Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie

May 14, 6pm, Room 002 (Ground Floor)

Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
Universitätsstraße 3b

10177 Berlin

Joanna Kusiak, Universität Wien / University of Cambridge

Can the law steal urban conflicts? The politics of legal technicalities in Warsaw and in Berlin

Why do we need conflicts in the city? By contesting and protesting certain frameworks we forge new norms of spatial justice. Thus, urban conflicts are themselves a valuable property of the community. Yet the conflicts themselves can be stolen. Analyzing the contested process of property restitution in Warsaw, I argue that this long-standing urban property conflict was furtively misappropriated by the judicial system, which used seemingly neutral judicial technicalities as discreet carriers of neoliberal ideology. At the same time, pointing to tenant struggles around legal issues in Berlin, I raise the question of the progressive potential of legal technicalities for urban struggles. What can we win in the city by fighting for legal definitions?