Learning from the Squares

Exarcheia Square (Athens) and Gezi Park (Istanbul) were iconic sites of dissent and occupation in the mid-2010s. As part of a wave of popular action against finance capital and authoritarian governance with global significance, they garnered significant attention from critical urbanists and radical theorists. Here we introduce two reflections on these sites of politicization written from the standpoint of a decade later, tracing the radicalisms that have been nurtured, mutated, or withered away. We situate these totemic 'squares' in context and argue that much can be learned from returning to the squares once the spotlight of radical attention has dimmed.