New Urban Movement Entrepreneurs Re-Negotiating the Public–Private Borderland: The Case of Polish Urban Politics (original) (raw)

Leveling the playfield: the emerging urban movement as a new actor in the Polish urban context

in J. Hou, S. Knierbein (eds) City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy. Routledge, 2017

Cities are increasingly important arenas of civic activism, especially in form of so-­‐called neighborhood initiatives and grassroots urban movement. As research presented here shows, conceptual and symbolic " battles for space ", usually associated with city planning processes, were crucial for the emergence of grassroots' urban initiatives in Poland. As a result of intensive networking, urban activists became an important and highly visible lobby group, especially in the context of their relations with local governments, influencing not only political decisions, but also the functioning of local as well as national administration. Nowadays in Poland the grassroots urban movement is one of the most visible factors affecting public administration practices concerning planning and development, pushing for innovations and participatory mechanisms in all spheres of urban policy.

Going against institutionalization: New forms of urban activism in Poland

Journal of Urban Affairs, 2018

The first decade after the fall of state socialism in Poland was characterized by moderate aspirations to reform or oppose the dominant (neoliberal) rhetoric by social movements in the country. In the last decade, a turn toward more informal grassroots activity has been observed by scholars, above all in the field of urban activism. This article looks into this recent development in urban activism and focuses especially on the hitherto neglected grassroots, noninstitutionalized, and nonformalized forms of activism that take place in Polish cities aimed at urban change. It will be argued that this form of urban activism developed as a reaction to professionalization and NGO-ization of social movements, defying the (until now) established forms of organizing collectively. The analysis is built on qualitative data gathered in 2014–2015, including 36 in-depth interviews with urban activists in informal initiatives and groups in different Polish cities.

INVENTING URBANITY: URBAN MOVEMENTS IN POLAND

Society Register , 2020

The article discusses the process of formation and transformation of urban movements in Poland. Conclusions are based on the data collected during the research project "Urban Social Movements in Poland" supported by the National Science Centre. For the requirements of the project was adopted a method of qualitative research using the techniques of in-depth narrative interviews, participant observations and secondary data analysis. The author conducted 30 in-depth interviews with leaders of urban movements from sixteen cities. The article describes the process of structuralization and the creation of identity of the Polish urban movement and their role on the local political stage, stressing, in particular, their significant role as a creators of a new discourse in Polish cities.

Theorizing Urban Movements in Pierre Bourdieu’s Terms—the Example of Warsaw, Poland

International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 2023

For more than a decade, the importance of urban social movements has been systematically increasing in the Polish public sphere. However, available theories of social movements cannot account for the variety of forms of urban mobilization or for the ideological differences between organizations. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the relevance of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social class for research on urban movements. Using the concepts of "capital" and "habitus," the paper explores the social vision and process of the emergence of two activist organizations in Warsaw, Poland. The study is based on qualitative research conducted from 2016 to 2019, which included an analysis of secondary resources and individual indepth interviews with members from each organization. Bourdieu's theory of social class facilitates consideration of different aspects of the functioning of urban social movements, including the role of resources and competences, ideological divisions, and chances of success. The theory also provides an explanation for the importance of class within urban social movements. The article shows that, even though the demands of social movements appear to be values-led, in fact, they are based on the class interests of their members.

Urban challengers weaving their networks: between the 'right to housing' and the 'right to the city'

Housing Studies, 2019

The article applies a field theory approach to further the analysis of grassroots movements in an urban context. By employing the theoretical framework of Strategic Action Fields merged with the concept of norm entrepreneurs and combined with an idea of networks of challengers, two parallel but different social movement networks in Poland are analyzed. In this comparison the authors discuss differences in strategy and political – discursive – opportunities mobilized within respective fields between the more established housing movement and an emerging Polish urban renewal movement in the light of on-going change in the urban realm. By comparing the networks of challengers in both fields and simultaneously trying to identify the dominant institutional logics within each, we test the usefulness of the Strategic Action Field approach.

Radical urban movements in Poland – the case of squatting

Radical Urban Movements in Poland – the case of squatting Radical social movements are more and more often the subject of academic inquiry, where their agenda, identity-building processes and repertoires of action are examined vis a vis the dominant discursive opportunity structures. The case study presented in this article is the squatting movement in Poland. We interpret this movement, its actions and in particular alliance-building strategies, through the perspective of radical flanks of broader urban social movements environment.

Urban Activism in Central and Eastern Europe: A Theoretical Framework

Slovenský Národopis, 2015

The study brings an overview of selected transdisciplinary theoretical approaches to the study of urban movements and activism placed within the framework of civil society and social movements, focused on the region of Central and Eastern Europe, and seen from a social anthropological perspective. It attempts to challenge older academic writings that described civil society in Central and Eastern Europe as underdeveloped and weak, and presents research that points out a specific nature of activism in the countries of the region. It builds primarily on the concepts of civil society, social movements, urban movements and urban activism as presented by scholars both from "Western" and "Central and Eastern" European countries and demonstrates that after more than two decades since the fall of communism it is still important to take different historic, political, economic, social and cultural contexts into account when comparing urban movements and activism within Europe.

Mobilizing Grassroots in the City: Lessons for Civil Society Research in Central and Eastern Europe

International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 2019

What can we learn about civil society in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia from studies on activism within the region's urban spaces? In this article, we argue that studying urban activism in CEE offers useful insights for general theory building about the importance of uneventful protests, the formation of agency and the processes of becoming active in the public sphere (conceptualized here as "political becoming"), and the enabling role of informality in collective action in adverse contexts. By contributing to our understanding in this way, these insights help to advance relational and process-based conceptions of civil society.