Neighborhood association or neighborhood participation is the association "Association (Law)") that a community forms to seek or achieve some common good. They are organizations that are formed in the center of the community and that come from the movements and dynamism of the members who feel moved to meet for reasons of good neighborliness.
It is also known as a neighborhood committee or committee. The neighborhood association tends to be organized with a democratic structure. Among some problems that are resolved in Neighborhood Associations are: Demanding architectural improvements for the community, the implementation of basic services.
Although associations with this name are formed to solve a specific problem in the community, neighborhood associations arise mainly to achieve the development of the quality of life of that community in all areas: urban planning, education, mobility, health, the environment, social freedoms, etc.
Since 2000, the European Union has celebrated European Neighbor Day.[1].
Neighborhood associations in Spain
Starting in 1968, during the Franco dictatorship, the first neighborhood associations were established in Spain under the Law of Associations of Heads of Family of 1964.[2]
The neighborhood associations celebrated their thirtieth anniversary in 1998 and it was time to take stock of their performance throughout such an intense period in terms of social changes. No analyst can deny the role of the citizen movement in the profound political, urban, social and cultural transformations that have occurred in the last decades of the century.
Perhaps its most distant antecedent should be sought in the Second Republic, when the Official Association of Neighbors-Tenants of Madrid led a mobilization with the aim of improving contracts with landlords regarding rents and the poor conditions of housing; and its most immediate precedent, by establishing a "sanctuary" from which some neighborhood structures of a democratic nature were subsequently deployed, were those paternalistic and clientelist Associations of Family Heads of the Movement that emerged in the mid-1950s. But the neighborhood associations have their origins in those turbulent late sixties. Since then, their journey has gone through very different social and political contexts, which has forced them to adapt to different situations.
urban association
Introduction
Neighborhood association or neighborhood participation is the association "Association (Law)") that a community forms to seek or achieve some common good. They are organizations that are formed in the center of the community and that come from the movements and dynamism of the members who feel moved to meet for reasons of good neighborliness.
It is also known as a neighborhood committee or committee. The neighborhood association tends to be organized with a democratic structure. Among some problems that are resolved in Neighborhood Associations are: Demanding architectural improvements for the community, the implementation of basic services.
Although associations with this name are formed to solve a specific problem in the community, neighborhood associations arise mainly to achieve the development of the quality of life of that community in all areas: urban planning, education, mobility, health, the environment, social freedoms, etc.
Since 2000, the European Union has celebrated European Neighbor Day.[1].
Neighborhood associations in Spain
Starting in 1968, during the Franco dictatorship, the first neighborhood associations were established in Spain under the Law of Associations of Heads of Family of 1964.[2]
The neighborhood associations celebrated their thirtieth anniversary in 1998 and it was time to take stock of their performance throughout such an intense period in terms of social changes. No analyst can deny the role of the citizen movement in the profound political, urban, social and cultural transformations that have occurred in the last decades of the century.
Perhaps its most distant antecedent should be sought in the Second Republic, when the Official Association of Neighbors-Tenants of Madrid led a mobilization with the aim of improving contracts with landlords regarding rents and the poor conditions of housing; and its most immediate precedent, by establishing a "sanctuary" from which some neighborhood structures of a democratic nature were subsequently deployed, were those paternalistic and clientelist Associations of Family Heads of the Movement that emerged in the mid-1950s. But the neighborhood associations have their origins in those turbulent late sixties. Since then, their journey has gone through very different social and political contexts, which has forced them to adapt to different situations.
In 1968, in the midst of the Franco dictatorship and in the heat of the recent Law of Associations of 1964, the Neighborhood Association of Palomeras Bajas (Vallecas) was established, immediately followed by the creation of others; The existence of a strong "urban crisis" due to the lack of basic urban services (underequipped facilities, green areas, public transportation, etc.), an inadequate housing stock and the lack of political freedoms that would allow democratic control of a local Administration that was increasingly perceived as ineffective, authoritarian and corrupt led groups of neighborhood residents to organize and mobilize.
