4EU+ workshop: Participation of marginalised voices in urban decision-making

We invite to the workshop Participation of Marginalised Voices in Urban Decision-Making, which will take place on April 29, 2025, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. online via Zoom.

The workshop is organised by our two experts, Nikolena Nocheva and Tomáš Karásek, and the 4EU+ project partners: Henriette Steiner (University of Copenhagen), Mark Vacher (University of Copenhagen), Sandro Cattacin (University of Geneva), and Fiorenza Gamba (University of Geneva).

Invited Speakers: Adela Petrovic (Charles University), Ross Beveridge (University of Glasgow)

Discussants: Talide Cividino (Concertation Project Manager at the Office de l'Urbanisme, Geneva) and Joy Bruni (Trainer, Facilitator, Actor and Assistant Coordinator at La Maison du Récit, Lausanne)

One of the guiding questions of the 4EU+ European University Alliance project "The recognition of the fragile body in the city: An interdisciplinary perspective on European fundamental values” is how can urban actors ensure the participation of fragile and marginalised voices in urban decision-making processes? 

Adela Petrovic, scientific collaborator in social geography and regional development at the Charles University will discuss how racism, social exclusion, and displacement affect usage of public space by minority groups, hence also pertaining to their participation in urban decision-making processes. To do so, Adela Petrovic will refer to racially-motivated prejudices and attitudes of residents towards the Roma community in gentrifying neighbourhoods in Prague, and to examples from Brussels and Budapest’s governmental efforts to displace street prostitution.

Ross Beveridge, senior lecturer in urban studies and social policy at the University of Glasgow will discuss the necessity for an epistemological shift – to de-centre the state in a movement from institutions to practices, from jurisdictional scales to spaces of collective urban life. Ross Beveridge will argue that seeing democracy in the things urbanites already often do provides a way to reimagine and re-locate democracy in everyday life, also at the margins. Thus, rather than ignoring such projects at the margins, or dismiss them as isolated and lacking impact, what would happen if we tried to build upon them as forms of actually-existing urban democracy?

Talide Cividino, concertation project manager at the Office de l'Urbanisme (Geneva) and Joy Bruni, trainer, facilitator, actor and assistant coordinator at La Maison du Récit (Lausanne) will comment on practices, which can foster urban participation of marginalised individuals.

It is possible to attend online via Zoom, mandatory registration here.