Urban Commons

Manuel Fernández-García, Pablo de Olavide University

Definition

Urban commons are spaces collectively managed or infrastructures within cities governed and reproduced by communities for mutual benefit. These may include parks, community gardens, housing cooperatives, cultural spaces, squatted social centres or care infrastructures. Unlike public goods provided solely by the state or private commodities regulated by markets, urban commons are based on self-organisation, collective management, and participatory governance.

The concept expands traditional interpretations of the commons, moving beyond natural or rural settings to the complex and diverse contexts of urban life. Urban commons are shaped by negotiation and conflict between multiple actors, including residents, social movements, public institutions, and private entities. Urban commons serve as spaces of cooperation and solidarity, enabling urban communities to maintain social ties, adopt ecological practices, and develop alternative economies. They contest commodification, privatisation, and spatial exclusion processes, contributing to the ongoing struggle for the “right to the city.”

Background information and contemporary debate

Urban commons draw on broader theories of commons governance (Ostrom, 1990) and engage directly with debates on neoliberal urbanisation and socio-spatial inequalities (Blanco et al., 2018). Scholars increasingly frame urban commons as a “third logic” beyond market and state, focusing on self-management, participatory democracy, and non-extractive economies (Dellenbaugh et al., 2015).

Authors such as Huron (2017) and Borch and Kornberger (2015) argue that urban commons are defined not only by their spatial location but also by how urban diversity and interaction produce relational values and shape collective governance. In this sense, the city is not merely a container of commons but an active medium where social practices enhance or transform shared resources.

Despite their potential, urban commons face multiple tensions. Internally, they confront dilemmas around governance and inclusion: balancing openness with sustainability and ensuring equitable participation without reinforcing internal hierarchies. Externally, commons are exposed to risks of exclusion and co-optation by institutional or market-driven agendas and challenges to their long-term sustainability when relying on unstable resources or informal arrangements. These tensions are further deepened by what Martínez (2020) highlights as the danger of depoliticisation when urban commons are reduced to managerial tools, limiting their capacity to challenge capitalist urbanisation. Similarly, the discourse of commons may be mobilised to justify austerity and state withdrawal.

Additionally, there are tensions related to scale: while urban commons often thrive locally, replicating or coordinating them across broader urban systems may weaken their participatory nature or autonomy. Depending on these dynamics, urban commons may foster democratic innovation, or they can be absorbed into institutional governance mechanisms that reproduce existing power relations.

Urban commoning, therefore, is a process of cooperation, negotiation, and conflict. As Hardt and Negri (2009) suggest, urban commons are not only shared resources but also spaces where collective action reshapes urban life—especially in times of ecological and social crises, when they have become central to debates on urban justice, care infrastructures, and the right to the city.

References

Borch, C., & Kornberger, M. (Eds.). (2015). Urban commons: Rethinking the city. Routledge.

Blanco, I., Gomà, R., & Subirats, J. (2018). El nuevo municipalismo: derecho a la ciudad y comunes urbanos. Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, 20, 14-28.

Dellenbaugh, M., Kip, M., Bieniok, M., Müller, A., & Schwegmann, M. (Eds.). (2015). Urban commons: Moving beyond state and market. Birkhäuser.

Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2009). Commonwealth. Harvard University Press.

Huron, A. (2017). Theorising the urban commons: New thoughts, tensions and paths forward. Urban Studies, 54(4), 1062-1069.

Martínez, M. A. (2020). Urban commons from an anti-capitalist approach. Participation and Conflict, 13(3), 1390-1410.