Sergio Belda-Miquel

Grassroots Social Innovation for Human Development: An Analysis of Alternative Food Networks in the City of Valencia (Spain)

Abstract This paper explores the contribution the capability approach (CA) and grassroots innovation (GI) literature makes to a better understanding of the complexity, richness and specificity of bottom-up processes of social innovation (SI), and their specific contribution to social transformation. Using a purely qualitative methodology, the paper addresses a case study—organic food buying groups in the city of Valencia—and examines them through the lenses of SI, GI and CA. By taking four concurrent dimensions of the SI literature (agents, purposes, drivers and processes) and cross-fertilising them with the bottom-up, people-driven character of GI, and the concepts of agency, capabilities, deliberative democracy and conversion factors from the CA, the paper creates a novel framework that we call Grassroots Social Innovation for Human Development. The analysis shows the potentiality of this novel framework to illustrate the elements that a bottom-up SI process should include in order to contribute to human development.

Institutionalization and Depoliticization of the Right to the City: Changing Scenarios for Radical Social Movements

The right to the city, a concept previously associated with radical social movements, has been accepted by several governments and has inspired new public policies. However, some authors see this process of institutionalization as involving a loss of a significant part of the radical origins of the concept. This article approaches this process and the new opportunities and limitations it may entail for social movement organizations with a more radical perspective on the right to the city. We explore the paradigmatic case of Brazil and the action of a particular organization, the Movimento dos Sem Teto da Bahia (MSTB, or Homeless Movement of Bahia) in the city of Salvador. We draw on the discussion of the politics of the right to the city and on an original combination of social movement theories and critical discourse analysis in order to analyse political-institutional and discursive changes in urban reform in Brazil and Salvador. We then analyse how the MSTB moves within this new context, navigating its tensions and contradictions while advancing a radical project of transformation of urban reality within a reformist context. We also reflect on the relevance of Lefebvrian ideas for understanding and inspiring contemporary struggles for the right to the city.

Innovación transformadora. Propuestas desde la innovación social colectiva para el desarrollo humano

espanolHay muchas maneras de entender y practicar la innovacion social. En este articulo queremos abordar una perspectiva concreta: la innovacion social colectiva (ISC) que busca explicitamente la transformacion de los regimenes socio-tecnicos. A partir del analisis de dos experiencias que tienen lugar en Valencia (grupos de consumo y una cooperativa energetica), caracterizamos el sentido de la transformacion de las ISC y su direccionalidad. Para lo primero, se recurre al marco de las transiciones socio-tecnicas, mientras que para lo segundo el analisis se realiza desde el desarrollo humano. El analisis arroja diferencias sustanciales en la manera en la que las ISC entienden la produccion, las tecnologias, las politicas y regulaciones, la estructura industrial, los canales de acceso y las fuentes de conocimiento, respecto de las practicas socio-tecnicas dominantes. Asimismo evidencia que sus propuestas se alinean claramente con los principios del desarrollo humano y permiten la expansion de capacidades y de agencia. EnglishThere are many ways to understand and practice social innovation. In this article we touch upon a specific perspective: grassroots innovations (gi) which explicitly seek the transformation of socio-technical regimes. From the analysis of two experiences that took place in the city of Valencia (consumer groups and an energy cooperative), we characterize the sense of the transformation of the grassroots and its directionality. For the former, the framework of socio-technical transitions is used, while, for the latter, the analysis is being made through the human development approach. The analysis reveals substantial differences in the way in which GI understand production, technologies, policies and regulations, industrial structure, access channels and sources of knowledge, compared with dominant socio-technical practices. It also shows that their proposals are clearly aligned with the principles of human development and allow the expansion of capabilities and agency.

Analysing participatory video through the capability approach – A case study in Quart de Poblet (Valencia, Spain)

The aim of this paper is to analyse participatory video as a participatory action research method through the lenses of the capability approach. In order to do this, we used a participatory video experience that took place in the municipality of Quart de Poblet (Valencia, Spain) from February to March 2014. The participants were 11 young people between 16 and 24 years of age, severely affected by the economic crisis that has hit Spain in recent years. To develop our analysis, we introduced the participatory video as a technique and a process within the participatory action research methods. Then, we analysed the participatory process to verify the extent to which it had contributed to expanding the capabilities and agency of the participants. The evidence revealed a significant expansion of the awareness capability and, in some cases, of the capability for voice. In contrast, the capability to aspire and the agency of the participants were not expanded, due to contextual factors and the limitations of the process itself.

Grassroots Innovation for Human Development: Exploring the Potential of Participatory Video

Can digital technologies serve to highlight and strengthen the work of social organizations that promote human development? This is the question the authors want to answer in this article, in which they analyse an eight-month participatory video PV process, promoted by a group of university researchers and conducted in collaboration with two grassroots innovations GI in the city of Valencia Spain: the Fuel Poverty Group and Solar Domada. The innovative component of PV is situated in two areas: firstly, as an action research methodology, the PV process enables peoples participation, with the aim of generating learning, agency and contextual knowledge from the participants; secondly, the innovation is found in the product, the video itself. The video narratives can be used to disseminate the practices of the GIs and offer a space for critical reflection on the structural constraints that may hamper the diffusion of innovations. Furthermore, the audiovisual work itself has its own agency and has the potential to create opportunities for advocacy and contribute towards removing barriers that limit human development.

Perspectivas y políticas sobre la juventud en desventaja en España: un análisis desde el enfoque de capacidades

With the crisis in Spain, the youth face a situation of multi-dimensional disadvantage. In this paper we analyse the perspectives of different stakeholders on this situation, as well as how these perspectives inform the design and implementation of public policies. We carried out a qualitative study with an innovative theoretical approach, the capability approach. We reviewed secondary sources and undertook 21 in-depth interviews with 21 key stakeholders. Evidences show that current policies affecting the youth have a narrow focus on job creation, overlooking the multiple disadvantages that today’s young face. This situation is aggravated by the lack of participation in definition and implementation of policies, and by partisan interests and short-term strategies.