In those first years of consolidation of the associations (1969-1974), they were a refuge for social and political opposition to the Franco dictatorship and included people of various ideological, political or confessional sensitivities. It should be noted that at its origin there was a singular harmony between activists from the Communist Party of Spain and the left with sectors of grassroots Christians. But above all, little by little, they incorporated extensive neighborhood networks, thereby achieving broad representation as a fundamental organization of neighborhood life. Defining features of its associative nature are its attachment to the territory, which gives it a comprehensive strategy, working and being able to relate multiple dimensions of the quality of life, such as health, urban planning, education, culture, housing, the problems of women and young people, thus recreating the feelings of belonging to a community, pride and neighborhood identity.
The associations were interclass and permeable to various ideologies, and the neighborhood leaders have always ensured the independence of the associations, with the influence of the citizen movement on the programs of the political parties being greater than vice versa. In fact, its determined commitment to participatory democracy, as well as its assembly-oriented and democratic character, made the associations true schools of democracy.
The period between 1975 and 1979 represented the golden age of the neighborhood movement. These are the years of great mobilizations and political and social achievements. Their fight for public freedoms, the legalization of associations, better living conditions in neighborhoods and against the high cost of living was expressed in slogans such as Bread, work and freedom, Housing for all, here and now or La Vaguada is ours, which were heard loudly in the first authorized demonstration in June 1976, attended by fifty thousand people; or a little later, in September, the demonstration of the bread war in Moratalaz, with one hundred thousand attendees at the largest concentration known in Madrid until then. But the most emblematic achievement of the citizen movement occurred in the area of housing. The right of residents, threatened by speculative processes, to remain in their neighborhoods was translated into new public housing operations and new facilities that transformed the periphery of Madrid.
Once municipal democracy was established, the associations took time to adapt to the new political situation. The decade of the eighties was characterized by the loss of leaders, who began to swell the newly launched democratic institutions, to which was added greater legitimation of the institutional channels for citizen participation. All these factors caused a loss of references and the movement's own identity. Even so, the movement explored new forms of intervention in the neighborhoods, learned to combine pressure with negotiation and developed a clear collaboration strategy with public administrations to facilitate the creation and management of services in the neighborhoods and the development of democratic control mechanisms.
During the 1990s, the persistence and growth of unemployment in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, the integration of the immigrant population and the increase in social exclusion, especially among young people and women, were the new challenges that the citizen movement had to face. The growing social segmentation along with feelings of vulnerability and uncertainty have facilitated the emergence of unsupportive movements directed against the weakest groups, provoking a rapid reaction from neighborhood associations. This search to meet new needs has led, without forgetting its demanding nature, to develop new sectors of activity in a strategy of co-management of spaces and initiatives that are part of a logic of local development.
Organization
Neighborhood associations are grouped into city (local), region or province federations; These in turn become confederations at the autonomous level, finally uniting into confederations or unions at the state level.
The neighborhood associations in Spain, potentially grouped in the State Coordinator of Neighborhood Associations"), were united in 1988 in the Confederation of Neighborhood Associations of Spain") (CAVE), currently dissolved.
Subsequently, two attempts were made to unify and coordinate the state neighborhood movement with the State Union of Confederations of Neighborhood Associations (UECAV) dissolved in 2012[3] and the State Confederation of Neighborhood Associations") (CEAV)[4].
Abbreviation
According to Orthography of the Spanish language (2010) of the Royal Spanish Academy, in the abbreviations of complex expressions it is the nuclear element that pluralizes. Even if the complex expression contains a plural element, it will not be taken into account in the formation of the abbreviation. Therefore, the abbreviation of neighborhood association is A.V.
