Marina Pera
R2 - Recognised Researcher
Sociology and Public policy
Community Initiatives, Urban Governance, Public Policy Innovation, Social Infrastructure, Urban Commons, Social and Solidarity Economy
Dr. Marina Pera is a Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellow at Turba Lab (TRÀNSIC), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. She holds an M.A. in Sociology from Columbia University and a PhD in Public Policy from IGOP-UAB. Her research is situated within the field of urban studies, with a focus on policy innovation and communitarian practices. Specifically, she examines state-supported communitarian initiatives and their role as sites of encounter and resilience in contexts of intersecting inequalities. Currently, she leads a project on the co-produced Ateneus Cooperatius policy, implemented in collaboration with the Generalitat de Catalunya and actors from the social and solidarity economy and she is involved as a partner at the project WELLCOM (funded by Ajuntament de Barcelona and Fundació La Caixa) which studies the impact of urban gardens at the individual and neighbourhood level. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Birmingham and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Her recent work has been published in City, Culture and Society, Urban Geography and the International Journal of the Commons.
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES
Maestre Andrés, S., Calvet Mir, L., Simón-i-Mas, G., Bianchi, I., Ferreri, M., Pera, M., Reguero, N., & Villamayor Tomás, S. (2026). Analysing the social practice of urban commons-oriented coproduction: The case of Sant Cugat del Vallès in Spain. Cities, 172, 106884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2026.106884
Pera, M. (2025). Social infrastructure in diverse and unequal cities: Examining Civic Management facilities in Barcelona. City, Culture and Society,43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2025.100666
Ferreri, M.; Bianchi, I.; Pera, M.; Calvet-Mir, L.; Villamayor, S.; Reguero, N.; Maestre-Andrés, S. (2025). Metropolitan geographies of urban commons: mapping and distinguishing socio-economic alternatives in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Urban Geography.
Pera, M. i Bussu, S. (2024). Towards democratisation of Public Administration: Public-Commons Partnerships in Barcelona. International Journal of the Commons.
Bianchi, I.; Pera, M.; Calvet-Mir, L.; Villamayor, S.; Ferreri, M.; Reguero, N.; Maestre-Andrés, S. (2024). Commons-led co-production: a strategy for the emancipatory politics of the commons. Territory, Politics and Governance.
Pera, M. i Bianchi, I. (2022). Governmentality, the local state and the commons: an analysis of Civic Management facilities in Barcelona. Social Inclusion, 10 (1).
Pera M. (2020) Potentialities and challenges of the relationship between social movements and commons in the city of Barcelona. Ecological Economics.
Pera M. (2019) La desobediencia civil en la campaña “La Obra Social de la PAH”. Arbor CSIC.
Kalogeraki S., Papadaki M.i Pera M. (2018) Exploring Social and Solidarity Economy in Greece, Spain and Switzerland. American Behavioural Scientist.
BOOK CHAPTERS
Pera, M., Bianchi, I. i Salazar, Y. (2023) The Embeddedness of Public-Common Institutions: The Citizen Assets Programme in Barcelona. In A. Bua and S. Bussu (Eds.). Reclaiming participatory governance: social movements and the reinvention of democratic innovations. London: Routledge.
Bianchi, I., Salazar, Y. i Pera, M. (2021) «No olvidemos nunca quiénes somos ni por qué estamos aquí». Sobre Barcelona en Comú, movimientos sociales y cambio radical. In C. Monge, J.A. Bergua, J. Minguijón, D. Pac. (Eds.) Tras la indignación el 15M: miradas desde el presente. Barcelona: Gedisa.
Anàlisi i millora de la governança col·laborativa de la política d’Ateneus cooperatius (Oct. 2025 – March 2027)
Funding source : Subvencions per a la recerca de l’administració pública. Escola d’Administració Pública de Catalunya. 19546,35 €
PI: Dra. Marina Pera, UOC. Research Team: Dra. Iolanda Bianchi, Dra. Laura Calvet, Dr. Santi Eizaguirre, Dr Ricard Espelt, Dr. Sergio Villamayor.
WELLCOM. COMmoning WELLbeing in Barcelona urban gardens: characterization and assessment. (Jan. 2026 – Dec. 2027)
PI: Dr Sergio Villamayor. Partners: Dra. Laura Calvet (Institut Metròpoli); Marina Pera (UOC) and Robert Martínez (Cooperativa Tarpuna).
Invited Speaker in the Public Servants Course on Citizen Assets Program. Organized by Direcció de Participació i Innovació Democràtica. Ajuntament de Barcelona
“El context i les característiques distintives del programa de Patrimoni Ciutadà en
comparació amb altres contextos europeus”, 2025
Invited Speaker in the Public Discussion “Reptes futurs del Patrimoni Ciutadà a Barcelona”. Ajuntament de Barcelona. “Patrimoni Ciutadà d’ús i gestió comunitària” seminars. 2022