Supporting urban social movements: A comparison of two advocacy planning associations in France and Brazil

Since the 1960s, cooperation between residents of working-class or precarious neighborhoods, professionals, and academics has been taking place in France and Brazil in order to build a city “from below.” Collectives of intermediary actors, within which academics occupy an important place, take varied forms depending on the region. They play a fundamental role in the implementation of these dynamics of urban co-production. The Brazilian “Assessorias Técnicas” have been working to build a professional field since the 1960s. By contrast, in France, these practices appear more fragmented and do not necessarily use a common term. Since the first popular urban planning workshops in the 1960s, new approaches emerged in the early 2010s, notably with the creation of the APPUII association. Both in France and Brazil, these civil organizations of professionals, academics, and activists remain relatively undocumented in the academic field. Based on the comparison of two intermediary associations (APPUII in the Paris region and Peabiru in São Paulo), this article analyzes the configurations of these collaborations and what they say about the circulation between the academic, activist, and professional worlds.