The role of civil society in urban governance: bottom-linked initiatives in Athens

ABSTRACT The article contributes to contemporary urban studies debates on the role of civil society in governance, by critically considering the possibilities and limitations the bottom-linked approach entails for inclusive urban governance. Through an empirical analysis of bottom-linked initiatives developed in the city of Athens, it investigates emergent forms of cooperation and conflict between institutional and civil society actors. Further, it offers an analysis of the different dimensions the bottom-linked model may acquire, contributing insights into the entangled dynamics of self-responsibilization and self-emancipation implicated with emergent notions of citizenship and governance in Southern European cities.