Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Build+the+City Ebook PDF
Build+the+City Ebook PDF
on commons
and culture
Krytyka Polityczna
European Cultural
Foundation
Table of Contents
11 Introduction
272 Julie Ward MEP, Reclaiming the Commons through Culture and Arts
their scheme the needs of the locals. people typically do. These people who
The square was turned into a granite have stayed behind or who are coming
desert. The activists reacted: they suc- back to their hometowns after study-
ceeded in calling an open debate with ing etc. are inviting artists and cultural
the mayor where ideas to reclaim activists from other places to share
the town square for people were pre- their knowledge and experience.
sented. One was to turn the square into
a place that welcomes culture, meaning
not an occasional concert by a celebrity Culture as inclusion
star from Warsaw, as is often the case
in provincial towns, but actions that The most thrilling phenomena in cul-
are not as much “aimed at” the public ture in recent years have taken place
as they are performed “in collaboration in the key sphere where culture is no
with” them. longer made for an audience but is
For some reason, at school we are instead more often perceived as doing
taught quite a lot about the history something with the audience as par-
of Poland. They treat us to more than ticipants. This is where the practice
a handful of world history, while little of cultural activists meets that of so-
space is left for tales about our own cial activists. It suddenly occurs that
neighbourhood. We end up knowing both groups seek areas and modes that
more about columns in ancient Greece welcome collaboration. They create
than about our local town hall. It is spaces where working together is more
simpler with large cities: Gdańsk’s is important than the success of an indi-
the history of Solidarity; Wrocław had vidual. The line between activities that
the Orange Alternative; Warsaw is all are clearly artistic and those that are
about its 1944 uprising. It is around clearly social is fading away.
those historical events and facts and What about instances of cultural
narratives about them that a com- actions, new models of operating cul-
munity is built. We have founded tural institutions, where the viewer is
our national community on the tales an active participant, not merely a con-
of heroic struggles. What about local sumer of a finished work? Have we
communities — how do we go about got any? Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, at the
building them? One possible answer Nowa Huta post-industrial district of
could be offered by people who have Cracow, invites people to paratheatrical
not left their smaller hometowns for meetings that deal with important so-
Poland’s larger cities, as many young cial issues. Praska Biblioteka Sąsiedzka
Culture WITH People, Not Just FOR People! � Agnieszka Wiśniewska 16
But even from a purely economic property: both physical goods, as public
point of view, the prevalence of this space, and virtual ones. Artists initiate
mindset is pernicious enough, as it social debates with their works, activ-
excludes a good portion of society ists resort to tools traditionally as-
from civilisation, denying them cul- sociated with artists. This is what big
tural skills that are crucial in raising European institutions are interested
a country’s Gross Domestic Product. in. They perceive the artists-social
Little by little the debate on cul- activists as partners. This is the kind
ture is approaching the parallel debate of culture we need: made in touch
on the concept of commons. Culture is with people, in collaboration with
like public transport: everyone should them, together; accessible to as many
be entitled to it, with no car owners people as possible.
privileged over the users of buses
and trams.
The ever more audible discussions Culture as a social glue
on the city and public space in Poland,
on commons in Europe, have set in Culture is not there to pay, to bring
motion a reconfiguration of the ways profit, not in the sense in which
in which we think. We have started making business has to bring profit.
to ask ourselves questions like: Culture counts in a different way.
“Who is the city really for: only for It is its role in creating a community,
those who can afford it or for all its in- in narrating the world, in establishing
habitants? Is it parks and public spaces relationships that matters.
for everybody that we need more of, In a world where individualism has
or is it parking lots? Are we going killed cooperation and the capacity for
to let the business of privatising entire being and working together, where co-
swathes of our cities, only to be turned operation sucks and self-reliance seems
into shopping malls, go unpunished? so cool, we are smoothly and consist-
Have streets and plazas with nothing ently dismantling all social ties. Why
but banks all over them anything to do am I supposed to do something with
with spaces for human beings?” my neighbours? I’d rather do it alone.
