Everyday Authoritarianism: Spatial Politics of Far-Right Placemaking in European Cities

Objective

SPACER (Spatial Placemaking: Authoritarianism & Counter-Extremist Resistance) investigates how far-right ideas are embedded in the production of urban space and how they mobilise spatial politics across Europe. The project argues that far-right mobilisation is not only political or cultural but profoundly spatial, operating through everyday infrastructures, public spaces, and governance regimes. It will develop a multiscalar framework for analysing far-right placemaking by examining three interlinked layers: structural conditions of inequality and mistrust created by austerity, gentrification, and uneven infrastructures; discursive strategies that transform notions of community and care into exclusionary imaginaries; and spatial practices that territorialise resentment in housing, schools, and public spaces. The project has three main objectives: (1) to theorise far-right placemaking by conceptualising how exclusionary ideologies reshape urban space; (2) to identify the mechanisms through which grievances are translated into spatial imaginaries and territorial claims; and (3) to analyse governance interfaces between EU territorial instruments and local planning, specifying how they may create vulnerabilities to authoritarian mobilisation or strengthen democratic resilience. SPACER employs a mixed-methods design combining spatial ethnography, urban semiotics, digital ethnography, and policy analysis across three contrasting cities—Turin (Italy), Sunderland (UK), and Budapest (Hungary). By situating far-right practices within the spatial failures of European integration, SPACER will advance theoretical debates, provide open-access datasets and visual archives, and deliver evidence-based insights for municipalities, civil-society actors, and EU institutions. In doing so, it aligns closely with MSCA’s goals of supporting excellent, innovative research while strengthening democratic resilience against exclusionary politics.