Radical cities in Latin America: Past and present
Even before Hugo Chávez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rose to national power and kicked off discussions of a Pink Tide, scholars and activists celebrated the municipal alternative in Latin America, where Porto Alegre’s participatory budgeting and El Alto’s cooperatives set the horizon of…
Cooperation vs authoritarianism in Spain
Social change and systems change go hand-in-hand. Movements for democracy and human rights are most effective when they aim to transform unjust, unequitable economic systems. In this episode, Laura Flanders travels to Spain to learn how people in two of the regions most brutally repressed…
Southern cities: a democratic renaissance
Anti-austerity protesters across Southern Europe — many who had never been involved with politics before — have decided to try and turn their protests into a democratic alternative to the status quo. Photo: Clem Onojeghuo
How cities are leading the fight against climate change
City governments were an important source of environmental protection in the United States from the 1800s until well into the 1900s. However, since Congress passed a series of landmark environmental statutes in the 1970s, scholars have primarily equated environmental law with federal law. NYU Law…
Flatpack Democracy 2.0
As faith in political systems and politicians continues to plummet and climate change escalates, an alternative that empowers local people to rescue their own communities is vital. How can politics be reclaimed by the people? Fed up with seeing their valued local services crumble over…
Conceptual prefiguration and municipal radicalism: Reimagining what it could mean to be a state
The book examines what value, if any, the state has for the pursuit of progressive politics; and how it might need to be reimagined and remade to deliver transformative change. Photo: Peter Döpper
How can we implement direct democracy in European cities?
An interview with Bernardo Gutierrez, responsible for the Innovation Laboratories of MediaLab Prado de Madrid at the Our Common City conference held in Budapest (February 22 & 23, 2019). Part one: Part two: Photo: Joel Filipe
How can we strengthen municipal agendas with international networks?
An interview with Florian Schmidt, District councilor for building, planning and facility management in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin at the Our Common City conference in Budapest (February 22 & 23, 2019). Part one: Part two: Part three: Photo: bady qb
How can we build a common ground between citizen initiatives?
An interview with Iva Ivsic, local representative of Zagreb Je NAS! at the Our Common City conference in Budapest (February 22 & 23, 2019). Part one: Part two: Photo: Ash Edmonds