Intersectionality challenges for the co-production of urban services: notes for a theoretical and methodological agenda

Abstract

This is a repository copy of Intersectionality challenges for the co-production of urban services: notes for a theoretical and methodological agenda.

Responding to COVID-19: Community volunteerism and coproduction in China

“…Nevertheless, the provision of pandemic-related services has become more participatory in China, extending citizen involvement to areas previously reserved primarily for the government, due to necessity as well as policies encouraging volunteerism. While bottom-up forms of coproduction are an important strategy for grassroots organizations to increase political power ( Castán Broto and Neves Alves, 2018 , Mitlin, 2008 ), top-down state-led coproduction is useful during public crises that require swift, decisive action at the center as well as engagement of local communities to respond effectively.…”

“…As noted by Wu, Zhao, Zhang, and Liu, 2018 , 1206), “the Chinese government has been a primary mobilizer of citizens’ volunteer participation,” often through community organizations assisting the state on local service delivery. This is an example of top-down and state-driven coproduction ( Li, Hu, Liu, & Fang, 2019 ) that differs from the bottom-up coproduction frequently found in the global South ( Castán Broto and Neves Alves, 2018 , Mitlin, 2008 ). In China, volunteer networks are operated by community organizations yet endorsed by government ( Hu, 2020 ) which initiates the process through long-term relationships with civil society and legitimates volunteer action.…”

What can co-creation do for the citizens? Applying co-creation for the promotion of participation in cities

“…Castan Broto and Neves Alves (2018) argue for the need to reformulate those assumptions around participation that lay at the core of co-creative processes. Despite bearing potential for alternative forms of action, co-creation is not free from inequalities, power relationships, and forms of governance that begin to emerge as soon as policy goals are implemented and as they turn into practice (Hajer and Wagenaar, 2003; Laws and Forester, 2015).…”

“…Yet, this does not mean that those who fall outside of these processes had nothing valuable to share. Rather, empirical evidence suggests that, for instance, the involvement of the urban poor in urban planning and activism challenges general assumptions and procedures that dominate planning practices (Castan Broto and Neves Alves, 2018: 373; also Irwin, 2016).…”

Climate Resilience in Urban Informal Settlements: Towards a Transformative Upgrading Agenda

“…are manifested and experienced differently by different groups ‘due to their situatedness in power structures based on context-specific and dynamic social categorisations’ (Kaijser and Kronsell 2014 ; Grünenfelder and Schurr 2015 ). Evidence across a variety of contexts shows that women, girls, sexual minorities, and less able people living in informal settlements suffer specific and compounding marginalities and vulnerabilities, and suffer disproportionately from the effects of poor informal settlement services and conditions (Castán Broto and Neves Alves 2018 ). A climate justice and intersectional framing therefore demands ‘a drastic shift in existing power structures and the policies these structures bring forward, a shift that puts the needs of the poor high on the agenda’ (Roy et al 2016 :6).…”