Urban Social Movements in ‘Weak’ Civil Societies: The Right to the City and Cosmopolitan Activism in Southern Europe

The transition from fast spontaneous urbanisation in southern Europe, with popular squatting as a form of civil disobedience, to ‘new social movements’ (NSMs) for democratic globalisation in cities, is taking place in the context of a broader transition. In the 20th century, there were unstable politics, civil wars and also still dictatorships in the south, which contributed in a north—south divide in Europe, engulfing civil societies, the welfare state, planning and grassroots mobilisations for a ‘right to the city’. This paper focuses on social transformation during the 21st century and points to three directions. First, it explores the nature of several NSMs as urban social movements (USMs) organised by loosely networked cosmopolitan collectivities, social centres and flâneur activists demanding a ‘right to the city’, and interprets this with reference to globalisation, democratisation and the Europeanisation of southern civil societies. Secondly, it unveils innovative forms of ‘urban’ mobilisations in the south, influencing the rest of the Europe: squatting in the past, social centres and the ESF (both starting in Italy) at present. Thirdly, it traces transformations of USMs between two centuries and argues about the deconstruction of the north—south divide in Europe with regard to movements and definitions of the ‘right to the city’. Mediterranean USMs have offered new insights and have broadened geographical imaginations in Europe.