Conflicts, urban policies and contested communities

This paper argues that, amid a vast array of community initiatives emerging in European cities, community based enterprises stand out due to their specific features, linked to the entrepreneurial dimension and to an innovative organisational model. In the face of a clear difficulty to understand and assess the relationship between these forms of societal selforganisation/ activism and transformative effects in the territorial realm, there is a risk of overstating the relevance of niche initiatives or understating potential for significant change. The paper proposes to test some interpretative categories in order to more precisely frame the possible roles and urban effects of this emerging phenomenon, within the framework of a changed governance.