Thompson, Matthew;
Stubbs, Paul;
Lorne, Colin;
Beel, David;
Jones, Ian Rees;
Morgan, Kevin;
Jones, Martin;
(2025)
Conjunctural municipalism and the struggle for Zagreb: Hegemony, crisis, articulation, praxis.
Environment and Planning F
10.1177/26349825241306539.
(In press).
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Abstract
There is renewed interest in conjunctural approaches within urban studies, human geography and beyond to help interpret the troubles of the political present. Moves have been made to specify and systematise a methodological remit for conjunctural analysis, yet there is a risk of losing the political impulse motivating such approaches. As such, this article brings together different intellectual and political currents informing conjunctural analysis to posit an alternative heuristic attuned towards social and political intervention. We frame this through four key concepts – hegemony, crisis, articulation and praxis – each explored as the ‘causes’ of conjunctural thinking, understood capaciously as purpose, nature, method and form, and not only origin and explanation. In doing so, we offer a practical framework for a conjunctural action-research agenda refocused on generating theory that is useful for place-based struggles. Focusing on how new municipalist politics are transforming the urban political economy of Zagreb, Croatia, we demonstrate how this framing by hegemony, crisis, articulation and praxis can illuminate the shifting balance of forces faced by activists – and how these may be turned to tactical advantage – to, in turn, shed light on conjunctural thinking as a promising theory and method for praxis. Analysing the new municipalist movement, in Zagreb and beyond, as both a product of the current conjuncture – as conjunctural municipalism – and as a deeply conjunctural strategy made in response to crisis conditions and opportunities – as municipalist conjuncturalism – we conclude by suggesting possible ways forward for the kinds of conjunctural methods and politics so urgently needed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Conjunctural municipalism and the struggle for Zagreb: Hegemony, crisis, articulation, praxis |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/26349825241306539 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/26349825241306539 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2025. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | conjuncture, crisis, Gramsci, municipalism, praxis |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > The Bartlett School of Planning |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10203679 |
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