Not for sale! Explaining the Outcomes of Neighbourhood Mobilisations Against Displacement

A decade after the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis, affordable housing-related displacement has become a global problem. Although displacement has captured the attention of urban sociology, social resistance to it remains understudied.

The aim of this project is to fill this gap and explain the diverse outcomes of neighbourhood-based mobilisations opposing displacement through a qualitative comparative analysis of three cases (Parc-Extension in Montréal, Poble Sec in Barcelona and La Guillotière in Lyon).

The research will shed light on three types of outcomes: favourable media coverage, social recognition and influence of public agenda.

The project builds on the assumption that the capacity to generate outcomes depends on collective action mechanisms: the diversification of protest tactics, the forging of wide coalitions and the desingularisation of the idiosyncratic experience of the neighbourhood.

Another aim of the project is to produce an oral history archive of the three neighbourhoods, which will contribute to foster knowledge transfer between academia and society.

This GF proposes: a) an outgoing period to Centre Urbanisation Culture et Société (INRS) in Montréal, where I will be involved in a multidisciplinary research group (Tryspaces) and I will receive theoretical and technical training; b) a secondment in Institut de Govern i Politiques Publiques (UAB), in Barcelona, where I will pursue training activities; c) a return period in Centre Max Weber (Université Lyon 2), in Lyon, where I will transfer the acquired skills and develop additional training to enhance my career prospects.

My profile being based on comparative politics and social movement sociology, the GF will provide me with a new interdisciplinary expertise in urban studies, critical geography and audio-visual and multimedia techniques, as well as a deep knowledge of international research funding procedures and research-leading skills ready to be used in France.