Geographies of forced eviction: Dispossession, violence, resistance

Abstract

Today, forced evictions in the name of ‘progress’ are attracting attention as growing numbers of people in the Global South are ejected and dispossessed from their homes, often through intimidation, coercion and the use of violence. At the same time, we have also witnessed the intensification of a ‘crisis’ urbanism in the Global North characterized by new forms of social inequality, heightened housing insecurity and violent displacement. This introductory chapter examines how these developments have led to an explosion of forced evictions supported by new economic, political and legal mechanisms, and increasingly shaped by intensifying environmental change. It does so with reference to the 8 chapters on forced eviction that follow from across urban Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.