The Right to the City Archives - Transnational Institute of Social Ecology

The problem with capitalist urbanism’s ‘big and tall’ doctrine

Capitalism is driving urban planning and architecture towards building ‘big and tall’, which is an approach that benefits the rich, while making city life worst for everyone else. Below are three videos that underline the inherent problems of capitalist urbanism’s doctrine. The first one deals with the general problem (and irrationality) of building ‘big […]

August 24, 2022
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: The Right to the City, urban land

Cities: The Unfolding of Reason in History

Written by Murray Bookchin. Originally published as a chapter of the book “The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies & the Promise of Direct Democracy” (2015) Libertarian municipalism constitutes the politics of social ecology, a revolutionary effort in which freedom is given institutional form in public assemblies that become decision-making bodies. It depends upon libertarian leftists running […]

January 5, 2022
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Libertarian Municipalism, Murray Bookchin, The Right to the City

Communıty of Squatted Prosfygıka – an autonomous neighborhood at the heart of Athens

The so called Prosfygika, located at the heart of the city of Athens, is a complex of buildings that was built in the mid-1930s to house refugees from Asia Minor. Since 2011 the area has been functioning as a self-organized urban community with the creation of Assembly of the Occupied Prosfygika, from which many grassroots […]

December 20, 2021
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Greece, The Right to the City

Rights Begin in the Small Places Closest to Home: A Story from Constitution Street

Written by Jemma Neville I live on Constitution Street in the Leith area of Edinburgh, northeast Scotland, United Kingdom. Maybe you know the street, maybe you don’t. That doesn’t particularly matter for the purpose of the story I want to share with you. For certain, you will know another street well. Maybe it’s the street […]

September 5, 2021
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Commons, community building, The Right to the City

Squatting as Claiming the Right to the City

Written by Diana Bogado, Noel Manzano and Marta Solanas Introduction The phenomena of squatting and occupying currently constitute global methods of resisting the “neoliberal” dynamic of the global metropolis. We use the term occupy to refer to housing occupations that seek to guarantee shelter for populations without resources, and the term squat to allude to […]

July 31, 2021
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Rio de Janeiro, The Right to the City

Re-Embedding Citizenship in Revolutionary Politics

Written by Yavor Tarinski To take no part in the running of the community’s affairs is to be either a beast or a god! ~Aristotle[1] When exploring social change, one has to examine all aspects of it. Developing strategies and institutions that will help facilitate the coming into being and functioning of a democratic and […]

June 9, 2021
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Direct democracy, The Right to the City, Yavor Tarinski One Comment

Paris Commune 150: From the 1871 Commune to Contemporary Communalism (full event video)

On 23rd of May the Transnational Institute of Social Ecology (TRISE) organized a webinar on the legacy of the Paris Commune. It brought together notable speakers who articulated the lessons from the past and the opportunities today to move communities into a period of fundamental change. Such analysis and insights hopefully will help our societies […]

May 24, 2021
Posted in Seminars
Tags: Communalism, Dimitri Roussopoulos, Magali Fricaudet, The Right to the City One Comment

Cities beyond bureaucracy: Exploring commons-based strategies

Urban researcher Nikos Vrantsis interviews Yavor Tarinski, author of Common Futures: Social Transformation and Political Ecology [co-authored with Alexandros Schismenos] (Black Rose Books, 2021), on the current bureaucratic state of cities and the democratic perspectives offered by autonomous urban movements. Nikos Vrantsis: Day by day, state oppression turns into the new normal. Governmemts invested in […]

March 28, 2021
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Commons, The Right to the City, Urban movements, Yavor Tarinski

All Power to the Neighborhoods: Greece Rises Against Police Barbarity

Written by Yavor Tarinski With cities, it is as with dreams: everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear. ~Italo Calvino[1] In early March a group of motorized policemen reaches a public square in the Athenian neighborhood of Nea Smyrni. […]

March 15, 2021
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Greece, The Right to the City One Comment

The Democratization of Cities in North Kurdistan

Written by Ercan Ayboga The History of Cities in North Kurdistan After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the cities in North (Turkish-occupied) Kurdistan became progressively poorer relative to those in the Turkish state. This led to comparatively weak municipalities ruled by so-called system parties, which were hierarchical, corrupt, and extremely alienated from the […]

February 6, 2021
Posted in Articles / Analyses
Tags: Democratic Confederalism, Kurdish quest, The Right to the City