Co-creating Urban Alternatives: Grassroots’ Movements as Challengers in Urban Policy Field

As many authors point out, the processes of the spatial and social segregation, gentrification, housing shortages, and privatization or commercialization of public spaces make the cities less livable and responsive to the needs of their residents (see Harvey 2012, Mayer 2016, Soja 2010, Swyngedouw, Moulaert, and Rodriguez 2002). All over the globe, this deprivation of needs (may it be the need for housing, access to public services, or the need to influence the local policies) leads to grassroots mobilization, often expressed under the common frame of “right to the city” (Lefebvre 1968, Harvey 2012). In the last years urban activists claims gained global visibility, moving from “the streets” into the public debate, to the point of becoming a part of the UN New Urban Agenda (2016). At this point it’s worth discussing what role civil society actors hold in the urban policy field and to which point the “right to the city” frame (Benford and Snow 2000) allowed for building an alternative narrative, giving voice to different groups of urban actors. Polish cities in particular are the arena of new type of civic activism, typically in a form of neighborhood initiatives and urban movements, which emerge as a reaction to negative changes in the modern urban environment. Drawing from the international inspirations, Polish activists often point to the “right to the city” idea as a paradigm defining their goals and actions. Interestingly, this framework is adapted by very different groups existing within the movement – from squatters, who reject the “capitalistic order of space” to inhabitants of gated communities, who want to influence the way their semi-private or semi-public spaces are organized and managed (Polańska 2013, Domaradzka 2014). To illustrate this further, the paper analyses how multiple facets of the right to the city are reflected in different forms of urban mobilizations and how they translate into claims, narratives and strategies of civil society actors. Due to an increased media support and successful coalition building, those new grassroots actors gained some level of influence over political decisions and modes of operation of administration on the local as well as national level. While one can argue that the urban movement is one of the important factors influencing local politics (especially in the last elections in 2014), we should also try to estimate the level of their real impact, going beyond the mere rhetoric. Using the data gathered before (2012-2013) and after the recent elections (2015-2016) it will be possible to observe the changes in the movement agenda as well as public administration response. From a theoretical point of view, the Strategic Actions Fields framework proposed by Fligstein and McAdam (2011, 2012) will be used to analyze the role of the actors within the urban movement as “challengers” (Gamson 1990) in the existing field of Polish urban policy. Also, their part in redefining urban residents as participants of urban planning and decision-making processes will be discussed.