The 15M Movement: construction of urban space by smart mob action

Abstract

Smart Mobs are groups of individuals that emerge when communication and computing technologies amplify human talents for cooperation. Although these mobs have been studied from their impact in social and political structures –with mobilizations like the one that toppled President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada in 2001–, their role in the production of urban space has not been deeply analyzed. From this spatial approach, this research aims to unravel practices and meanings that Smart Mobs attributes to urban space. From this point of view we have studied one of the most important Smart Mob’s mobilizations in recent history: the 15M Movement