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...

Housing in London is a miserable experience for many, and it is most miserable of all for private renters. But London Renters’ Union has arrived! The article explains how the union works to transform individual difficulties into a collective struggle, which are the strategies, how...

Cargonomia connects sustainable food production with the promotion of low-carbon transport solutions and advocacy for bicycle use. Every year, it organizes about 50 workshops for academics, children or the general public on topics ranging from sustainability and up-cycling to local food production, degrowth and the...

Researchers looked at the implementation of guaranteed income in a neighbourhood in Barcelona and found out that it didn’t help people find work, but it made them happier. Against what some critics of basic income say, the money didn’t stop people from looking for a...

The first wave of municipalist governments in Spain was the result of the formation of confluences. The article analyzes their origin, their particularities and their common ground. It also addresses their potential for further transformation, both in Spain and beyond. Photo: Josh Sorenson

So far, children have featured in the pandemic discussion mostly in relation to the reopening of schools. Now that we know that public spaces can be rapidly transformed by collective action, we can start giving streets back to children. The author of this article puts...

We can chart a new path forward by grounding that vision in the lessons learned from past struggles and an understanding of how hierarchy is the shared root of oppression. But this can all feel a bit intangible without clear examples. To get an idea of what...

How has COVID-19 affected municipalism’s confederal and democratizing mission? In Spain, as elsewhere, the government’s response to the pandemic has implied a centralization of power. At the same time, municipalities are seeing their already limited resources stretched to the limit by the health and economic...

The local elections in 2018 showed some advances in the modification of the once-called ‘the oldest and toughest plutocracy in the world’, but the mixed results underscored the difficulty of mobilisation around a stale and sterile managerialist model of local government, as embodied in all...

Laura Flanders reports from Amsterdam at The Future is Public, a conference that brings together hundreds of organizers, scholars, and government officials who are working to democratize their municipal and national economies.   Photo: rompalli harish

The climate crisis today demands nothing less than a worldwide social and political transformation. Piecemeal reforms, technocratic schemes, and state-driven ‘climate resilience’ have proven not only ineffective at stymying the effects of climate change, but also utterly incapable of combating its underlying cause: a capitalist...

In Spain, as in other countries, the electricity sector remains dominated by a handful of large companies, powerful enough to impose their interests and hinder the energy transition. Movements against energy poverty and green cooperatives show a path towards greater energy democracy, but a third...