Indigenous Rights to the City: EthniCity, DiverCity and Urban Development in La Paz, Bolivia and Quito, Ecuador

Library Presentation Room, OU, Milton Keynes

Abstract
Focusing on emergent urban indigenous spaces in Latin America, Dr Philipp Horn will argue that the emergence of these new urban spaces can best be understood through combining current urban theories on extended / planetary urbanisation (Brenner 2013; Monte-Mor 2005) and post-colonia l/ neo-colonial urbanism (Roy 2015; Yiftachel 2016). In addition, he will highlight that in most Latin American countries the 'urban indigenous issue' represents a key development barrier. Urban indigenous residents continue to be affected by patterns of social exclusion and discrimination; they are disproportionately poorer than non-indigenous population groups and often excluded from specific indigenous rights-based agendas which predominantly target rural areas.

Bolivia and Ecuado, however, represent notable exceptions to this trend, In both, governments have made initial attempts to address indigenous 'rights to the city' (R2C). Drawing on empirical evidence from La Paz, Bolivia and Quito, Ecuador, as well as on practice-centric theories on urban policy and planning (Flyvbjerg 2009; Watson 2003, 2009), the seminar will offer an empirical and practical contextualisation of the indigenous R2C and discuss its role in urban policies, planning, and everyday practices of ordinary indigenous peoples. Drawing on these findings, Dr Horn will discuss a set of challenges and opportunities for the design of more inclusive urban policies which take the 'urban indigenous issue' seriously.