In the US, a new coalition of progressive forces is shaping up to protest views and policies deployed by president Trump. The articulation of forces against Trump. The municipal level is becoming a space for social resistance and political innovation, hence providing an opportunity for...

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

Nearly four billion meals are dished out every year in France’s school cafeterias and childcare kitchens. Catering companies such as Sodexo currently dominate this market, but, more often than not, the meals have little nutritional value and the companies fail to factor in environmental concerns....

In Naples, the outsider candidate Luigi de Magistris, only supported by local movements and civil society, won the municipal elections in 2011. To be able to maintain their municipalist promise and face neoliberal challenges, there is a need for alliance with other communities. Photo: Lovefood...

The role of local authorities in improving amenities was a matter of importance and some controversy before 1914 in England. A Medical Officer of Health was first appointed in Liverpool in 1847 but other cities did not do so until the 1860s, for example Manchester...

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...

In 2015, a wave of social movements lifted left-wing mayors to power in Spain. Their experience in office shows the importance of linking institutional power to bottom-up mobilization. Fearless Cities, a recent book produced by BenComú activists, has sought to draw wider lessons from these...

From 7 to 12 March 2017, the Biennale des Villes en Transition (Biennale of Cities in Transition) took place in Grenoble, organized by its City Council. Issues such as the Right to Housing, the management of common goods and public spaces as well as the...

This report examines the re-emergence of the urban commons as both a bottom-up emergence by citizens/commoners and a radical municipal administrative configuration. Starting with an exploration of the relationship between cities and the commons, with a particular focus on the recent revival and growth of...

Energy sovereignty – which is based on the highest level of democracy – means to listen to, give voice to, empower, meaningfully engage with, and encourage voting by the largest number of people possible. They must have the democratic power to decide what kind of...

Gala 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:

The recently published Global Urban Competitiveness Report argues that advanced cities have driven the world’s progress and even led to changes in the world’s development patterns since the first industrial revolution of the 18th century. The article contents a competitive ranking of 1,006 of the...