ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the autonomous squatted space AKC Metelkova Mesto in Ljubljana as a potential innovator of democratic practices and visions, responding to recent calls to focus on social movement innovations in revitalizing democracy. The study draws on qualitative methods, including interviews and document analysis, and reinterprets the concept of heterotopia in accordance with social movement activism within the context of increasing autocratization. The empirical analysis of Metelkova as a heterotopia established and upheld by an urban squatters’ movement highlights the importance of the political identity of autonomy in constructing a heterotopic position and demonstrates divergent pathways of interpreting autonomy in relation to democratic practices and principles. Furthermore, examining a targeted attack on one part of Metelkova by a far-right state formation in tandem with a wider assault on civil society in 2020 allows for an analysis of the potential of heterotopic democratic practices in enacting social change, demonstrating the strategic role the heterotopic position can play in defending civic freedoms. This chapter calls for further investigation into heterotopic activism in prefiguring social alternatives and underscores the importance of heterotopic action, particularly under conditions of shrinking civic space.
