Urban Resilience and The Alternative Economy: A Methodological Approach Applied to Northern Spain*

Abstract

ABSTRACT In urban contexts of prolonged economic crisis, there emerge new forms of economies that express a different way for producers and consumers to have an active presence in the market and be agents in the city’s economy. The initiative is taken above all by the most vulnerable groups, which seek creative unconventional responses to their situation, with or without the intervention of public authorities. This reaction is interpreted in this study as urban resilience, and it is linked to the concept of sustainability and a series of alternative economic practices that should be analyzed via a specific methodology that allows us to understand their nature and scope. As a result, our research question is twofold. First, can operative criteria be established to identify and typify these new forms of urban economy? And, related to the previous question, what influence does the phenomenon have on medium-sized cities? We define medium-sized cities as cities that have a population of between 50,000 and 250,000 people as well as activities and functions that position the city dynamically within the surrounding urban system (Andrés López 2008). To these ends, this investigation spans three phases: a theoretical-conceptual review; definition of criteria and classification of alternative or resilient economic practices; and a case study focused on the city of León in northern Spain, for the purpose of understanding the phenomenon and its relative scope.