Urban Redevelopment from the Bottom-Up: Strengths and Challenges of Grassroots Initiatives in Baku

Abstract

Grassroots initiatives have become primary setters of the discourse on facilitating participation of city dwellers in the urban development of Baku. Activities of these initiatives range from social-media based activism to small-scale interventions into public spaces. This contribution explores the strengths, promises and challenges of such initiatives in centralized governance systems such as Azerbaijan, primarily using the example of the "Urban Olum" project of urbanist civic initiative "PILLƏ". The analysis can serve as a backdrop for the premises of urban activism in the context of Baku.