Alternative Takes to the City presents the mosaic of relations and socio-spatial conditions which compose the plurality of contemporary everyday space(s) in cities, offering "a view from below". It proposes a multidisciplinary and gendered approach to the (relational) spatialities and temporalities of the everyday, of new mobilities and of global and local networks which constitute urban life in contemporary cities. The book raises an empirically informed theoretical proposition which springs from the multiplicity of everyday experiences, as a laboratory for understanding recent socio-spatial, political and ideological transformations. Each chapter takes forward the theoretical argument based on one or more examples of concrete cities, in order to unveil the complexity and diversity of the urban condition in changing conjunctures, in which local practices connect and collide with global developments.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ix Irini MICHA and Dina VAIOU Chapter 1. A City of One’s Own. Territorialities of Migrant Women in Public Spaces 1 Camille SCHMOLL 1.1. Migrant women in Southern Europe 2 1.2. Diversity of migration patterns, but common subordination 3 1.3. An incongruous presence: moral geographies of the public space 5 1.4. And yet they go out: mixed uses of public spaces 9 1.5. In the interstices of the city 11 1.6. Body politics in public spaces 13 1.7. Conclusion 15 1.8. References 16 Chapter 2. Spatialized Hierarchies: Mirror Effects Between Migrants and Non-migrants in Terzigno (Naples) 21 Adelina MIRANDA 2.1. Scientific co-presence and research relations “at home” 24 2.2. Spatialization of migratory forms 27 2.3. Tensions in and between domestic and public spaces 33 2.4. Conclusion 37 2.5. References 38 Chapter 3. The Power of Speed and the Governance of Space in Urban Life 43 Gabriella PAOLUCCI 3.1. For a definition of the concept of time—space compression 44 3.2. The fragmented experience. Acceleration in the void and lack of time 49 3.3. The power of resentment 55 3.4. References 57 Chapter 4. Gendered Aspects of the Everyday. Restructurings of Urban Life in Athens 59 Dina VAIOU 4.1. Spatializing everyday life 62 4.2. Everyday encounters in the neighborhoods of Athens 65 4.3. Living with “strangers”: reciprocal adaptations and invisible borders 74 4.4. References 76 Chapter 5. Children’s Everyday Flows and Networks in the Neighborhoods of Athens 81 Irini MICHA 5.1. Theoretical arguments. 85 5.2. Alternating images of the city of Athens 87 5.3. The everyday life of children as a tool for approaching urban space 93 5.4. Conclusion 96 5.5. References 98 Chapter 6. Social Citizenship and Social Movements in Response to Housing Needs 101 Marisol GARCÍA 6.1. Building up an urban social movement and achieving national recognition 2009—2011 106 6.2. The PAH innovative strategies and objectives 111 6.3. Public visibility in the media: amplifying social action 113 6.4. Achieving policy results 2012—2015 115 6.5. Institutionalizing policy from bottom-up claims: a fading away of the Platform’s presence from 2015 118 6.6. Conclusion 120 6.7. References 122 Chapter 7. Reading Perceptions of the “Other” Through the Debates and Public Discourses about Islamic Religious Practices and the Presence of Mosques in Athens 125 Penny KOUTROLIKOU 7.1. Spatialities of integration (of faith groups) 127 7.2. Religion and national identity in Greece 131 7.3. Migration and violence in Athens 134 7.4. The (almost) “invisible” mosques in Athens 137 7.5. Claims to recognition and acts of citizenship 140 7.6. In the end... 143 7.7. References 145 List of Authors 151 Index 153