“Emancipatory Circuits of Knowledge” for Urban Equality

Experiences From Havana, Freetown, and Asia

Bibliographic Data

ID22018494
AuthorsStephanie Butcher (0000-0003-4907-6092, The University of Melbourne), Camila Cociña (0000-0002-6740-4494, University College London), Alexandre Apsan Frediani (0000-0001-8574-3599, International Institute for Environment and Development), Michele Acuto (0000-0003-4320-0531, The University of Melbourne), Brenda Pérez‐Castro, Jorge Peña Díaz (0000-0001-8734-2043, Polytechnic José Antonio Echeverría), Jorge Peña‐Díaz, Joiselen Cazanave Macías (0000-0001-5087-0109, Polytechnic José Antonio Echeverría), Joiselen Cazanave‐Macías, Braima Koroma (0000-0002-4829-8032, Njala University), Joseph Macarthy (0000-0002-9106-1516, Njala University)
Year2022
Volume7
Issue3
Publication date2022-06-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Planning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2183-7635 • E-ISSN: 2183-7635
PublisherCogitatio (PUBLISHER • PT)
DOI10.17645/up.v7i3.5319
OpenAlexW4281708145
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited40

Feminist, Southern, and decolonial thinkers have long argued that epistemological questions about how knowledge is produced and whose knowledge is valued and actioned are crucial in addressing inequalities, and a key challenge for planning. This collaborative article interrogates how knowledge is mobilised in urban planning and practice, discussing three experiences which have actively centred often-excluded voices, as a way of disrupting knowledge hierarchies in planning. We term these “emancipatory circuits of knowledge”—processes whereby diverse, situated, and marginalised forms of knowledge are co-produced and mobilised across urban research and planning, to address inequalities. We discuss experiences from the Technological University José Antonio Echeverría (CUJAE), a university in Havana, Cuba, that privileges a fluid and collaborative understanding of universities as social actors; the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre, a research institute in the city of Freetown, which curates collective and inclusive spaces for community action planning, to challenge the legacies of colonial-era planning; and the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, a regional network across Asia, which facilitates processes of exchange and co-learning which are highly strategic and situated in context, to advance community-led development. Shared across these “emancipatory circuits” are three “sites of impact” through which these partners have generated changes: encouraging inclusive policy and planning outcomes; shifting the planning praxis of authorities, bureaucrats, and researchers; and nurturing collective trajectories through building solidarities. Examining these three sites and their challenges, we query how urban knowledge is produced and translated towards epistemic justice, examining the tensions and the possibilities for building pathways to urban equality. Shared across these ‘emancipatory circuits’ are three layered ‘sites of impact’ through which these partners have generated changes: encouraging inclusive policy and planning outcomes; shifting the planning praxis of authorities, bureaucrats and researchers; and nurturing collective trajectories through processes of building solidarities. Examining these three sites and their challenges, we query the ways in which urban knowledge is produced and translated towards epistemic justice –examining the tensions and the possibilities for building pathways to urban equality

Ethnology · Geography · Political science · Praxis · Public relations · Sierra leone · Situated · Sociology · Urban planning · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Public Administration · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Urban Planning and Governance

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access