Urban Collective Action Around Public Spaces: Contestation and Social Change

Urban public spaces are becoming arenas of collective action, where activists, communities, and residents mobilize around issues of social justice, identity, and governance. Urban residents often redefine their environments into platforms of solidarity and co-creation by engaging in collectively managed shared spaces and resources: the urban commons. These shared spaces are often perceived as alternative ecosystems to urban consumerism that enhance well-being and foster a connection with nature.
However, urban communities vary in the degree to which they engage in collective action around public spaces. Sometimes communities are not well organized, and their residents cannot understand the long-term value of public and green spaces.
We invite submissions from various theoretical perspectives and methodologies that discuss urban residents' self-organization, repertoires of participation, and the broader political, cultural, and spatial consequences of their efforts. In particular, we are interested in the following themes: How are communities mobilized around shared interests? What are the factors that facilitate or hinder community organizing? What is the role of identity in building solidarity in an urban environment? What is the role of social media in mobilization efforts? How do structural inequalities and social hierarchies shape the dynamics of collective action?