Building Community Citizens: Claiming the Right to Place-making in the City

Abstract

This paper examines how citizenship operates in urban community-building programmes, particularly in the comprehensive community-building initiative (CCI) model. We argue that the current context shaping cities today gives rise to flexibility in citizenship and that this flexibility emerges as a key component by which resident and non-resident stakeholders position themselves to make claims to participate in CCIs. We posit that, while the CCI model is committed to being 'resident-driven', the operative function of citizenship creates a hindrance rather than an opportunity for local resident involvement. We fortify this thesis with a case study from our experience in CCIs.