Go wherever you like in Europe, I am writing this at my cousin’s
and talk to activists and art workers, house. He has small children. In his
there’ll always be someone talking backyard, there is a trampoline, a large
about commons, goods understood one, fitted with a mesh enclosure,
as common resources, accessible for safety. I can see an identical one
Culture WITH People, Not Just FOR People! � Agnieszka Wiśniewska 18
dollars for legislating to reduce energy services; while there are campaigns
prices in 2001. against the selling off of municipal
ISDSs have received plenty of pub- housing in Prague and Art House
licity recently because the Transatlantic Cinemas in Budapest.
Trade and Investment Partnership Another struggle is constantly
(TTIP) — a major EU/US free trade waged over the control of public spaces
deal currently being negotiated — in towns and cities.
controversially includes ISDS clauses. The issue is almost spiritual.
Three hundred organisations are Public space — as some of the most
signed up to a pan-European campaign iconic photography of the 20th cen-
against TTIP. For these campaigners, tury demonstrates — has a funny
TTIP goes far beyond facilitating free way of showing societies for what
trade, but rather entrenches the role they really are. For the hopeful, public
of corporations, effectively giving them space doesn’t just symbolise the kind
a veto on future government policies. of society we want to live in, or pro-
The World Democracy Movement likes vide a useful canvas for news photo
to call TTIP “the end of democracy graphers. It plays a functional role in
as we know it”. making democracy. It follows that,
if public space is passed into private
hands, it will have a detrimental effect
Privatising public space on who can use the space and what can
happen in it and how well a democracy
Campaigners see TTIP as one of many can function.
frontlines in a war to defend public It is hard to establish who owns
resources from private enclosure and public spaces but the signs of private
exploitation. There are many others — control are present in most European
for example, Italy’s 2011 referendum cities. You don’t have to look hard
on water privatisation and Ireland’s to find gated communities, private se-
current struggle to keep water in public curity firms, surveillance systems and
hands; in the UK there’s a growing districts with special local laws that
campaign to renationalise railways, support the needs of shops and busi-
or at least not to reprivatise previously nesses. These measures disperse home-
failing privatised parts that had been less people and protesters, and they
nationalised; and in Germany and quietly regulate what kind of activity
France there are spirited campaigns can happen. None of this is that notice-
to reverse the privatisation of city able, but the cumulative effect can be
A Rough Guide to the Commons � Charlie Tims 22
very bland cities. The issue is set on the western liberal way 2 See http://www.
ekumenopolis.
also hard to document, as it is is on the rise across Europe
net/#/tr_TR
difficult to find out and col- and at its fringes. This may
late information about who not necessarily gate off public
owns what. In the UK at least, streets, or sell off public serv-
the task is far from simple. ices but it attacks the com-
Since 2012, The Guardian mons by narrowing free
newspaper has been trying channels for the circulation
to map privately owned space of ideas, sometimes by force.
that people might “reasonably Two-term Prime Minister
expect” to be in public own- and now President of Turkey
ership, with limited results. Recep Erdoğan has com-
Attempts by protesters in bined repression of dissent
London to “occupy” financial with a gradual incorporation
districts were hampered by of Islamic values into Turkish
the amount of land in private society (head scarves at uni-
control in the City of London versity, no drinking after
and Canary Wharf. The jour- lights out) with a particularly
nalist Anna Minton has aggressive form of urban
chronicled the rise of privately development. The documen-
owned public space. She says, tary Ekumenopolis2 makes
“The places we create reflect Istanbul look as though it is
the social and economic reali- in an almost permanent state
ties of the time and provide of preparation for an Olympic
a litmus test for the health Games. Residents and shop-
of society and democracy. keepers are priced out, bought
That fact that we are setting out or forced out of their
out to create undemocratic homes to make way for huge
places is simply a reflection infrastructure projects and
of the times we live in.” apartment complexes backed
by an unstoppable armada
of overlapping government,
Illiberalism corporate and media power.
