Towards inclusive urban transitions: an intersectional analysis of reuse and repair grassroots initiatives in Barcelona

This article examines how grassroots repair/reuse initiatives in Barcelona both contest and reproduce social hierarchies. Using an intersectional framework, we analyse how systems that reproduce dynamics related to gender, age, racialisation, class, as well as local political-economic contexts interact to shape participation, visibility, and authority in two initiatives: Restart Parties (community electronics repair events) and Libraries of Things (tool/object lending). The study draws on participant observation at Restart Parties and Libraries of Things, four focus groups and 33 semi-structured interviews with organisers, repairers, users, and institutional actors. We identify recurring mechanisms of exclusion, including adultism and housing-linked youth marginalisation; linguistic dominance and racialized belonging that narrow migrant participation; gendered divisions of labour and “mansplaining” that confine women to organising or “user” roles; knowledge/authority asymmetries and efficiency-oriented practices that privilege fixing over pedagogy; temporal dispossession linked to neoliberal work/care regimes; and cultural/economic dynamics (gentrification, social status, fees) that filter access. At the same time, we document counter-tendencies such as school-based mini-libraries, women/non-binary mechanics trainings, flexible fee practices, and “explain-while-doing” approaches that open pathways to technical agency and community empowerment. We contribute to intersectional environmental justice and circularity debates by specifying how multiple axes of domination at both micro and macro levels intersect in situated grassroots circular settings, and we discuss strategies to make repair/reuse culture more inclusive and accessible.