Everyday urban peace: Experiences from a marginalised neighbourhood in Cali, Colombia

Urban violence is a characteristic of urban living in both conflict and non-conflict settings. Its experience is often highly uneven, with marginalised communities most acutely affected, meaning that residents and organisations often have long experience of addressing conflict and violence. However, these efforts are disconnected from formal conflict resolution processes, and remain poorly understood in terms of constructing peace. Drawing on debates from peace and conflict studies, human geography, and urban studies, this article proposes the concept of ‘everyday urban peace’ as a framework for better understanding how marginalised urban communities respond to conflict and violence. The article applies this framework in the context of a self-built neighbourhood in Cali, Colombia, where poverty and violence intersect with racialised segregation. It explores local residents’ experiences and perceptions of conflict, violence and peace, through a conjunctural methodological approach focusing on three key moments in ‘post-conflict’ Colombia. We argue that ‘everyday urban peace’ offers new analytical possibilities for better understanding community responses to conflict and violence, by reframing the significance of their everyday activities for peace while taking seriously both place and time in marginalised urban neighbourhoods. This has implications for peace policy and practice, visibilising community efforts in pursuit of broadening the spectrum of formal intervention for peace, particularly in urban settings which are often neglected in these processes.