The emerging civil society. Governing through leisure activism in Milan

The paper discusses the emerging forms of civil society in the NoLo area of Milan that have acquired political relevance by deploying a combination of leisure and activism. The heterogeneous set of initiatives and events that, using the NoLo label, animate the urban space have two distinct traits: firstly, they exert a subtle political action which is played out at a cultural level, in particular in their ability to draw on and influence common sense and taken-for-granted perceptions; and secondly, the chosen initiatives effectively influence local policy-making processes, in line with the neoliberal governance of the city and the authorities’ promise to govern not just for the citizens but with them. The case study provides an empirical illustration of an emerging urban civil society, with specific attention on its functioning, how certain situated events were set up and unfolded, and two specific episodes of involvement in local policy-making es. The proposed research findings - including the exclusionary/inclusive pattern that shapes citizens’ involvement, the consensus-building strategy enacted by the studied civil society and the increasing political relevance of bottom-up urban initiatives - illustrate the meaning of governing through leisure activism in Milan.