It was, of course, a plan
An openly illiberal authoritar- to turn a city centre park into
ianism that claims the sun has a shopping mall (in the style
A Rough Guide to the Commons � Charlie Tims 23
of an Ottoman fortress) that entrenching his own position 3 Alexander Christie-
Miller, ‘Erdogan’s
provoked the Gezi Park pro- and that of his party Fidesz.
grand construc-
tests in 2013. The plans for In April 2011 he passed tion projects are
the removal of the park still a constitutional reform, tearing Istanbul
apart’, Newsweek,
appear to be on the drawing gagging the constitutional
31 July 2014. http://
board. According to Newsweek 3 court, effectively allowing www.newsweek.
there are currently $100 bil- the government to pass any com/2014/08/08/
erdogans-grand-
lion of construction projects legislation it wishes. He has
construction-
slated for the city, includ- also purged state broadcast- projects-are-
ing a road tunnel that will ers and tried to drive the RTL tearing-istanbul-
apart-262102.html
divert traffic into the his- out of the country. Non-
toric centre of the city, an governmental organisations
artificial Bosphorus canal (NGOs) in receipt of funding
and the world’s largest air- from international founda-
port — seven times the size tions have been blacklisted
of London’s Heathrow. and it is becoming harder for
The government claims them to operate. He has also
the projects are part of an proposed a tax on the internet
effort to turn Istanbul into and incredibly, is trying to in-
a ‘global city’. So ruthless is troduce mandatory drug test-
Erdogan’s regeneration pro- ing for all children, journalists
gramme that it has actually and politicians.
led to reports of paramili- This dismantling and ero-
tary organisations that fight sion of the country’s constitu-
the police and ‘defend’ areas tional checks and balances has
of the city from ‘gentrification’. led the director of European
Erdogan has admirers Alternatives, Lorenzo Marsili,
inside the European Union. to call for the European Union
Prime Minister of Hungary to place sanctions on Orban,
Viktor Orban recently de- which could include sus-
clared his interest in creating pension of voting rights in
an illiberal state in Turkey’s the European Council, with-
image. Since he was re- drawal of structural funds or
elected in 2010, he has eroded even suspension from the EU
independent institutions, itself. In an article published
the judiciary and the media, on Open Democracy last year,
A Rough Guide to the Commons � Charlie Tims 24
to reclaim collective decision making a political party, but may become one
from what they see as a corrupt and in the future. To be consistent with
broken political system. They aim Sierakowski’s ideas, it would need to be
to make a new kind of political party. markedly different from what the other
Spain has Podemos, Partido X, Procés parties offer.
Constituent and across the country In 2013 and 2014 there were mass
there are municipal parties that per- protests in Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria
formed particularly well in municipal and Bosnia — the latter opened its own
elections. Barcelona has Barcelona self-organised, democratic ‘plenums’
en Comu; Madrid has Ahora Madrid. across the country. It remains to be
They are all committed to ‘bottom- seen whether these countries will
up’ decision making and challenging found parties like those in Spain and
the old order. For many involved in Greece and try to construct an alterna-
these parties, new forms of participa- tive way of doing politics.
tion are an end in itself. Italy of course has the Five Star
Elsewhere in Europe attempts Movement started by the Italian come-
to reinvent the political party are dian Beppe Grillo in 2008. Five Star is
less evolved but the appetite is clear. committed to opposing and disrupting
Denmark has the Alternative founded the institutions of representative de-
by Denmark’s only independent MP mocracy, passing decisions, via opinion
Uffe Elbaek. Alternative describes itself polls, back to voters. The party finished
as an ‘international, environmental and third in last year’s parliamentary elec-
entrepreneurial party’ and took around tions. Its MEPs signed a contract that
5% of the vote during recent elections. could make them liable for a 250,000
Scotland’s movement for independence Euro fine if they are found to have
is headed up by the Scottish Nationalist broken the party’s code of conduct.
