The **Urban Political** delves into contemporary urban issues with activists, scholars and policy-makers from around the world. Providing informed views, state-of-the-art knowledge, and unusual insights, the podcast aims to advance our understanding of urban environments and how we might make them more just and democratic. The **Urban Political** provides a new forum for reflection on bridging urban activism and scholarship, where regular features offer snapshots of pressing issues and new publications, allowing multiple voices of scholars and activists to enter into a transnational debate directly. Hosted and produced by: Ross Beveridge (University of Glasgow) Markus Kip (Georg-Simmel-Center for Metropolitan Studies - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Mais Jafari (Technische Universität Dortmund) Nitin Bathla (ETH-Zürich) Julio Paulos (Université de Lausanne) Nicolas Goez (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) Talja Blokland (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Hanna Hilbrandt (Universität Zürich) Powered in partnership with the Georg-Simmel-Center for Metropolitan Studies at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Music credits: "Something Elated" by Broke For Free, CC BY 3...
https://urbanpolitical.podigee.io/
episode 70: Property Rights Versus Tenants in Poland
Beata Siemieniako on the restitution of housing and tenants' struggles
Unregulated restitution of property to prewar owners (or rather their legal successors) remains a major source of conflict over housing in Poland, most notably in Warsaw. This episode features Beata Siemieniako, a Warsaw lawyer and urban activist who has been supporting tenants in their struggle against ruthless developers for years. In her book „Re-privatising Poland. The History of a Great Scam“ (Reprywatyzując Polskę. Historia wielkiego przekrętu, Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej 2017), she tells the story of conflicting claims to urban property and reflects on the pitfalls of restituting past property orders while neglecting present-day social rights. Florian Peters has talked to her about law, grassroots activism, and the impossibility to achieve justice by trying to turn back time. _This episode is a co-production with the appropriate podcast of the collaborative research center SFB294 at the Universities Jena and Erfurt _
Host: Dr. Florian Peters is a historian specialising in the contemporary history of Poland and East Central Europe. His latest book „From Solidarność to Shock Therapy. How Capitalism came to Poland“ (Von Solidarność zur Schocktherapie. Wie der Kapitalismus nach Polen kam, Berlin: Ch. Links 2023) investigates the origins of the neoliberal breakthrough of 1989. At SFB 294/Friedrich Schiller University Jena, he is researching conflicts over privatisation and local self-governance in post-socialist Poland.
Guest: Beata Siemieniako is a lawyer and housing rights activists from Warsaw, Poland. Representing tenants and urban activists in the court for years, she has been repeatedly rewarded for her legal and public engagement. She is regularly publishing about issues of housing and the rule of law in notable Polish outlets, such as „Oko.press“, „Krytyka Polityczna“, or „Kultura Liberalna“.