Democratic Public or Populist Rabble: Repositioning the City amidst Social Fracture

Abstract

The current degree of social fracture that has attended the growing prevalence of populist movements calls into question the viability of democratic practices grounded in collective deliberation. Urban practitioners committed to democratic inclusion must confront the practical question of how to deal with a divided public. Any such effort must address longstanding and mutually reinforcing trends that have both aggravated social fragmentation and enabled the rise of populist regimes whose policies exacerbate divisiveness and inequity. These trends include economic restructuring and rising inequality, cultural division, and a post-truth trap resulting from disagreement over epistemological and ontological assumptions. We argue that, while local governments can play a role in addressing these dynamics, a more fundamental renewal of a meaningfully democratic polity depends on a capacity to help cultivate solidarity across difference. We then recast the city as a site of political encounter and experimentation that might enable both a re-examination of prevailing modes of public engagement and the emergence of solidarities and infrastructures through which populism might be challenged. Finally, we consider how a progressive urban politics of place might use populism as a point of departure for transforming urban futures.

IDENTITARIAN MOVEMENTS IN THE TOURISTIC CITY: The Marketing of Hate in Verona

“…Populist elements emphasize ‘sovereignty of the people’ as a panacea against what are deemed corrupt and internationalized elites and express a profound dislike of cosmopolitan values and globalization (Creţan and O'brien, 2019; Lamour, 2022). Moreover, it has been argued that the ‘populist movement's identitarian logic’ jeopardizes universal principles and rights, which leads to social fractures (Rivero et al ., 2022: 103). In the Italian context, this phenomenon has been represented first and foremost by populist right‐wing party Lega, which has capitalized on ‘an identitarian sense of regionalist belonging’ in response to the ‘fear of globalization’ (Rossi, 2018: 1426).…”

“…is a growing academic curiosity regarding the urban question and the operations of these actors (Bradlow, 2019;Garrido, 2019;Shoshan, 2019;Bialasiewicz and Stallone, 2020;Silver et al, 2020;Carta, 2022;Gawlewicz, 2022;Rivero et al, 2022), with calls for greater academic scrutiny of city life: 'we call for recognizing neo-nationalism as a key driving force in the emergence of urban hostile environments. This factor has been largely ignored in urban studies literature' (Gawlewicz and Yiftachel, 2022: 351).…”

The Localist Turn in Populism Studies

“…Where individuals engage in the local community, an array of recent research suggests that the appetite for right‐wing populist agendas might decrease, given that such activities typically foster social capital between heterogeneous groups (Katz & Nowak, 2017; Smith, 2017; Fitzgerald, 2018; Gordon, 2018; Cunningham, 2019; Rivero et al, 2020). The key observation here is that active participation in the local community – working together with elected local officials, community businesses, and civic organizations and movements – can foster intersubjective understanding and produce structural conditions that, together, undermine right‐wing populism’s appeal.…”

“…The study of populism is arguably in the midst of a ‘localist turn’. Where scholars once prioritized the national and, to a lesser extent, transnational in analyzing populist politics (Moffitt, 2016; Eatwell & Goodwin, 2018; McDonnell & Werner, 2019; De Cleen et al, 2020), recent research has begun to reckon with local, regional, and municipal cleavages in populist support (Katz & Nowak, 2017; Fitzgerald, 2018; Rossi, 2018; Economou & Ghazarian, 2018; Weinstein, 2019; Heinisch et al, 2020; Chou, 2020; Drápalová & Wegrich, 2020; Paxton, 2020; Rivero et al, 2020; Silver et al, 2020; Macedo, 2021; Albertazzi & Zulianello, 2021). This research note emerges out of a key observation: while scholars have developed robust accounts of populism at the national and transnational levels, a systematic examination of what populist politics look like at the local level remains lacking.…”

Disrupting Dialogue? The Participatory Urban Governance of Far-Right Contestations in Cottbus

“…The contemporary rise of far-right politics poses new challenges to municipalities across the globe, fuelling racism and xenophobic attacks on marginalised groups-calling into question an increasingly plural and diverse urban order. Some scholars argue that the growing influence of far-right actors confronts urban practitioners (policymakers, planners, advocates, and organisers) with the practical question of how to deal with a divided public (Rivero, Sotomayor, Zanotto, & Zitcer, 2020). Others claim that "the 'invisible' contract governing a multicultural…city is under threat" (Khakee, 2020, p. 179).…”