Pathways to the ‘New Municipalism’

The world is in the grip of a perfect storm of unprecedented and interlinked crises of economic, racial, class-based, gender and disability injustice; the culture wars and the rise of the far right; increasingly authoritarian lawmaking and democratic deficits; climate change; and the ongoing pandemic. It is our contention that these crises can only be solved. by centering the people doing practical work at the grassroots who are creating relationships and approaches which can support us to work more collectively, build our resilience and shape policy and public spending decisions in more democratic and just directions.

Our research starts to demonstrate how a range of projects already exist that are addressing these crises,  which are operating at the municipal  level but largely beyond the control of local authorities. This report finds that these projects prioritise self determination and autonomy so represent a challenge to current governance orthodoxies; and that institutions either do not want to support these approaches andagendas, or simply do not know how to engage with the more directly democratic processes that these kinds of projects prioritise.

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