AUGURAL TERRITORIES: On the Prophetic Organizing of the Mid-range

Abstract

In this article I introduce the concept of augural territories to theorize the urbanism that emerged during pandemic lockdowns. I draw on ethnographic research in Madrid to examine how community-based responses—including mutual aid networks, food pantries and neighbourhood associations—disrupted the spatial and temporal logics of territorial urban governance. Through logistical improvisations, the design and deployment of ad hoc transport and distribution corridors, and novel systems of attention, these grassroots operations reconfigured coordinates of nearness and distance, reclaiming the mid-range as an experimental space-time for collective transformation. By foregrounding the tactical and affective dimensions of mid-range movements and choreographies, this article contributes to ongoing debates on urban solidarity, collective infrastructures and the rethinking of territory beyond state-centric paradigms.