Who are Cities For? Informal tactics and co-operative strategies challenging the housing crisis

Drawing on participatory action research in Belgrade, supported by CDA partner Ministarstvo Prostora, and in London, this doctoral project explores how alternative housing solutions organised informally by citizens and more formally by civil society can challenge the current housing crisis. Neoliberalism's privileging of monetary over social value and the displacement of people from their neighbourhoods (Farha) is jeopardizing citizens right to the city (Lefebvre) more widely. The primary body of the research focuses on the city of Belgrade and emerging housing solutions challenging investors' urbanism: informal tactics and citizens' self-initiative in city building, and cooperative strategies carried out by a vigorous civil society. Case study analysis through an innovative mixed methods approach will produce a morpho-typological atlas describing housing construction processes, citizens' participation and their impact on the physical city environment.
The recent history of transition from a socialist state to a profoundly neoliberal democracy, and the transformation of housing from common good to private responsibility and product of the market in the last 40 years, makes Belgrade a magnifying glass under which to study the interaction between public policies, free market, and informal construction as responses to housing needs. By cross-referencing the case of Belgrade to London's established participatory framework, the research will critically assess the possible transferability and scalability of Belgrade's informal and cooperative models. It will also address wider questions about: who is going to live in cities? Who are cities for?
Through a combination of architectural and ethnographic participatory research methods, the research will contribute new insight to debates on participation, informality, and cooperation, as well as provide a platform for discussion among local actors, integrating and strengthening their network. In the context of a hinge role of Belgrade between the Global North and South, the research holds potential for new links and wider impact.