The paper aims at analysing and critically discussing two cases of grassroots initiatives, promoted by citizen groups in Milan, aimed at taking back and reusing abandoned or underused common resources. The two cases, although very different for their location in the urban context, object of the mobilisation, (urban) scale, time horizon, types of actors involved and interaction with Local Authorities, show nevertheless some common elements, which will be the focus of the paper and which do open up questions for further research. Impinging on literature on social movements and social innovation in contemporary urban settings, the paper highlights an existing tension: if the ongoing trend towards the reuse of abandoned buildings tends to be a grassroots and participated one, rather than one exclusively technically and politically driven, at the same time some very features of contemporary social movement organisations make it particularly difficult for them to take and implement effective decision making in such complex environments in evolution. The possibly conflictual relationship with Local Government and other institutional actors becomes therefore crucial to imagine possible scenarios of transformation and to frame a convincing policy dimension
"Feels like home...". Two cases of Urban Mobilisation in Milan
PACCHI, CAROLINA
2014-01-01
Abstract
The paper aims at analysing and critically discussing two cases of grassroots initiatives, promoted by citizen groups in Milan, aimed at taking back and reusing abandoned or underused common resources. The two cases, although very different for their location in the urban context, object of the mobilisation, (urban) scale, time horizon, types of actors involved and interaction with Local Authorities, show nevertheless some common elements, which will be the focus of the paper and which do open up questions for further research. Impinging on literature on social movements and social innovation in contemporary urban settings, the paper highlights an existing tension: if the ongoing trend towards the reuse of abandoned buildings tends to be a grassroots and participated one, rather than one exclusively technically and politically driven, at the same time some very features of contemporary social movement organisations make it particularly difficult for them to take and implement effective decision making in such complex environments in evolution. The possibly conflictual relationship with Local Government and other institutional actors becomes therefore crucial to imagine possible scenarios of transformation and to frame a convincing policy dimensionI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
