Austerity policies foster an unprecedented age of crisis in Europe. They shrink economies of entire countries and "expel ever larger groups from the official economy" (Saskia Sassen). Paradoxically one can detect a new sense of community right there in the hot spots. In the survival economies of the expelled and in the social movements which emerge during the crisis, new approaches are being tested – not only to economy and democracy, but also to coexistence and solidarity. In that sense the age of crisis in Europe is also an age of social innovation. People come together, experiment with unconventional forms of colaboration and bundle their energies in seminal networks. Here they seek answers to problems caused by the crisis and in doing so they create new forms of the Big We.
Which forms of social networking enable this? What kind of connections do the actors cultivate? Which interests do they have in common? Which problems do they solve? Which potentials of networking remain dormant?