In 1968, in the midst of the Franco dictatorship and in the heat of the recent Law of Associations of 1964, the Neighborhood Association of Palomeras Bajas (Vallecas) was established, immediately followed by the creation of others; The existence of a strong "urban crisis" due to the lack of basic urban services (underequipped facilities, green areas, public transportation, etc.), an inadequate housing stock and the lack of political freedoms that would allow democratic control of a local Administration that was increasingly perceived as ineffective, authoritarian and corrupt led groups of neighborhood residents to organize and mobilize.
In those first years of consolidation of the associations (1969-1974), they were a refuge for social and political opposition to the Franco dictatorship and included people of various ideological, political or confessional sensitivities. It should be noted that at its origin there was a singular harmony between activists from the Communist Party of Spain and the left with sectors of grassroots Christians. But above all, little by little, they incorporated extensive neighborhood networks, thereby achieving broad representation as a fundamental organization of neighborhood life. Defining features of its associative nature are its attachment to the territory, which gives it a comprehensive strategy, working and being able to relate multiple dimensions of the quality of life, such as health, urban planning, education, culture, housing, the problems of women and young people, thus recreating the feelings of belonging to a community, pride and neighborhood identity.
The associations were interclass and permeable to various ideologies, and the neighborhood leaders have always ensured the independence of the associations, with the influence of the citizen movement on the programs of the political parties being greater than vice versa. In fact, its determined commitment to participatory democracy, as well as its assembly-oriented and democratic character, made the associations true schools of democracy.
The period between 1975 and 1979 represented the golden age of the neighborhood movement. These are the years of great mobilizations and political and social achievements. Their fight for public freedoms, the legalization of associations, better living conditions in neighborhoods and against the high cost of living was expressed in slogans such as Bread, work and freedom, Housing for all, here and now or La Vaguada is ours, which were heard loudly in the first authorized demonstration in June 1976, attended by fifty thousand people; or a little later, in September, the demonstration of the bread war in Moratalaz, with one hundred thousand attendees at the largest concentration known in Madrid until then. But the most emblematic achievement of the citizen movement occurred in the area of housing. The right of residents, threatened by speculative processes, to remain in their neighborhoods was translated into new public housing operations and new facilities that transformed the periphery of Madrid.
Once municipal democracy was established, the associations took time to adapt to the new political situation. The decade of the eighties was characterized by the loss of leaders, who began to swell the newly launched democratic institutions, to which was added greater legitimation of the institutional channels for citizen participation. All these factors caused a loss of references and the movement's own identity. Even so, the movement explored new forms of intervention in the neighborhoods, learned to combine pressure with negotiation and developed a clear collaboration strategy with public administrations to facilitate the creation and management of services in the neighborhoods and the development of democratic control mechanisms.
During the 1990s, the persistence and growth of unemployment in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, the integration of the immigrant population and the increase in social exclusion, especially among young people and women, were the new challenges that the citizen movement had to face. The growing social segmentation along with feelings of vulnerability and uncertainty have facilitated the emergence of unsupportive movements directed against the weakest groups, provoking a rapid reaction from neighborhood associations. This search to meet new needs has led, without forgetting its demanding nature, to develop new sectors of activity in a strategy of co-management of spaces and initiatives that are part of a logic of local development.
Organization
Neighborhood associations are grouped into city (local), region or province federations; These in turn become confederations at the autonomous level, finally uniting into confederations or unions at the state level.
The neighborhood associations in Spain, potentially grouped in the State Coordinator of Neighborhood Associations"), were united in 1988 in the Confederation of Neighborhood Associations of Spain") (CAVE), currently dissolved.
Subsequently, two attempts were made to unify and coordinate the state neighborhood movement with the State Union of Confederations of Neighborhood Associations (UECAV) dissolved in 2012[3] and the State Confederation of Neighborhood Associations") (CEAV)[4].
Abbreviation
According to Orthography of the Spanish language (2010) of the Royal Spanish Academy, in the abbreviations of complex expressions it is the nuclear element that pluralizes. Even if the complex expression contains a plural element, it will not be taken into account in the formation of the abbreviation. Therefore, the abbreviation of neighborhood association is A.V.