Socially innovative housing activism: local context and collective leadership practices in Barcelona and New York City.

Drawing upon a comparison between four socially innovative housing activism initiatives, this paper makes new theoretical propositions on the nature of social change by bringing together a contextual approach on housing activism and an agency analysis of collective leadership practices. On one hand, this paper analyses how historical and geographical neighbourhood features constrain and enable housing activism. On the other hand, the paper unveils collective leadership practices that democratize socially innovative initiatives and make social change happen. Assuming that housing activism is spatially and institutionally embedded, the paper concludes that some leadership practices not only enable the emergence of such processes but also foster their sustainability and increase their impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]