When: Thursday, September 21, 2023, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PMWhere: Ashbee Hall, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LS
The IHSS Annual Symposium’s 2023 main event will address London's multiple housing crises from a global perspective. The 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.
About the Speakers
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 Organisers
IHSS Fellows Drs Jessica Sklair (Business and Management), Archie Davies (Geography) and Elsa Noterman (Geography) organised the event.
About the Event
The drinks reception will follow the conversation. All are welcome, but please sign up on Eventbrite to join the event.