Habitat Unit

URBAN TALK
November 19, 2014 | 18.00 Uhr | Architekturforum

Melanie Lombard
Land conflict in peri-urban areas: A case study from Xalapa, Mexico 

Peri-urban areas are often subject to intensive residential development, whether through formal or informal processes. Land transitions from rural to urban status may cause conflict, leading to disputes, contestation and in some cases, violence. After peri-urban growth in Mexico historically has proceeded peacefully, some observers suggest that conflict over peri-urban land is now increasing.

This lecture explores these issues through a case of irregular settlement on the peri-urban fringe of a provincial Mexican city, where contestations over land under informal development have escalated into violent encounters between groups of settlers and the state. Power balance among key actors is a critical deciding factor in this context.

Melanie Lombard is Lecturer in Global Urbanism at the Global Urban Research Centre in the School of Education, Environment and Development at the University of Manchester. With a background in political theory, planning and urban studies, and previous experience in UK social housing, her research connects the built environment to social processes through the everyday activities that construct cities, often neglected by formal theories and practices of planning and urbanism.

Urban Talk_Melanie Lombard_Poster

The lecture series "Urban Talks" is jointly organized by the Habitat Unit and the Urban Management Program at Technical University Berlin.

Architekturforum
Institute for Architecture, TU Berlin
Strasse des 17. Juni 152
10623 Berlin