The IHSS Annual Symposium will be held from 21-22 September 2023 and will address London's multiple housing crises from a global perspective. The symposium will host a conversation between two key contemporary analysts of urban housing and property, Raquel Rolnik and Brenna Bhandar. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective on housing struggles and dispossession in London, they will discuss how London's unique urban challenges are embedded within global circuits of capital. Focussing on colonial and racial regimes of property, and the changing dynamics of financialisation, this event will offer fresh insights on London's housing by situating it in a global and historical context.
Raquel Rolnik is a Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo. She is an architect and urban planner, with over 35 years of scholarship, activism and practical experience in planning, urban land policy and housing issues. In her career, she has held various government positions including Director of the Planning Department of the city of São Paulo (1989-1992) and National Secretary for Urban Programs of the Brazilian Ministry of Cities (2003-2007) as well as NGO activities, such as Urban Policy Coordinator of the Polis Institute (1997-2002). In May 2008, Ms Raquel Rolnik was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing for a six years mandate ending June 2014. She is the author of several books, including Urban Warfare: Housing and Cities in the Age of Finance (Verso, 2019).
Brenna Bhandar is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, which is located on the unceded lands of the Musqueam First Nation. Prior to returning to Canada, she was Reader in Law and Critical Theory at SOAS. She is the author of Colonial Lives of Property: Law, Land and Racial Regimes of Ownership (Duke University Press, 2018) and co-editor with Rafeef Ziadah of Revolutionary Feminisms: Conversations on Collective Action and Radical Thought (Verso,2020). Her work takes a critical legal, feminist and anti-colonial approach to the study of property and relations of ownership.
The speakers will host informal lunchtime discussions for students and staff at Queen Mary University of London. If you are an early career scholar or a graduate student and would to attend these discussions, please contact us at ihss@qmul.ac.uk.
All are welcome to attend. Please register by clicking on the links below.
When: Thursday, 21 September 2023, 3:00 - 5:00 PMWhere: Ashbee Hall, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LS
The IHSS Annual Symposium’s 2023 main event will host a conversation between two key contemporary analysts of urban housing and property, Professors Raquel Rolnik and Brenna Bhandar. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective on housing struggles and dispossession in London, they will discuss how London's unique urban challenges are embedded within global circuits of capital. Focussing on colonial and racial regimes of property, and the changing dynamics of financialisation, this event will offer fresh insights on London's housing by situating it in a global and historical context.
When: Friday, 22 September 2023, 10:00 - 11:00 AMWhere: Meeting point on Hackney Road (tbc following registration)
Until recently Hackney Road was full of wholesalers, selling luggage, bags and colourful shoes. These commercial surfaces in turn replaced small factories making rope, rubber, varnish and paint when East London was at its industrial peak. But in the last few years the night-time economy has pushed its way east of Old Street connecting it to the financial district south of Liverpool Street Station and new industries and upscale housing have spread along Hackney Road. This walk will explore the new rent-hiked face of Hackney Road and discover the ways in which high finance hides in plain sight among the vibes of the night and hipster ‘cool’.
Housing Struggles in London: Linking the Global and the Local
When: Friday, 22 September 2023, 2:30 - 5:30 PMWhere: Ashbee Hall, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LS
How can a global perspective on London's housing crisis contribute to housing activism in London? In this workshop, activists and scholar-activists tackling inequality, dispossession and precarity in London's manifold housing crises will come together to reflect on the state of housing and housing activism in London, how it relates to global financial housing markets as well as developing global housing activism, and think about the future of London housing movements.