From vectoralism to platform municipalism: Imagining a ‘people’s smart city’
The author presents ideas on an emerging mode of production based on information and digital data-what the critical theorist McKenzie Wark christens as ‘vectors’-which is arguably replacing capitalism. Vectors are lines of economic activity connecting producers and consumers extensively across space through intensive technologies of…
As big cities get even bigger, some residents are being left behind
Cities with above-average knowledge economies and below-average levels of social vulnerability are better placed to cope with the dual challenges of technological change and social inequality. Photo: Public Domain Pictures
Without cities there will be no Green Deal
In order to tackle such an ambitious climate agenda as that which the European Union proposes with its Green Deal, cities must be taken into account. It would not be realistic to go ahead with the plan for zero emissions by 2050 without including cities….
Re-grounding the city with Polanyi: From urban entrepreneurialism to entrepreneurial municipalism
This piece situates entrepreneurial municipalism as one strand in an assemblage of new municipalist interventions, between radical urban social movements and more neoliberal strategies such as financialised municipal entrepreneurialism. Exploring how local authorities are working with social enterprises to harness place-based assets in ways which…
Direct democracy and the passion for political participation
Yavor Tarinski is an independent researcher and activist whose publications and talks center on the possibilities of direct democracy and commoning practices as an alternative to the current social imaginary. In this interview with Eve Olney he discusses some of the ideas regarding where direct…
Explainer: new municipalism
Investment might be flowing into local areas but poverty and inequality persist. ‘New municipalism’ is a term that has emerged as an answer to improving local economic development. It is an approach that aims to build wealth in the community using local government procurement to…
‘Fighting forward’ with cooperative power in the Bronx
The Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative, a network of various Bronx community groups, has four main components underway; the Innovation Factory, to develop new production and innovation capacity with digital manufacturing technology. The BronXchange, to get major local institutions such as Fordham University and Montefiore Medical…
Building a solidarity economy in Jackson, Mississippi
Cooperation Jackson is only five years old, but the vision behind it is older. The original founders began to strategize to build a community of cooperatives in 2001, while many still lived in disparate parts of the country. Eventually, they chose to launch their participatory…
Austerity urbanism or pragmatic municipalism? Local government responses to fiscal stress in New York State
As local governments respond to fiscal stress after the global financial crisis, some scholars warn about an austerity urbanism response wherein local governments cut and privatize services, while others see a pragmatic municipalism response that seeks to protect public services by sharing services, applying for…