Party, which includes the ‘against The party is controversial and some
the lot of them’ vote. But on their critics suggest that passing votes back
fringes are groups like Common to party members is a vehicle for Grillo
Weal and Bella Caledonia, which to exercise more control over his party
may yet produce a new Podemos style rather than less. The Economist (smugly)
political party. In Poland 36-year-old calls it “simultaneously the most and
Slawomir Sierakowski leads Poland’s least democratic of Italy’s political
Krytyka Polityczna — or Political movements. And that theory, every
Critique movement (a magazine, cul- thing from the choice of election
tural centre and think tank). It is not candidates to the removal of elected
A Rough Guide to the Commons � Charlie Tims 28
in Romania in 2012 against of activists have come to- 6 Igor Štiks and
Srecko Horavat,
the privatisation of emergency gether to occupy theatres
‘The New Balkan
services, and again against and keep their work alive. Revolts: from
an ecologically disastrous At Teatro Valle, occupiers Protests to ple-
nums and beyond’,
gold mine project in Rosia rallied under the slogan,
opendemocracy.
Montana.” 6 “Like air and water, culture net, 12 March 2014.
In Poland, reclaiming is a commons” and “Teatro https://www.
opendemocra
public space and control Valle is a commons”. They set
cy.net/author/
of urban life is exercising about creating transparent igor-%C5%A0tiks
a new generation. Civil so- and democratic ways to run
ciety groups like The Right the theatre. These occupations
to the City, The Inhabitants are symbolic and real inter-
Forum and the Housing ventions in keeping the gift-
Movement, operating economy of culture alive
under nationwide Urban when its value isn’t recog-
Movements Congress, have nised by the state or possible
successfully campaigned within a purely market-based
for participatory b udgeting approach. In a similar but
for planning consultations less direct way, Liberate Tate
and against Krakow’s bid in London has been periodi-
to host the Olympic Games. cally occupying Tate Modern
In recent e lections the Urban to embarrass it into divesting
Movement, which ran for itself of oil sponsorship.
the first time in elections 2014 also saw protests
as a nationwide coalition sparked across Spain in
of city activists, won the response to an attempt by
mayoral seat in Gorzow the Barcelona government
Wielkopolski, western Poland, to shut down the Centro
and a number of city council Social Autogestionado
seats in cities like Warsaw, Can Vies, a social centre in
Poznan and Torun. Barcelona that had been oc-
The struggle for public cupied since 1997. In the wake
space takes place indoors of protests in Barcelona,
too. In recent years both Valencia and Majorca, the mu-
at Embros in Athens and nicipal authorities agreed
Teatro Valle in Rome, groups to suspend the demolition.
A Rough Guide to the Commons � Charlie Tims 30
ral on the side of XM24, a social centre Thursday Collective) have been cam-
that has had to fight several battles paigning and launching direct ac-
against demolition. tions on housing issues. Among many
demands they ask for a cessation in
increases to rent controls and pres-
Reclaiming housing surise politicians to honour commit-
ments to affordable housing. Their
Europe has a growing housing move- direct actions have included occupying
ment that seeks to defend tenants an apartment near former President
from landlords, campaigns to stop Sarkozy’s Paris home as well as staging
people being priced out of their parties in, and occupying show-flats
homes and argues for housing at an in luxury housing developments. These
affordable price. Housing is a com- tactics have been copied in London,
mons issue because people in precar which has a rapidly growing network
ious accommodation are restricted of small groups campaigning on hous-
from having a place in the commons. ing issues. In Scotland there is a new
Few in it would argue for all housing campaign to control rents. Most cities
everywhere to be placed in common across Europe are affected by evictions,
ownership, but the movement is com- foreclosures, unscrupulous landlords
mitted to stopping housing becoming and the lack of affordable or public
a tradeable commodity — ensuring housing — especially in the south
that it can be accessed by all people and in the most unequal cities.
without fear of being exploited. MIPIM — a massive international
We may not all want to live in an in- conference for the regeneration
tentional community, but that doesn’t industry held in Cannes every
mean that a house should be treated March — has become a target for
as an exclusively private commodity. all these groups.
