Progressive Planning, the magazine of Planners Network, invites critical articles about the politics of planning in Latino US and Latin America for its Summer 2015 issue. Topics should address one of the following two issue areas:
The Politics of Planning in Latin American Cities
Even though Latin American cities still face inequality, violence, and precariousness, persistent urban movements struggle to cope with the implacable effects of neoliberal policies. In the last two decades, Latin America became a fertile urban laboratory, embedded in a wide ideological spectrum of innovative space production strategies. These range from the extensive implementation of Bus Rapid Transit, cable cars, iconic settlement upgrading, and disaster recovery protocols to planning initiatives of participatory budgeting, grassroots planning and urban land reform movements. The implementations of these strategies have been internationally praised and diffused, yet they still lack a critical analysis of their rationales, implementation disjunctions and social contestations.
The Politics of Planning in Latino Communities in the USA
In the last three decades, cities and suburbs in the United States have not only experienced an explosion in their Latino populations, but they have also become a fertile ground for neoliberal policies—from union busting to massive urban renewal and gentrification of traditionally low- and middle-income areas. As a consequence, Latinos in American cities have faced inequality, precariousness in the labor market and displacement. Those who are unauthorized immigrants face additional challenges to access jobs, housing, schooling and other services and opportunities. Nonetheless, Latinos have forged ahead to develop their communities and have organized responses to cope with the relentless effects of racism, xenophobia and neoliberalism, creating the basis for broadening their political and economic influence.
Progressive Planning critically explores the politics behind the planning and their effects on sustainability and justice. We go beyond “best practice” models to investigate the true social, political and ecological impacts of both mainstream and alternative planning schemes. Articles must be written in a critical and journalistic voice. Authors should avoid jargon and present a clear point of view. Articles should be no more than 2,000 words in English and written for a general audience. Do not use footnotes or bibliography. Please adhere to the guidelines for submission: http://www.plannersnetwork.org/magazine-publications/magazine-guidelines-for-submission/.
Deadline for consideration: June 1st, 2015. Send articles or queries to Issue Editors Clara Irazábal and Samuel Stein via cei2108@columbia.edu andstein.murphy@gmail.com. We’d appreciate receiving notice of your intent to submit at your earliest convenience to help us plan the issue.