Projeto na Universidade de Leeds discute a “geografia autônoma” (via Critical Spatial Practice), definida como:
“…those spaces where there is a desire to constitute non-capitalist, collective forms of politics, identity and citizenship, which are created through a combination of resistance and creation, and the questioning and challenging of dominant laws and social norms.”
O projeto busca entender como:
“activists make and remake these types of spaces in their everyday lives by exploring their core ideas, beliefs and visions, how they are translated into action, what kinds of spaces for participation and identity are created and what it means to live in-between the overlapping spaces. We are currently participating in three UK-based Case Studies and are guided by an Advisory Group. By engaging in such research, our aim is to critically explore and support autonomous spaces in the UK and the ideas, struggles and practices that bring them to life, as well as help to introduce them to new audiences.”
Três projetos estão em andamento:
1. Enclosure and Resistance in the Inner City: Housing Privatisation and Community Activism in Little London, Leeds. Here we are exploring autonomous resistance to housing privatisation and gentrification in Little London, an inner-city estate in Leeds, England. Since 2001, local residents have been fighting the council’s efforts to push through a regeneration scheme using the controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
2. Social Centres: Resisting, Creating and Embedding Alternatives. This is about moving from community resistance to creating autonomous spaces that help to facilitate the exchange, development and praxis of alternatives to capitalism. We have been documenting the progress of activists attempting to launch a new social centre in Newcastle and developing important insights into the struggle for radical space.
3. Sustainable Living and Living Autonomously: the Lammas Low Impact Settlement Project. The final study examines the practicalities of trying to live autonomously using examples of Low Impact Developments, such as Lammas in South West Wales. The ways in which autonomous sustainable living can be practiced with regards to land, housing, food, and energy help us further understand what has been achieved and what is possible.