The aim of this paper is based on a collective hub of research, theoretical, empirical and methodological debate. It has the aim of analysing diverse forms, experiences and practices of digital activism and socio-environmental movements, their relations with the territories and their heterogeneous claims and contestations in relation to politics and effects of the environmental crisis and climate change. Social networks are shaping relations and socio-economic processes through the automatic production of space that generates new spatialities (Kitchin, Dodge, 2011) called cyberplaces (Meek, 2012). In fact, digital media are an ever-increasing presence in social movements, political participation and civic engagement. Significant to these debates, digital media and services are becoming increasingly location-based, with more applications providing geographical interfaces and supporting locational data (Elwood, Leszczynski, 2013). Since geography information technologies and data available to the public increasingly permeate social movements, bottom-up organizations, citizen groups and the local society, the understanding of different forms of activisms and civic commitment generated by these new spatial media (Crampton, 2009) and the impact produced on affected places is of paramount importance. Representations and narratives have not only widened the possibilities of democratic participation for minority groups, but for social movements, activists and generally for local communities. Through the use of participatory tools of territorial representation, digital activists have become interpreters and protagonists of the territorial socio-cultural value. Through the web, these new netizens have a place to renegotiate their own needs, build narratives and mobilize new activists, by putting into question previous assumptions on which urban neoliberism is based and laying claim, with new tools, to their right to the city and the vision of spatial justice (Albanese, Graziano, 2020). Starting from e-democracy conceptualization (Macintosh, 2004, p. 2), there have been a lot of e-participation phenomena with new forms of self-involvement essentially linked to the implementation of new technologies. Based upon the reflections of Jessop et al. (2008), Leitner et al. (2008), Nicholls (2009), Kitchin (2011, 2017) this shows how contemporary spatiality emerges from several, different and complex spatialities, also taking into account aspects such as scale, place, territory and network. These factors can no longer be ascribed exclusively to a single conceptual category, but, on the contrary, they should be considered as a whole, thus allowing the understanding of space as a combination of different scales and functions, as well as stakeholders and activities. Fundamentally, in order to bring together different spatial concepts and approaches within a spatial justice perspective, the present study will endeavor to investigate the (assumed) alignment between spatial and network justice through the Italian Sciopero Per il Clima, the local version of the global climate strike promoted by the Fridays for the Future (FFF) movement, a collective action, rarely seen in similar dimension. Herein lies the difference with the customary practice adopted whenever such an alignment is deemed impossible to achieve, and the various levels are examined separately, one by one, relying on blurry and unclear principles. From a methodological point of view, the examined hyper-place where the Italian strike took place, or more precisely, counter-place (Lussault, 2019), will be studied using the visual and discourse analysis methodology, according to an analysis of the semantic web in which digital activism unravels, as well as an analysis of counter-places meant as the object of the protest. The study will also try to determine whether the activists retain online a territorial link with the cyberplace (Wellman 2001; Meek 2012) or they simply don’t relate to the activism actions aimed at preserving the territory which are actually taken at a local scale. The methodology relies on Visual and Discourse Analysis.
Environmental crisis and climate change: social mobilization and digital activism arisen from territorial identities
Valentina Albanese
2021-01-01
Abstract
The aim of this paper is based on a collective hub of research, theoretical, empirical and methodological debate. It has the aim of analysing diverse forms, experiences and practices of digital activism and socio-environmental movements, their relations with the territories and their heterogeneous claims and contestations in relation to politics and effects of the environmental crisis and climate change. Social networks are shaping relations and socio-economic processes through the automatic production of space that generates new spatialities (Kitchin, Dodge, 2011) called cyberplaces (Meek, 2012). In fact, digital media are an ever-increasing presence in social movements, political participation and civic engagement. Significant to these debates, digital media and services are becoming increasingly location-based, with more applications providing geographical interfaces and supporting locational data (Elwood, Leszczynski, 2013). Since geography information technologies and data available to the public increasingly permeate social movements, bottom-up organizations, citizen groups and the local society, the understanding of different forms of activisms and civic commitment generated by these new spatial media (Crampton, 2009) and the impact produced on affected places is of paramount importance. Representations and narratives have not only widened the possibilities of democratic participation for minority groups, but for social movements, activists and generally for local communities. Through the use of participatory tools of territorial representation, digital activists have become interpreters and protagonists of the territorial socio-cultural value. Through the web, these new netizens have a place to renegotiate their own needs, build narratives and mobilize new activists, by putting into question previous assumptions on which urban neoliberism is based and laying claim, with new tools, to their right to the city and the vision of spatial justice (Albanese, Graziano, 2020). Starting from e-democracy conceptualization (Macintosh, 2004, p. 2), there have been a lot of e-participation phenomena with new forms of self-involvement essentially linked to the implementation of new technologies. Based upon the reflections of Jessop et al. (2008), Leitner et al. (2008), Nicholls (2009), Kitchin (2011, 2017) this shows how contemporary spatiality emerges from several, different and complex spatialities, also taking into account aspects such as scale, place, territory and network. These factors can no longer be ascribed exclusively to a single conceptual category, but, on the contrary, they should be considered as a whole, thus allowing the understanding of space as a combination of different scales and functions, as well as stakeholders and activities. Fundamentally, in order to bring together different spatial concepts and approaches within a spatial justice perspective, the present study will endeavor to investigate the (assumed) alignment between spatial and network justice through the Italian Sciopero Per il Clima, the local version of the global climate strike promoted by the Fridays for the Future (FFF) movement, a collective action, rarely seen in similar dimension. Herein lies the difference with the customary practice adopted whenever such an alignment is deemed impossible to achieve, and the various levels are examined separately, one by one, relying on blurry and unclear principles. From a methodological point of view, the examined hyper-place where the Italian strike took place, or more precisely, counter-place (Lussault, 2019), will be studied using the visual and discourse analysis methodology, according to an analysis of the semantic web in which digital activism unravels, as well as an analysis of counter-places meant as the object of the protest. The study will also try to determine whether the activists retain online a territorial link with the cyberplace (Wellman 2001; Meek 2012) or they simply don’t relate to the activism actions aimed at preserving the territory which are actually taken at a local scale. The methodology relies on Visual and Discourse Analysis.
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