Inside Grassroots Movements

“A few years ago, at the Rescue Bikes Day at the University of Chalmers, students gathered abandoned bikes with the aim of giving them out for free to other students. The only condition was that they would learn how to repair them. I saw that the bikes were unlocked and asked a student if she was concerned about someone stealing the bikes. She said: Even if they are stolen, we have achieved our purpose if someone is using the bikes”, outlines Zapata Campos during an Urban Lunch Talk webinar on urban sharing initiatives. This story, together with many other anecdotes, made me curious to learn more about sharing initiatives and their inner workings. 

Scholar activism 

The Circular Grassroots project studies large, bottom-up initiatives in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Gothenburg and Nantes that deal with questions such as housing, food, repair and recycling: “The initiatives we study successfully address a high number of people with many different motivations, such as idealism, meeting others, or simply saving money”, explains Zapata Campos.

The Circular Grassroots project aims to understand when these initiatives are most impactful and what challenges they encounter. To get the insights needed, the researchers take an unusual approach: “Our researchers have been involved in these initiatives for a while. Some of them even started the initiatives themselves as activists.” According to Zapata Campos, this so-called scholar activism brings distinct advantages: 

“A deeper understanding of these initiatives can only emerge when you are part of the initiative yourself. Details such as how the initiative is organised and what challenges it faces can be difficult to understand from the outside.”

She explains that the research project remains critical despite the inside look: “What is important is that with our inside view on the initiatives, we are not romanticising them either. Of course, there are issues of inequality and exclusion within these initiatives as well. It depends on how they are materialised. Repair movements, for example, tend to attract more men and need to actively engage more women.”

Difficult trade-offs

Grassroots initiatives can bring a variety of benefits for climate action, sustainability and society. Depending on their focus, this can, for example, be waste reduction, extended lifespans of goods, access to key goods or services, sustainability education, community engagement and inclusion. For the people involved in them, these benefits can come with difficult trade-offs: “For example, when food initiatives take care of the food surplus of grocery stores, they also contribute to an unsustainable food supply system. When we provide the solution at the end of the loop, we are justifying a system that wastes food”, outlines Zapata Campos. 

Crises as windows of opportunity

Traditionally, grassroots organisations emerge in contexts of crisis, especially when not only traditionally vulnerable groups are affected, but the middle class as well: “A lot of initiatives emerged, for example, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and generally in situations where the state retreats and people are left alone. In these situations, a lot of innovation can come from the bottom up”, argues Zapata Campos. However, variations exist: “For example, in stronger welfare states these initiatives tend to have it more difficult because the trust in the state tends to be higher and people see less of a need for grassroots organisations.” 

Towards a better understanding 

Many grassroots initiatives have a radical understanding of society. Through the initiatives, they can get in touch with local governments and with people from across society: 

“The people engaged in grassroots movements often deeply question our institutions. At the same time, those initiatives that are successful tend to have a mission that is supported by many people. For example, who could be against an initiative that helps people repair their bikes?” 

The project aims to improve our understanding of these initiatives: “We will contribute insights for local governments around grassroots initiatives. We need to start thinking more broadly about the value they generate – a large part of it cannot be easily measured in terms of financial benefits. Further, many of the values remain hidden from public officers. These initiatives take place far away from the administration. It is important to make visible which values they generate”, outlines Zapata Campos. She adds: “We cannot accept that money should be the only measurement that matters when these initiatives bring, for example, such enormous democratic, social and ecological value.”