Tactical developments for achieving just and sustainable neighborhoods: the role of community-based coalitions and bottom-to-bottom networks in street, technical, and funder activism

Abstract

Over the past two decades community activists in distressed urban neighborhoods have been organizing to improve environmental quality and livability for residents through parks, playgrounds, gardens, farms, or sports facilities, and this across political systems and contexts of urbanization. To date, however, limited research has been conducted on the development and intricacies of neighborhood activism for long-term environmental justice in marginalized neighborhoods, and little work has been done in a comparative manner and through a place-based approach. Through three historically marginalized neighborhoods in Boston, Barcelona, and Havana, I analyze how internal dynamics and external contexts shape community organization towards improved environmental quality and livability, and how mobilization unfolds over time and space. Findings reveal that activists tend to resort to similar tactical choices to achieve their objectives, including broad and flexible coalitions, and what I call bottom-to-bottom networks encompassing three forms of activism: street activism, technical activism, and funder activism.