civic activism is reconstructing the society · e.g. social media group, meet-up practice, project,...

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CIVIC ACTIVISM IS RECONSTRUCTING THE

SOCIETY Tools for discussing self-organizing cities

YIMBYcon, Helsinki, August 12, 2016

Maija Faehnle & Pasi Mäenpää University of Helsinki, Department of Social Research and Finnish Environment Institute SYKE


ACTIVISM ON THE RISE

•  Digitalization has brought people multiple opportunities to start developing their societies directly by themselves

•  Change in agency: actor networks, sharing, recycling, collaborative consumption, start-up spirit, social enterprises, disappointment with representative democracy

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THREE VISIONS

•  Relationship between citizens and the government is changing •  Citizens take tasks the government has traditionally taken care of

•  Markets and the economy are changing •  Sharing/civic/platform economy: production and distribution of

goods and services are changing •  P2P services, co-owning, crowdfunding, alternative currencies…

•  Power relations and the structure of the society are changing •  Co-governance, shared regulation •  Government as a partner, facilitator, or one who stays away

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(URBAN) CIVIC ACTIVISM

•  Self-organized, proactive and constructive co-action, typically outside of formal NGOs

•  Primarily DIY-action instead of orienting towards decision making system or political engagement ‒  ’Let’s just do it!’ attitude (Pulkkinen 2014)

•  Based on networking in social media and internet solutions •  People-driven bottom-up urbanism; takes place in urban space

or is related to cities and urban life

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WHICH TERMS TO USE? DEPENDS ON CONTEXT

•  ’Urban activism’ – in literature often refers to movements oriented to the decision-making system, though diversity of activisms recognized (e.g. Jacobsson 2015)

•  ’Activist’ – sounds negative for some, ”a bit like terrorist”. Those you call activists don’t necessarily regard themselves as activists

•  ’YIMBY activist’ – more clearly positive term for those who know what YIMBY means, unclear for the others

•  ’Urban change agents’ – can refer to many other actors/roles: citizens but also networks, officials, funders, enterprises, NGOs, other organizations…

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ON THE PROJECT

•  ’Civic activism as resource for the metropolis’, 2015−2016/2017 •  How does civic activism contribute to the development of cities?

How could cities and state organizations utilise and support it? •  Focus on ecological sustainability, local innovations, local

communities and involvement •  Advocative action research: working together with activists and

authorities by identifying and solving their problems •  Partners: Cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Lahti; Ministries of Environment, Finance, and Justice; The

Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland, Finnish Environment Institute

•  Funding: Helsinki Metropolitan Region Urban Research Program, The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland, The Finnish Cultural Foundation/Uusimaa Regional fund, The Fund of Heikki von Hertzen

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CLASSIFYING CIVIC ACTIVISM

Services of sharing/civic/platform economy •  P2P commerce, alternative food networks, peer renting, time banking,

other P2P services Activism focused on community •  Open events, local movements, social support, improving public services,

ecological movements Shaping urban space •  Urban planning groups, squatting, opening and shaping buildings or

spaces, artivism Activism developing the use of technology •  Hacktivism (civic apps, improving data systems and datasets…),

developing information society (enhancing openness, digital currencies…) Activism supporting other activisms •  Innovation and mediator communities, developing tools for activism,

communication encouraging activism (subvertising…) 7

Activisms can be characterized as having qualities from one or more of the following five themes/classes:

Mäenpää et al., forthcoming

Sharing economy Urban space

Community

Technology

SELF-ORGANIZED

CITY

Open events

Local movements

Urban planning groups

Innovation and mediator communities

Social support

Squatting, opening,

shaping spaces Artivism

P2P commerce

etc.

Hacktivism

Developing Information

society

Improving public services

Developing tools for activism

Ecological movements

Commu-nication

encouraging activism

Support

Green: activism types that especially can make sense for enhancing ecological sustainablity Mäenpää et al., forthcoming

Alternative food

networks etc.


A SYSTEM LEVEL VIEW: RISE OF THE 4TH SECTOR

•  NGOs (the third sector) still important, but nowadays much of all civic action organized in other ways

•  The non-NGO-based civic actors worth recognizing as the fourth sector

•  But any actor can have fourth sector type of action •  Increase of fourth sector type of action can be seen as

supplementing democracy with do-ocracy Do-ocracy: if you have an idea, you do it http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_30028751/yimby-conference-brings-activists-from-around-nation-boulder https://communitywiki.org/wiki/DoOcracy

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CITIZENS

PUBLIC SECTOR

PRIVATE SECTOR

THIRD SECTOR

FOURTH SECTOR

activism arises

e.g. social media group, meet-up practice, project, cooperative

influencing goals and practices, using an NGO for appyling for funding, establishing a new NGO, competing on agency

being a customer, establishing a start-up, micro or social enterprise, influencing markets

asking for information, applying for permits and grants, influencing and challenging ways to act

•  Organization: NGO •  Social media as extra •  Influencing: through official

planning and decision-making

•  Meetings, statements •  Power to influence •  Partnership with city •  Representativeness •  Continuity •  Promotion of interests •  Controlled development •  Also counteraction, NIMBY

•  Organization: for example social media group only

•  Social media essential •  Influencing: hacker attitude •  Events, action, DIY •  Sense of community •  Networking, enterprises etc. •  Openness, sharing •  Visibility •  Momentariness •  Creation of new •  Proactivity, YIMBY

Stereotypes of civic action Traditional NGO type:

3rd sector New activism type: 4th sector


FORTHCOMING 2016−2017

•  Databank on urban civic activism: case stories, typology, terminology, tools, information sources

•  Recommendations for city governments on adapting their practices to the rise of civic activism

•  Wallhanging for civic and government actors •  Ground for a meeting practice for actors interested in activism •  Publications e.g. articles in Kvartti •  Contributing to making cities agile in collaboration with the

’Dwellers in agile cities’ project* e.g. extending the databank with international examples on people-driven solutions for housing, living and working

12 *University of Tampere / Academy of Finland 2016-2018

LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH!

kaupunkiaktivismi.wordpress.com/in-english Facebook: Kaupunkiaktivismi Pasi Mäenpää [email protected] Maija Faehnle [email protected] @maija_f agilecities.fi/en @agile_dwellers


FURTHER READING

•  Balaram, B. 2016. Fair Share - Reclaiming power in the sharing economy. RSA & Innovate UK. https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/fair-share-reclaiming-power-in-the-sharing-economy

•  Donovan, F. 2014. DIY urbanism: implications for cities. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability 7:4, 381–398.

•  Jacobsson, K. 2015. Urban grassroots movements in Central and Eastern Europe. Ashgate.

•  Kleinhans, R., Van Ham, M., Ewans-Cowley, J. 2015. Using Social Media and Mobile Technologies to Foster Engagement and Self-Organization in Participatory Urban Planning and Neighbourhood Governance. Planning, Practice & Research 30:3, 237–247.

•  Pulkkinen, K. 2014. A bottom-up way of building a system and changing perceptions – urban pioneers as a model for transformation for sustainability. Systema 2:2. http://www.systema-journal.org/article/view/275

•  Ramos, J.M. (ed.) 2016. The City as Commons: A Policy Reader. Commons Transition Coalition, Melbourne, Australia.

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THANK YOU!

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