HIGH PLACES. THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SPACE IN THE SOCIAL MOBILIZATION OF A NEW GENERATION

An ecology of the action of social movements could show how they have manipulated urban patterns to manifest their protest, in different meaningful ways, depending on the historical period. The use of urban centres in the latest waves of collective action-like the Spanish 15M movementmight first appear as a revival of the street as a stage of and for social conflict. But in this case, public space is not just the stage for a public drama; it is also a key political concept, associated with the hegemonic ideology of citizenism in this movement, which aims to produce social change from an ethical reform of capitalism.