Ricerc@Sapienza

In a growing number of small and large cities across Europe, citizens are engaging and mobilizing to demonstrate their ability in creating innovative solutions for important social and spatial challenges. We are witnessing a different set of micro-practices that are transforming cities ‘from below’, thus questioning not only the relation between active citizenship and the State (Uitermark, 2015) but also forms of urban activation themselves. In this brief introduction we examine the politics of urban selforganization with a particular focus on the implications for local governments and the transformative potential of these practices for local communities. We argue that a focus on self-organization practices in contemporary city raises new questions around the relationship between active citizenship and local governments; this is particularly relevant under global neoliberal conditions where States’ retrenchment from social welfare has heightened since the 2008 financial crisis.