Power dynamics are identified and dismantled for more equitable structures

Besides the approach of participatory budgeting mentioned below, transformative power can be exercised through approaches that focus on exercising “prefigurative power.” This takes the form of developing alternative ways of doing, thinking and organizing that are more fair and equitable, such as crowdsourcing, community gardens,  co-working spaces, digital fabrication, cooperatives, urban commons and sharing initiatives. These approaches show that alternative ways of organizing are not only possible, but that they already exist and may help to make existing unsustainable and unjust structures obsolete. Other approaches are more explicitly focused on countervailing power, in other words, challenging and dismantling problematic power inequalities. This includes efforts such as the right to housing movement and civil disobedience initiatives. It is often the combination of different and intersectional approaches, and the strategic collaboration and complementarity between them, that can empower citizens to exercise transformative power. 

Governance, by definition, is inherently connected to power. All six governance arrangements identified by UrbanA can help to shift power relations, while at the same time, also involve new problematic power dynamics. The three most important governance arrangement for enabling transformative power are:

• Build bridges between separate stakeholder groups 
• Develop resilient and self-sufficient financing arrangements
• Commit to a meaningful participation process

Injustice ultimately manifests in terms of power relations, meaning that the issue of power is inherent to the concept of injustice. Limited citizen participation in urban planning and Weakened civil society, for instance, are related to unequal power relations between citizens and civil society actors on the one hand, and policy-makers and commercial parties on the other hand. Many drivers of injustice, like exclusive access to the benefits of sustainability infrastructure, material and livelihood inequalities, racialized or ethnically exclusionary urbanization, uneven and exclusionary urban intensification and regeneration as well as uneven environmental health and pollution patterns, result from a structural and historical legacy of power asymmetries. This manifests across class, ethnicity, gender and generation. All drivers of injustice require us to recognize uneven power relations and make a commitment to changing those power relations.