Space and Power: for a praxis in the autonomous urban planning

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reiterate the notion of territory, understood as the space of power relations, to deconstruct the idea of a centralized and exclusionary power and thus contribute to the understanding of autonomous planning practices and insurgent movements. The denial of the idea that the State is the ultimate symbol of power allows visualization of a set of micropowers that are configured in daily life in various forms and scales. These micropowers manifest in recent political movements that often do not dialogue with the political bodies established by the State, but rather with issues relating to everyday conflicts experienced by urban society. However, in a crisis context of legitimation of state power, we must be seeking new strategies for recognizing and seizing such conflicts as a way of broadening the dialogue with society. In this perspective, the explanation of everyday conflict is thus considered the main strategy of building autonomy, which, in turn, is the basis for building a committed urban planning development with socio-spatial ingredient.