A Rough Guide to the Commons � Charlie Tims 31
What passes for common sense is clearly about more than creating
somewhere for people to go shop-
So there you have it. Some threats ping. Maybe that’s because these kinds
to the commons and the rearguard of disputes aren’t just about claim-
to shore them up. As I mentioned be- ing a commons, they are also an at-
fore, Erdogan still hopes to see Gezi tempt by those with power and those
Park in Istanbul turned into a shop- without it, to determine what passes
ping centre. Making sure it gets built as common sense… �
Friendship is a Commons
(excerpt)
by Dougald Hine
by an ‘unwritten law’, a fabric their life work inside those 1 This article is from
Ivan Illich’s remarks
of interweaving customs by complex, illegible social
at the “Asahi
which different people within realities. Symposium
a community had different Illich also frames this Science and Man —
The computer-
relationships by which it was opposition in terms of indus-
managed Society”,
understood that they could trial society, the industrial Tokyo, Japan, 21
make use of particular areas product ion of commodities, March 1982. See
http://www.pre-
of land for hunting and fish- and something he calls
servenet.com/
ing, for grazing, or collecting ‘the vernacular’. He draws this theory/Illich/
wood or medicinal plants as an axis on a graph, but an Silence.html
to meet their own needs, along axis that is not a straight line:
2 James C. Scott,
with different obligations at one end it rises straight Seeing Like
to that land. “It was an unwrit- to a single point, but at the a State: How
Certain Schemes
ten law,” Illich says, “not only other it branches like a root
to Improve the
because people did not care system in a thousand direc- Human Condi
to write it down, but because tions. The industrial society tion Have Failed
(Yale University
what it protected was a reality is the end where it becomes
Press, 1999).
much too complex to fit into a straight line: development
paragraphs.” provides us with a model
The first thing I want by which the human needs
to say about that complex of everyone on earth are
reality is that its complexity identical, defined in the same
was not a problem for people. way and to be met by deploy-
It may have been a problem ing the same systems of flush
for landlords and for govern- toilets, regardless of the local
ments, because a way of liv- context. At the other end from
ing that is unwritten is, by this homogeneous industrial
definition, illegible. In Seeing society of resources and com-
Like a State,2 James C. Scott modities, you have the pro-
presents the story of the way liferation of the vernacular.
in which states and other top- The vernacular corresponds
down systems have a problem to what, in a Marxian voca
with complex, illegible social bulary, would be d istinguished
realities, which is not neces- as production for use value
sarily a problem for the people rather than for exchange
who live within and make value, but Illich’s intention
Friendship is a Commons � Dougald Hine 34
was to frame this more broad- Hardin was writing this in 3 Garret Hardin,
‘The Tragedy
ly. Going back to its Latin San Francisco in 1968, when
of the Commons’,
roots, the vernacular refers the front pages of the news- originally published
to the home-made, the home- papers were reporting the in the journal
Science, 1968.
brewed, the home-spun. collapse into a Hobbesian
See http://www.
Another important dis- nightmare of the first wave mcleveland.org/
tinction is introduced by Iain of hippie communes. So if you Class_reading/
Hardin_Tragedy_of_
Boal, who points out that want to understand sympa-
the_Commons.pdf
a commons is not the same thetically, rather than only
thing as a public space. critically — which is the first
A public space is a modern way I would invite you
phenomenon, conceived in to understand it — Hardin’s
terms of atomised economic Tragedy of the Commons
individuals dealing with myth, it is really the Tragedy
each other within this realm of the Communes. Boal’s argu-
that we call the public. He ment is that the communes
points out something fasci- failed because they were
nating in relation to Garret based on a utopian ideal that
Hardin’s ‘The Tragedy they were creating a public,
of the Commons’, 3 which is universal space that anyone
one of the most influential and could turn up to and access
problematic texts on the com- equally, and that this is quite
mons. Hardin argues that different to a commons, in any
commons inevitably collapse historical sense. A commons
because one person takes is a fabric of relations that is
more than their share and this built and rebuilt and renego
damages it, until over time tiated over generations.
the existence of the commons So, we have these two
as a whole is compromised. ways of speaking: commons
This is an argument that as a pool of resources to be
says: we have to privatise managed, and commons
things, we have to marketise as an alternative to treating
things, because otherwise the world as made up of re-
the free-riders will eventu- sources. Of these two ways
ally erode the commons. of speaking, people who talk
What Boal points out is that about the commons in terms
Friendship is a Commons � Dougald Hine 35
those who had recently suffered an than worth the deal. I am not want-
act of God, those who had to pay ing to make the argument one way or
rent for the roof under which they another, only to be clear that this was
slept and the heads of household the nature of the trade-off, and that
dependent on wage work. In other it was frequently made against the will
words, in the medieval world, to be of the erstwhile commoner.
