ABSTRACT
This article investigates the relationship between social innovation, solidarity and experiences of socio-political activism at the urban level by researching local responses to the social crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in Milan and Naples. The study analyses the role of some urban self-organised groups against the social effects of isolation and the dynamics of de-politicisation and re-politicisation underlying the governance of the emergency. In addition, it highlights how the extent of the crisis can, on the one hand, push towards unprecedented coalitions potentially able to re-politicise local governance and, on the other, promote a convergence towards the logic of the ‘post-welfare city', which risks neutralising the innovative effect of the transformations. Copyright © FrancoAngeli.