Neoliberalism is turning cities into hubs for tourism and global finance, leading to gentrification and the erosion of cooperative environments in neighborhoods. In this context, there are also people who build alternatives, often operating on very local scales with limited resources and under precarious conditions. This course aims to explore the question of what a solidarity city looks like, where solidarity is lived in the city and which Infrastructures make this possible. We approach the city as a complex relational entity that is experienced and negotiated by different stakeholders in multiple ways. Three central and interrelated concepts at the heart of the investigation are social justice, care and solidarity. Under the broad term of solidarity cities, we look at urban actors, practices and institutions that are engaged in the urban space to ensure that everyone can participate in the city. In doing so, we address various concepts that are currently being referred to by social movements, such as “caring cities”, “right to the city”, “safe cities”, “infrastructures of solidarity” and “urban citizenship”. We examine how neoliberalism also affects what can be considered public, e.g. public spaces. Hence the course discusses from a spatial perspective the possibilities of collective action and political mobilization within cities. Which experiments that place the needs of all city dwellers (e.g. for housing, (mental) health, education) at the center can we find around us in different Swiss cities? What kind of political philosophy drives these experiments? To what extent are these solidarity initiatives forms of autonomous or intermediary organization or adhere to a humanitarian logic? The main disciplines the course draws on are urban sociology and social geography, but proposed reading also includes texts on political philosophy. The course is organized in three half-day classroom sessions and two full-day explorations of Bern and Zürich. Teachers: Claske Dijkema is Assistant Professor in Diversity and Sozialraum at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Social Work. Main themes in her work are conflict, empowerment and safety in urban spaces. Her post-doc at swisspeace dealt with urban violence in European cities. At the University of Basel, she carried out a collaborative learning project on decolonising Swiss urban landscapes. Sarah Schilliger is Senior Researcher at the University of Bern and leads an international research project on solidarity movements and citizenship struggles in ten European cities. In her PhD in Sociology at the University of Basel, she carried out a multi-sited ethnography on care workers employed in Swiss households coming from Eastern European countries. |
| Comments | This course is capped at 15-20 max. Students and prioritizes MA Critical Urbanisms and MA Changing Societies Students on timely registration. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| unregelmässig | See individual dates | ||
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 04.10.2024 | 10.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Mehrzweckraum 035 |
| Friday 25.10.2024 | 10.15-16.00 | Field Trip to Bern, -- |
| Friday 08.11.2024 | 10.15-16.00 | Field Trip in Basel or in Biel, -- |
| Friday 29.11.2024 | 14.00-17.00 | Dies Academicus |
| Friday 06.12.2024 | 10.15-16.00 | Field Trip to Zürich, -- |
| Friday 13.12.2024 | 14.15-17.00 | Kollegienhaus, Mehrzweckraum 035 |
| Modules |
Module: Resources and Sustainability (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Specialization Module Global Europe: Work, Migration and Society (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Urban Studies |