dependent on having to sell your Yet the risk of such stories is that
labour for money as your primary they erect a golden age, to be mourned
means of staying alive or to have to or scorned, but irrelevant to the fallen
pay money in order to have somewhere condition in which we find ourselves.
to call home, these things were seen In place of this, I would rather we
as abject misery. To be a member of so- remind ourselves that, even within
ciety was to be part of a household and this heavily enclosed world, the
even if you were the lowliest member process of enclosure is never com-
of a very humble household, even plete: there are still things that we
with the feudal obligations you were do not treat as resources. The clearest
under, you had a security unknown case of this, perhaps, is that we do not
to the wage worker. think it acceptable to treat our friends
No one is saying that this was as resources. In English, we have an
a beautiful utopia. The point is to rec- everyday expression for someone who
ognise that the modern world in which does that: if you find yourself treated
we find ourselves came about not least as a resource by someone you thought
through the normalisation of people to be a friend, you say, “I’ve been used”.
not having access to the means of sub- And everyone knows what you mean,
sistence, because land and commoning without any need to elaborate a theory
rights had been taken away from them, to make sense of it.
forcing them into a position where all For this reason, then, friendship
of their needs had to be met through may well be a good starting point from
selling their labour to factory owners which to explore what it means to be
and their equivalents. Many will argue part of a commons that is not merely
that, on a cost-benefit analysis, indus- a resource management exercise, but
trialisation and modernity have given an alternative to treating the world
us so much that it ends up being more as made up of resources. �
Reclaimed spaces workshop, 2013
coordinated by: studioBASAR;
drawing by: Cristi Stoian.
El Buen Vivir and the Commons:
A Conversation
between Gustavo Soto Santiesteban and Silke Helfrich
Silke Gustavo, Buen Vivir (or Vivir Bien) is an ex- Silke Helfrich
is a writer, activist
Helfrich pression that has made its way into the con-
and thinker. She co-
stitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia, and has be- founded the Com-
come an expression that would summarise an mons Strategies
Group with David
alternative project for civilisation. Portuguese
Bollier and Michel
sociologist Boaventura da Souza even took Bauwens.
up the slogan, ‘China or Sumaj Kuasay,’1
Gustavo Soto
which is not self-explanatory. Can you
Santiesteban
help explain it? is a writer, semioti-
cian and consultant
on indigenous
Gustavo Suma Qamaña, Sumaj Kuasay and Sumak Kwasay
rights at various
Soto are Aymara and Quechua expressions that universities in
translate into Spanish as Buen Vivir/Vivir Bien. Bolivia.
[ … ]
Silke Buen Vivir seems to me both strange and fa-
Helfrich miliar. Foreign because of the innumerable
references born of a different culture and his-
tory. And familiar because it makes me think
of commoning. Massimo De Angelis writes:
“To turn a noun — commons — into a verb
[commoning…] simply grounds it in what
is, after all, life flow: there are no commons
without incessant activities of commoning,
of (re)producing in common. But it is through
(re)production in common that communities
of producers decide for themselves the norms,
values, and measures of things.” 7
Louis Wolcher also reminds us that speak-
ing of the commons is not the same as speak-
ing of conflicts over property rights. Rather,
it is about “people expressing a form of life
to support their autonomy and subsistence
needs”. In brief, “taking one’s life into one’s
own hands, and not waiting for crumbs to drop
from the King’s table”. Or from the table
of the nation-state. At the same time, he fears
that in the western world we are in an unlucky
El Buen Vivir and the Commons: A Conversation � Gustavo Soto Santiesteban and Silke Helfrich 42
institutions and reclaim our individualism and competi- 1 See Sandro Mezza-
dra, “La cosiddetta
common sense about the issue tion as the basis of the cur-
accumulazione
of resource distribution, per- rent legal order, the new order originaria”, in
verted too long by the liberal must correct this imbalance AA.VV., Lessico
marxiano, Mani
agenda of modernity. The com- by focusing on the collective
festolibri, Roma
mons project must be as much and the commons as the cen- (2008), pp. 23 – 52.
about a new framework tre, creating an institutional
2 See Ugo Mattei
for participatory govern- setting reflecting long-term
and Laura Nader,
ment as alternative property sustainability and full inclu- Plunder. When
arrangements. sion of all the global commo The Rule of Law
is Illegal (Wiley-
ners, including the poorest
Blackwell, 2008).
