Spatial Justice and Informal Settlements: Integral Urban Projects in the Comunas of Medellín
Eva Schwab
Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018
English, 216 pages, paperback
ISBN 978-1-78714-768-3
EUR 48.00

This monograph links the discourses of informal urbanism and spatial justice, looking at the (apparent) success of upgrading processes in Medellín for the residents of Comuna 13, an informal settlement in the western part of the city.
The publication is based on the dissertation by Eva Schwab, who won the Landscape Research Dissertation Prize 2016 and the Talent Award of the University Jubilee Fund of the City of Vienna. Based on the importance of positive recognition of the contributions of the settlement’s inhabitants to city life, Eva Schwab outlines an interpretation of spatial justice beyond distributional and procedural justice. She examines whether, and how, public space created during the PUI (Proyecto Urbano Integral) between 2008 and 2011 increases spatial justice and quality of life for the residents of Comuna 13. Drawing on extensive fieldwork to understand people’s everyday life and socio-spatial practices in Comuna 13, the design, production, use and management of selected public spaces established under the PUI program is assessed.

Eva Schwab has a doctorate in landscape architecture and has been working at the Institute of Urbanism at TU Graz since February 2018.