Anatomy of an urban mobilization network

Abstract

How can urban mobilizations move their cities towards democratic and sustainable governance structures? This question has been under discussion in theoretical urban studies since the 1980s. According to these studies, networks of successful urban mobilizations consist of (1) densely connected specialized groups of urban organizations and (2) bridging ties between these local groups. The bridging ties are essential for the emergence of place-based collective identities and pushing urban organizations beyond the confines of their local agendas to become agents of meaningful social change at a larger scale. In this study we test and advance these arguments empirically using theoretical and methodological tools from the field of network science. We use a novel urban protest event data set based on police records and local newspapers from Ankara, Turkey. Our analyses show that the observed network consists of specialized urban groups that are densely connected with each other but the number of bridging ties between these groups are insufficient. Using network regression, we illustrate that most organizations in the network tend to form ties with organizations that have similar characteristics to themselves. Further analysis of the urban mobilization network reveals that the limited number of organizations that facilitate the bridging ties between specialized sub-groups are mostly professional organizations (e.g., the Chamber of Architects). We explain the distinctive attributes of these organizations based on the political context of their historical origins and the characteristics of their membership base. Our paper concludes with some policy recommendations emphasizing the necessity of networked approaches when evaluating urban organizations' capacity for social change.