Congolese refugees’ ‘right to the city’ and urban (in)security in Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

The concept of the ‘right to the city' (RTC), originally developed by Lefebvre, refers to the idea that justice is embedded in social and spatial processes, and accordingly cities are spaces of inequality and resistance. In this paper, Congolese refugees’ RTC is examined with regard to their city of exile, Kampala, Uganda. The analysis is based on extensive qualitative research conducted during 2010–2011. The notion of RTC is understood to signify refugees’ right to access and occupy urban space. This study also acknowledges and reinterprets the essentially Lefebvrian elements of appropriation and participation. Appropriation of space is featured in refugees’ discourses on how to transform insecure urban areas into protective spaces. Refugees’ participation in decision-making regarding their formal protection is analysed as a collective, community-based right argued for in different forms of resistance.

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