European Port Cities: Disadvantaged Urban Areas in Transition“

“European Port Cities: Disadvantaged Urban Areas in Transition“ A collaborative project under the EU Transnational Ex- change Programme (“ Fight against Poverty and Social Ex- clusion ”) (VP/2002/010) Final Report – Phase I Prof. Dr. Waltraud Kokot Institut für Ethnologie Universität Hamburg Rothenbaumchaussee 67/69 20148 Hamburg Phone 040 – 42828 5741 Fax 040 – 42838 6288 [email protected] Contents 1. Introduction 2 1.1. Methodological issues: an ethnographic approach to social exclusion 4 1.2. Key concepts 1: transformations of “ urban subsistence “ in European port cities 5 1.3. Key concepts 2: “ social exclusion “ 6 1.4. “The street” – stage and context of urban subsistence strategies 7 2. Results and conclusions 7 2.1. Case studies and comparison – an overview of results 8 2.2. Preliminary recommendations 12 2.3. Illustrations 13 2.4. References 13 3. Case studies 15 3.1. Ethnographic Field Report: Algeciras (Researcher: Henk Driessen) 15 3.2. Ethnographic Field Report: Ceuta (Researcher: Eva Kaewnetara) 21 3.3 Ethnographic Field Report: Dublin (Researchers: Astrid Wonneberger) 30 3.4. Ethnographic Field Report: Hamburg (Researchers: Waltraud Kokot, Angelika Hillmer) 47 3.5. Ethnographic Field Report: Thessaloniki (Researcher: Salinia Stroux) 88 1. Introduction This project focuses on disadvantaged urban areas in European port cities, based on close collaboration between institutions of academic research and social work organisations directed at disadvantaged local actors. According to the project schedule, the main task of phase I was to generate an overview of the specific problems in each of the cities under study, to identify relevant local actors and to build networks of possible partners for phase II. The fol- lowing report is based on ethnographic field studies in five European port cities. After a short introduction to the methodology of ethnographic fieldwork and to some key concepts of this project (part 1), a summary of the results of these studies and general conclusions will be presented in part 2. Detailed case studies of the five cities will be provided by different researchers in part 3. For some of the cases (Dublin, Thessaloniki and partially Hamburg), there had been ongoing research prior to phase I, while in other cases, the data reported here were gathered exclusi- vely within this phase. Therefore, the scope of the studies will be somewhat different. The studies on Algeciras and Ceuta are linked together because of the specific geopolitical relations of these two cities. Port cities – nodes of transfer networks of cargo and people – were selected as a structural framework, because they have been affected by ongoing economic and social transformation processes in an exemplary manner. In the context of globalisation, technological and economic developments have restructured ports all over the world, fundamentally changing the relations between port and city. Over the past decades, port neighbourhoods and their envi- rons have undergone processes of social and economic degradation, particularly affecting those areas of the local economy traditionally related to the ports. Segments of the urban population living close to the ports, or making their living from the ports, have been particularly affected by the loss of job opportunities and relatively cheap housing, and by the decline of social networks and local infrastructure. In many cities, historical port areas and their envi- rons have become a target for the redesigning and restructuring of urban space and for pro- 2 cesses of gentrification, resulting in the exclusion of disadvantaged social groups. In the context of global economic and political changes, port cities have also become transit points and interfaces of transnational migration. Besides traditionally disadvantaged segments of the local population, such as the homeless and urban poor, the owners of small port-related bu- sinesses and of informal segments of the urban economy, refugees and “new immigrants” form yet another group of social actors particularly affected by processes of degradation and social exclusion. Illustration 1: The five research locations in Europe: Algeciras, Ceuta, Dublin, Hamburg and Thessaloniki The point of departure for this project is ethnographic and comparative, as well as action- oriented. It is based on the assumption that, on a general level, global processes of technological, economic and social change will lead to relatively similar stages of urban transformation in all cities involved 1. On the other hand, due to the differences in geographic, historic and political conditions, we expect strong local variations in relation to particular problems and to the categories of social actors involved. Thus in phase I, the main task has been a survey of the range and variation of problems and local strategies, based on a series of ethnographic case studies in the port cities of Algeciras, Ceuta, Dublin, Hamburg and Thes- saloniki. In this phase, the particular stages of transformation relating to port areas and the resulting processes of social exclusion had to be determined for each of the cities. In each case, the relevant categories of social actors particularly affected by social transformations had to be identified, and a general overview of their specific situations and living conditions 1 For a detailed discussion of the model of transformation underlying this project see Hoyle / Pinder (eds) 1992, Schubert 2001 3 had to be obtained. In phase I, preliminary ethnographic research was conducted in former port neighbourhoods and among homeless people in Hamburg, migrants and refugees in Ceuta and Algeciras, among immigrant street vendors in Thessaloniki and among migrants and inhabitants of deprived urban areas in Dublin. Also, a central aim of phase I was to identify and to contact social work organisations directly related to the actors and problems at hand. Some of these organisations became partners for the development of practical programmes in phase II (see activity report). The aims of this project meet with the general objectives of the entire EU programme: fight- ing social exclusion by establishing networks and exchanging knowledge and resources. Our objective is based on the assumption that cultures of urban subsistence, in general, will ex- hibit a high potential for self-organisation and resource-orientated action. We regard these actors as “cultural experts” 2 in urban life and subsistence, even though these specific strategies have seemingly lost their value as a consequence of global transformation processes. Based on the ethnographic studies and documentations provided by the university partners, this project seeks to contribute to a re-valuation and empowerment of the actors and life- styles involved, by means of establishing new programmes and networks of exchange between related institutions of self-organisation (NGOs). 1.1. Methodological issues: an ethnographic approach to social exclusion Ethnographic methods have been successfully applied to various aspects of complex socie- ties. In recent decades, urban anthropology and migration studies have become fields of major relevance for social anthropological research3. The standard methodology of ethnographic research includes intensive structured and non-structured interviewing, social net- work analysis and cognitive domain analysis, as well as the application of formal queries directed at social and demographic data. The distinctive feature of ethnography however, as compared to other forms of social science research, is the close and long-term personal contact of the researcher to the local actors under study, enabling an intensive participant obser- vation of their everyday life. Focusing on “culture”, in the sense of local actors’ views, knowledge and strategies of everyday action, the ethnographic perspective provides a unique approach to the local effects of global structures and transformations from an insiders’ point of view, serving as a much-needed empirical corrective to abstract theories of globalisation. In this project, the areas of ethnographic research and social practice are to be closely inter- connected. The university partners see their basic task in ethnographic fieldwork, document- ing the different cultures of urban subsistence. The non-academic partners (NGOs) will pri- marily be in charge of designing innovative, research-based and practice-orientated programmes, securing the effectiveness of these programmes and establishing new networks for their activities. In phase I, the ethnographic approach has been used in a more general way, in order to identify the special problems related to each case and the actors particularly affected by processes of social exclusion. On this basis, more detailed studies of their social practices in the context of change will be provided in phase II. Topics of research include forms of perception and appropriation of urban space, urban discourse and identities, as well as everyday social and economic practices. In this context, the issues of participation and empowerment gain particular impor- tance. We consider local actors as individuals, who, linked in groups and networks, take an active part in restructuring their urban environment. A main focus of the detailed ethno- 2 For the notion of “cultural experts” in urban situations, see Kokot et al. 2002 3 For recent ethnographic studies of social exclusion and urban poverty see e.g. Desjarlais 1997, Ferrell / Hamm 1998, Gigengack 2000,

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