Urban movements and municipalist governments in Spain: alliances, tensions, and achievements

ABSTRACT

In 2011 the 15 M movement occupied squares across Spain demanding true democracy. Four years later, bottom-up municipalist initiatives won the 2015 local elections in seven medium-size and large cities. In coalition with traditional parties, these initiatives formed new left-wing governments that incorporated former activists as mayors and councilors. This history has sparked debates about the consequences of co-optation, institutional alliances, and state openness to social movements. In this article we aim to contribute to that debate with a discussion of the outcomes of municipalist governments in four cities (Madrid, Barcelona, A Coruña, and Cádiz) during the 2015–2019 mandate. Theoretically, we argue for the necessity to interpret these outcomes against the background of the political and economic contexts that constrain (and enable) a progressive urban agenda. Empirically, our results reveal that municipalist governments only to a certain extent performed as instruments of grassroots movements. Despite favorable alliances and partial achievements, we identify various constraints to the responsiveness of municipalist governments to activist demands. Especially, we conclude that supra-local neoliberal policies, various concerned capitalist interests, and the relative waning of the 15 M protest movement limited the potential benefits of those alliances.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban movements
• municipalism
• influence of social movements
• outcomes of social movements
• policy responsiveness
• Spain

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all informants who kindly collaborated with our fieldwork. We also thank Dr. Evin Deniz who conducted some of the interviews and discourse analyses that inform this research. We are finally grateful to the reviewers and editors of SMS for their valuable critical insights on earlier manuscripts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Open access

Uppsala University has an institutional agreement with Taylor & Francis for OA publication.

Notes

1. Ajuntament de Barcelona (March 2019) Balanç final d’execució del Programa d’Actuació Municipal 2016–2019, pages 20–28, http://mam.lovelymaps.com/pdf/INFORME_PAM_FINAL_MANDAT_2015-2019.pdf See also: https://habitatge.barcelona/sites/default/files/triptic_habitatge_adquirit_cat_03.pdf

2. Ayuntamiento de Madrid (10 April 2019) Plan de gobierno 2015–2019, pages 49–51, https://transparencia.madrid.es/UnidadesDescentralizadas/Calidad/Observatorio_Ciudad/03_SG_Operativa/Ficheros/Informe%20PG%202015-2019%20Abril19.pdf

3. http://www.telemadrid.es/programas/telenoticias-1/Ayuntamiento-viviendas-sociales-construccion-familias-2-2080011997–20181226025240.html

4. http://www.coruna.gal/transparencia/es/accion-de-gobierno/memorias-de-gestion

5. https://adelantecadiz.info/cuatro-anos-transformando-cadiz/

6. https://procasacadiz.es/wp-media/uploads/2019/01/Evalua2_vvrncdz.pdf

7. For data on investments, see their respective self-evaluative reports.

8. https://www.diariodearousa.com/extarticulo/coruna/gobierno-local-fue-incapaz-culminar-intentos-remunicipalizacion-puso-marcha/20181020215805387458.html

9. For the controversy around this issue: https://www.eldiario.es/zonacritica/Economia-social-cooperacion-redes-clientelares_6_772082806.html

10. https://www.eldiario.es/madrid/Policia-Municipal-Madrid-incidentes-Dragona_0_954004677.html; https://www.publico.es/sociedad/ingobernable-policia-comienza-desalojo-ingobernable-madrid.html

11. For the ongoing political debate on O Cárcere: https://proxectocarcerecorunha.wordpress.com/

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, project ‘Outcomes of Urban Movements and Local Governance’ (project number 11612016), and a grant from FORMAS (Sweden), project ‘The intersectional and sustainable impacts of housing movements: the Spanish case’ (project number 2019-00349);

Notes on contributors

Miguel A. Martínez

Miguel A. Martínez is Professor of Housing and Urban Sociology at the IBF (Institute for Housing and Urban Research), Uppsala University. He has conducted studies about urban sociology, social movements, housing, migration, and participatory-activist methodologies. He is the author of Squatters in the Capitalist City (New York: Routledge, 2020). Most of his publications are freely available at www.miguelangelmartinez.net.

Bart Wissink

Bart Wissink is Associate Professor Urban Studies and Urban Policy at the Department of Public Policy of City University Hong Kong. His research projects explore urban development in east and south-east Asian city regions, with special attention for comparative urban form, urban controversies, social networks and the neighbourhood, and art biennials. He is co-editor of Cities and the Super-Rich: Real Estate, Elite Practices, and Urban Political Economies (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and The City in China: New Perspectives on Contemporary Urbanism (Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2019).