BIP: Just City

The issue of the fair societal organisation is the subject of theoretical discussions in social sciences and humanities, as well as political discussions in practice. The Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava has prepared a Blended Intensive Programme (“BIP”) for students of social work, social policy, social geography, urban planning, teaching, and other related study programmes on the topic of Just City using an example of a socially excluded locality in Ostrava.

The Just City concept is based on the belief that ethnicity, space, and place significantly influence the lives of individuals and entire communities. They determine access to opportunities, health, wealth, and even basic human needs, even though most problems have a spatial aspect. Just City expresses not only one’s right to urban life, but also the right to political space. It thus emphasises a greater deal of democratisation and participation to ensure justice even within a capitalist system.

The residents of one of the excluded localities in Ostrava (Jílová street) are currently facing involuntary multidimensional social exclusion, consisting in the marginalisation of individuals and entire groups, especially on the labour market, but also in their access to education, transport, health, and social care. The Jílová locality shows several material and geographical indicators related to spatial social exclusion, e.g., poor condition of housing stock, poor quality of living environment, lack of amenities and/or their poor quality, transport inaccessibility and isolation of the site, unfavourable or collapsing local labour market, above-average unemployment rate, crime, stigmatisation of the area and its residents, etc.