Rome solidarity city: the Covid-19 and the transformation of collective action

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to reflect on the socio-spatial dynamics induced by the Covid-19 health crisis on mutual aid in metropolitan contexts. Based on in-depth interviews with eight social actors of the eastern part of the city of Rome, the contribution focuses on the transformations experienced during and after the peak of the 2020 health emergency by those actors in the internal, relational and territorial dimensions, as well as in their future prospects. The pandemic seems to have stimulated a renewal, in the medium-long run, of the acknowledgment and role of associations in supporting the most vulnerable citizens, able to reverse the course of exclusion and marginalisation in our cities.