Urban Commoning - Returning City Spaces to The People

Giuseppe will be zooming in from Italy to share his experience of creating urban commons in abandoned, neglected, or underused areas and buildings reclaimed through collective management. He will present some examples of groups and cities, beginning with Naples, where commoners transformed the squatting of disused public premises into the basis for developing a new legal framework (the collective urban and civic use).

He will discuss both the rewards and the challenges of collective management beyond state and market control, as well as the ways in which these practices can gain legal recognition by engaging—and sometimes coming into conflict—with the public and private owners of those properties.

Together, we will explore how potential commons might be identified in our own surroundings: by strengthening existing collective initiatives or drawing attention to spaces and resources that local communities could reclaim and govern as commons.

Please bring a photograph of an urban space, green area, or building that has been abandoned or fallen into disuse—perhaps one whose history you already know or would like to investigate further—or a meaningful image of a space you collectively manage or use for social, solidarity-based, or cultural initiatives. We will begin commoning by mapping existing and potential urban commons, as well as natural resources governed through decolonial models that could inspire proposals for alternative forms of collective management and legal recognition.

There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion, so please come prepared with your questions!