Topic 7 – Interlude III: Sous les Pavés, la Plage!

Section overview
This chapter investigates the emergence of new forms of citizenship and political community beyond the nation-state framework, focusing on urban spaces as sites of political experimentation and community-building. Traditional models of citizenship have often restricted political participation to the boundaries of the nation-state, where legal and social rights are tightly linked to national identity. However, in an increasingly globalized world, cities have become strategic spaces for fostering non-state political communities, allowing marginalized groups and migrant communities to engage in the political process.
Through examples like the Beyond the Construction Site project in Ljubljana, which transformed an abandoned lot into a vibrant community garden, the section highlights how urban projects can serve as laboratories for new forms of citizenship. These spaces can be understood as “exilic spaces,” as they provide platforms for disenfranchised communities to create alternative social, political, and economic structures independent of both state control and capitalist accumulation. Such spaces enable “translocal citizenship,” where political membership transcends national identity and creates inclusive, flexible communities that connect diverse groups.