The Everydayness of Cities in Transition Micro Approaches to Material and Social Dimensions of Change

Building on the notion of everyday(ness) as a conceptual tool and a study object in urban research, this book presents 10 case-studies describing and questioning how cities and urban spaces are lived, experienced, interpreted, (self-)produced and/or appropriated. The chapter authors (Raffael Beier & Soufiane Chinig; Patrícia Pereira; Frédéric Vidal, Elisa Lopes da Silva & Alexandre Vaz; Priscilla Santos; Graça Cordeiro & Giuseppe Formato; Andrzej Bukowski & Marta Smagacz-Poziemska; Ryanne Flock; Sophie Zviadadze; Rita Cachado; and  Sonja Lakic) analyse the dynamic/interchangeable relationship between material and social dimensions of urban change through thought-provoking ethnographic narratives.

Chapter 1.Navigating the interstices of urban places: ethnographic and narrative approaches. An introduction (Patrícia Pereira, Graça Índias Cordeiro & Sonja Lakic).-Chapter 2. A biography of displacement: Living through Rabat-Salé’s postcolonial transformation (Raffael Beier & Soufiane Chinig).- Chapter 3. Resistance and everyday life: A women’s struggle for the right to housing in Lisbon (Patrícia Pereira).- Chapter 4. Dwelling and everyday life in Lisbon: Tourism and other urban practices (Frédéric Vidal, Elisa Lopes da Silva & Alexandre Vaz).- Chapter 5. Creating a sense of belonging through everyday urban practices. The case of migrant small business owners in the Bonfim neighbourhood of Porto, Portugal (Priscilla Santos).- Chapter 6. Azorean-American resilience in Camberville. A visual approach to a vernacular landscape in a gentrified neighborhood (Graça Índias Cordeiro & Giuseppe Formato).- Chapter 7. Materiality and social practices as collective urban accomplishments: Receiving war refugees from Ukraine (Andrzej Bukowski & Marta Smagacz-Poziemska).- Chapter 8. Performing the right to the modern Chinese city: Changing patterns of panhandling in Guangzhou (Ryanne Flock).- Chapter 9. Code of the passenger and situational sociability in public transport in Tbilisi (Sophie Zviadadze).- Chapter 10. Flashes of urban affects. Written records of the first 750 days of COVID-19 (Rita Ávila Cachado).- Chapter 11. Tales from the peripheral: Melancholy and the other of the post-Yugoslav city (Sonja Lakic).

Sonja Lakic (PhD in Urban Studies, 2018) is an internationally trained architect, urbanist and curator. Her work revolves around the everydayness of post-conflict cities and lived forms of buildings, with a particular interest in architectural anthropology, buildings as living archives, open architecture and sociological aspects of the built environment. Sonja collects oral histories and practices unconventional ethnography through storytelling, photography and filmmaking. She has thus-far been appointed (visiting) researcher in Italy, Portugal, France and Spain.

Patrícia Pereira (PhD in Sociology, 2013) is a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center of Social Sciences, School of Education and Social Sciences of the Leiria Polytechnic University (CICS.NOVA IPLeiria) and invited professor at Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon. She is an urban sociologist and ethnographer, focusing on researching subjective experiences of eviction and displacement, while also considering the neighbourhood effects and structural dimensions of urban inequality.

Graça Índias Cordeiro (PhD in Anthropology, 1996) is a professor at Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon. As an urban anthropologist involved with social history and ethnographic insights, her main research interests are urban identities, neighborhoods, ethnicity, Portuguese speaking diaspora, and collaborative ethnography. She has been a visiting professor in Spain, Brazil, and the United States.