The research project Circular Grassroots invites to a series of four webinars on how local initiatives can contribute to more just and sustainable cities. This is the fourth and final webinar.
Circular grassroots initiatives play a critical role in enabling just post-growth transitions in cities and in advancing genuinely circular urban economies. These initiatives are often highly resourceful and resilient, creating value from what is otherwise considered waste, while operating with minimal financial and material resources. Despite their contributions, grassroots initiatives frequently face significant challenges in accessing and securing space, which is often obtained through temporary or negotiated arrangements with local governments and other stakeholders.
In response, new models for accessing, managing, and governing grassroots spaces are emerging across European cities. This webinar explores these evolving regimes of spatial governance, ranging from simple and transitional arrangements to more sophisticated and long-term models. It critically examines what is required for local governments to relinquish control while effectively supporting grassroots initiatives without co-opting them.
Key questions addressed include:
- What resources are necessary to support grassroots spatial governance (e.g. knowledge, funding, time, staffing, and physical space)
- What conditions and criteria shape access to space?
- Which control mechanisms and transparency guarantees are needed to ensure accountability?
- What barriers hinder grassroots initiatives from assuming responsibility for facilities?
- What roles do intermediaries play in enabling and sustaining these governance arrangements?
Panellists
Daniel Pardo, Caixa d'Eines i Feines, Barcelona
Álvaro Porro Gonzales, Barcelona Activa
Isabel Medina, City of Gothenburg (Poseidon), experiences from "The association hub" in Göteborg
Loïs Clermontelle, coordinator of "Plan B", Third-place, Nantes
Discussant
Federico Savini, University of Amsterdam
Moderators
Blanca Callén, Department of Social Psycology, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Patrik Zapata, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg
