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Public-Common partnerships: Building new circuits of collective ownership
28th June 2019Public-Common Partnerships offer an alternative institutional design to achieve social transformation. The PCP model exceeds the market/state binary while involving co-ownership between state authorities and Commoners Associations, alongside co-combined governance with a third association of project specific relevant parties such as trade unions and relevant...
The case for … truly taking back control – by reversing the privatisation of our cities
16th January 2020Remunicipalisation, i.e. the taking back of privatised assets and services into public ownership at a local level, is growing. Over 1,400 cases have been implemented since the turn of the millennium, in more than 2,400 cities across 58 countries. The article depicts different cases of...
The EU’s obstacle course for municipalism
28th October 2018Progressive municipalist city governments in Europe have introduced important policies to promote citizen participation, public ownership of services, expanded affordable housing, and many more. But their radical democratic programmes face obstacles from both EU and national neoliberal legislation. Photo: Pixabay
Thoughts on libertarian municipalism
5th November 1999Some issues have recently arisen in discussions of libertarian municipalism. One of the most important involves the distinction that should be drawn between libertarian municipalism and communitarianism, a distinction that is often lost in discussions of politics. The article offers the author’s views on this...
The “Preston Model”. A UK city takes the lead in progressive procurement
24th June 2020Strongly affected by deindustrialisation, and more recently by austerity policies imposed on councils following the financial crisis, Preston, in the north of England, has chosen to no longer depend on external investors for its “development” and radically reorient its public procurement to favour local economic...
Why COVID-19 might not change our cities as much as we expect
19th July 2020COVID-19 impacts provide an opportunity for our cities to shift to new ways of urban living. But only if we couple this opportunity with technology and deliberate collective action will sustained and equitable change happen. What is imperative, therefore, is that governments similarly couple technology...
The birth of a translocal movement
6th January 2017In 2015, the first Fearless Cities conference, hosted by Barcelona en Comú, became the starting point of a global municipalist movements that brings together a wide array of experiences with one thing in common: their will to promote the radicalization of democracy, and to do...
Cities ask if it’s time to defund police and ‘reimagine’ public safety
8th June 2020In the US, Minneapolis is not the only city asking the question of how to approach public safety and emergency response after national unrest following the death of George Floyd. The calls to redirect money away from the police come as cities face steep budget...
‘Fearless’ Amsterdam government: digital city goes social
9th May 2018Cyber security, data sovereignty, digital participation and digital services, complex topics that cannot be solved overnight. But the new government of Amsterdam is committed to dealing with these challenges. In contrast to the idea of the smart city, the aim is to develop new policies...
Letter from Catalonia: Barcelona’s occupy mayor wins a second term
1st June 2017Four years after the first wave of municipalist governments in Spain, many of the so-called cities of change have failed to renew the results obtained in the elections that placed them in power. While the Catalan independence movement has radically changed the political landscape, thus...
City problems: A fairly true Barcelona story
15th January 2020Gala Pin, Barcelona City councillor from 2015 to 2019, reflects on her experience at the front row of the municipalist transformation of the city during the first government of Ada Colau. Photo:
Doing activism like a State: Progressive municipal government, Israel/Palestine and BDS
10th June 2019Activism is typically placed in opposition to state practice. Yet, state bodies often participate in campaigns and movements for change, drawing on different powers and capacities, including the ability to withhold goods, land and contracts. This article explores subnational state activism – what it means...