Negotiating Urban Conflicts

Cities have always been arenas of social and symbolic conflict, as places of encounter between different classes, ethnic groups, and lifestyles. Urban contexts are also ideal settings for marginalization and violence. The struggle over control of urban spaces is an ambivalent mode of socialization. While developing their identities, groups also create exclusive spaces and use the boundaries they have created to define themselves. This volume presents major urban conflicts and analyzes modes of negotiation among groups against the theoretical background of post-colonialism.