Documentary Screening & Conversation: A Place in the City

A Place in the City is a feature-length documentary exploring hope, resistance, and collective action in Latin American cities. Written and directed by Dr Gabriel Silvestre (Newcastle University), the film delves into the enduring influence of philosopher Henri Lefebvre’s revolutionary ideas on the “right to the city.” Through the lens of communities in Santiago (Chile), Rosario (Argentina), and Belo Horizonte (Brazil), it reveals how ordinary people are reclaiming urban space, fighting for their rights while actively shaping more inclusive neighbourhoods. The film showcases inspiring stories of community strength and collective action.

Blending academic insight with lived experience, A Place in the City captures the power of grassroots movements to imagine alternative urban futures. Through personal stories of struggle and resilience, the film invites audiences to reflect on how urban life can be collectively redefined from below, foregrounding the everyday acts of organising, designing, and care that sustain social transformation. The documentary is part of a research project that examines how social movements, grassroots coalitions, and urban researchers are collectively redefining the right to the city, demonstrating that just urban futures are not only imagined, but actively built through cooperation, creativity, and care.

Watch the official trailer: https://youtu.be/quVkX4QtRCU

The screening will be followed by a 30-minute conversation with the director and respondents Professor Adriana Allen(UCL Development Planning Unit) and Dr Joe Penny (UCL Urban Laboratory), co-chaired by Professor Catalina Ortizand Dr Azadeh Mashayekhi from the Development Planning Unit’s Urban Transformations Research Cluster. A 15-minute audience Q&A will close the event.

Presented as part of the UCL 200 celebration programme and organised in association with the Bartlett Development Planning Unit’s Urban Transformations Research Cluster, this event brings together researchers, practitioners, and community partners to explore how collective action continues to shape urban transformation across the Global South.

Speakers

Dr Gabriel Silvestre is Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning at Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. His work bridges urban studies, governance, and policy analysis, with a focus on social justice and comparative urbanism. He holds a PhD in Planning Studies from UCL, an MA in Tourism Management (University of Westminster), and a BA in Management Studies (Mackenzie University). Before joining Newcastle, he taught at UCL, Sheffield, and Westminster, and worked for Visit Britain and the City of London Corporation. A founding member of the Latin American Geographies Research Group (Royal Geographical Society) and Executive Editor of International Planning Studies, his research explores how ideas and practices travel across cities. A Place in the City was developed through the EU-funded Contested Territories project and co-produced with Fundación Ciudades sin Miedo, highlighting the creative power of grassroots urban movements.

Professor Adriana Allen is Professor of Development Planning and Urban Sustainability at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL. Originally trained as an urban planner in Argentina, her work focuses on advancing environmental justice and transformative planning. She founded and led the Environmental Justice, Urbanisation and Resilience (EJUR) research cluster and the MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development, and has served as Co-Director of the UCL Urban Laboratory, Environment Institute Co-Director for Sustainable Cities, and Vice-Dean International at The Bartlett. Adriana has contributed to the UCL–Lancet Commission on Climate Change, Health and Cities and the UCL–Nature Sustainability Expert Panel, among others. Her research foregrounds participatory governance, gender equality, and collective action as drivers of equitable urban transformation, bridging theory and practice to foster interdisciplinary collaboration for sustainability and social justice across the Global South.

Dr Joe Penny is a Lecturer and Researcher at the UCL Urban Laboratory, working at the intersection of urban political economy, planning, and social geography. His research examines how austerity, financialisation, and speculative governance are reshaping urban life, focusing on the local state, housing, and public infrastructure. He holds degrees from UCL (BA Geography, MSc Development Planning, and PhD Planning Studies) and previously lectured at Queen Mary University of London. Before academia, he worked at the New Economics Foundation, contributing to research on community-led housing and urban democracy. His current work explores how grassroots campaigns and municipalist movements contest urban inequality and generate new imaginaries for socially and ecologically just cities, highlighting the role of everyday politics in shaping urban transformation.

Co-Chairs:

Dr Azadeh Mashayekhi is an urban development planner and architect with over fifteen years of international experience. Originally from Iran, she has worked across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia, focusing on socio-spatial and environmental justice. She holds degrees in Architecture, European Urbanism, and a PhD in Planning, and her research addresses peripheral urbanisation, governance, and the circulation of planning practices. Azadeh has collaborated with NGOs, policy institutes, and community organisations to support pro-poor and participatory development. As Co-Chair of the Urban Transformations Research Cluster at UCL’s Development Planning Unit, she leads interdisciplinary research connecting local urban struggles to global debates on inequality and sustainability, advancing planning as a tool for empowerment, equity, and collaboration across diverse contexts.

Professor Catalina Ortiz is Director of the UCL Urban Laboratory and Professor of Critical Urban Pedagogy at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL. A Colombian urbanist, she works at the intersections of spatial justice, decolonial theory, and creative methodologies for collective urban learning. Her research explores how cities in Latin America, Africa, and Europe can be reimagined through care and co-production. Catalina is Co-Chair of the Urban Transformations Research Cluster, where she leads collaborations on planning and design for social justice. Her scholarship advances debates on reparative urbanism, territorial healing, and Southern urbanism. Through her teaching, research, and leadership, she fosters inclusive, reflective, and care-based approaches to transforming cities and institutions.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/events/2026/mar/documentary-screening-conversation-place-city