Urban social movements in a small town: the case of “Aktywne Giżycko”

Abstract

Studies about urban social movements in Poland concentrate on major cities like Warsaw or other big financial and educational centers. Out of 40 member organizations of the Congress of Urban Movements (as on 31 July 2018)[1], only 2 come from a town of the population under 50 thousand[2]. Small provincial towns experiencing depopulation caused by strong emigration to metropolises have another notion of their “right to the city” feelings. This article examines the case of Aktywne Giżycko (Active Giżycko), an association from a 30 thousand Masurian town. It aims to answer the question why this “right to the city” organization emerged in a small town, while in Poland it is still mainly domain of big agglomerations. The investigation was based on a 3-year long research comprising biographical interviews, participating observations, archive studies and local press surveys.