A critical perspective on social ecology and urban crises: learning about, with and from urban social movements in Rio de Janeiro.

We are currently facing incredible challenges due to environmental and social crises on a global scale and cities are at the forefront of these challenges. Within this context, this thesis analyses the role of urban social movements in addressing these crises in the urban environment, learning about, with and from their practices. It does so by critically engaging with social ecology, a theory continuously developed by Murray Bookchin from the 1960s onward, which, while critiquing current social and ecological crises, provides a vision and theory of action needed to achieve a free and ecological society.
Specifically, the thesis, using participatory research approaches, focuses on the role of urban social movements in addressing the urban crises which acutely affect Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where intense social mobilizations emerged in 2013-2014. It examines the complex understanding of urban crises by urban social movements, and their tactics and organizational strategies, tracing points of contact between urban social movement practices and the social ecology perspective. The thesis bridges these two, highlighting how urban social movements practices and the social ecology theory can benefit from each other, in order to build relevant and decolonized knowledge for social change.