[ … ] and most vulnerable (human
The commons are radically and non humans). To do so
incompatible with the idea we need first an epistemic
of individual autonomy as de- (and political) emancipation
veloped in the rights-based from the predatory appetites
capitalistic tradition. In this of both the State and private
respect, commons are an property, the two fundamental
ecological-qualitative category components of the dominant
based on inclusion and imperialistic Western wis-
access, whereas property and dom. Commons lie beyond
State sovereignty are rather the reductionist opposition
economical-quantitative cat- of ‘subject-object’, which pro-
egories based on exclusion duces the commodification
(produced scarcity) and violent of both. Commons, unlike pri-
concentration of power into vate goods and public goods,
a few hands. are not commodities and
All this, evidently requires cannot be reduced to the lan-
the jurist’s attention to the dif- guage of ownership. They
ficult and urgent task of con- express a qualitative relation.
structing the new foundation It would be reductive to say
of a legal order capable of tran- that we have a common good:
scending the property-state we should rather see to what
dualisms inherent in the cur- extent we are the commons,
rent order. Given the domi- in as much as we are part
nance of private property, of an environment, an urban
The State, the Market and Some Preliminary Questions about the Commons (excerpts) � Ugo Mattei 46
that are specifically generated discuss ‘solutions’ to this con- 1 Yann Moulier
Boutang, Le capi
by peer production. However, tradiction, but it is important
talisme cognitif, la
corporations that benefit to articulate it clearly. nouvelle grande
from commons of code not The interrelation between transformation
(Editions Amster-
only benefit from the sur- community, association and
dams, 2007).
plus value produced by their market entities is therefore
paid workers, but also from inherently contradictory and 2 McKenzie Wark,
Hacker Manifesto
the immense free labour rife with tension. This can be
(Harvard Univer-
value inherent in the com- interpreted as the class strug- sity Press, 2004).
mon production. What this gle in the era of knowledge Wark’s class theory
based on the con-
means is that, although com- production. 2 Communities
flict between
mons of code are successful will be driven to maintain hackers and vecto-
in creating use value, the peer the integrity of their com- ralist is not entirely
adequate to under-
producing communities are mons; corporate entities are
stand peer produc-
not able to monetise and driven by the need to cap- tion class dynamics,
capture the surplus value ture ‘scarce’ and therefore but is nevertheless
a useful start.
themselves. In this sense, peer monetisable market value
production serves the con- and are driven to partial en-
tinued existence of the exist- closures of the commons.
ing political economy, and Corporations can i nfluence
ensures a pool of relatively the commons through
cheap if not free labour, since the power they exert over
only a fraction of contribu- their waged workers, and
tions is effectively monetised through the subsidies pro-
and can serve for the social vided to the infrastructure
reproduction of the workers and for-benefit associations.
involved. This means that Every commons is therefore
peer production creates both marked by a social tension
precarity on the workers’ side, over the polarity of power,
but also a crisis of accumula- with at least three players, i.e.
tion of capital, since unpaid the community, the corporate
free labour is driven from entities and the for-benefit
the consumption cycle, thus institution (one could say
adding to the current effec- the latter plays a role similar
tive demand crisis. In the con- to the ‘state’ in peer produc-
text of this article, I will not tion projects).
Understanding Peer to Peer as a Relational Dynamics (excerpt) � Michel Bauwens 50
for their social reproduc- entities to the creation not →↘ Chisinau Civic
Center — open
tion through the monetisa- only of sustainable livelihoods
air cinema. Flat
tion of their activities. From for the commoners (and thus Space exten-
the point of view of netar- avoiding a seepage of surplus sion, 2012. With
the participation
chical capital, the contradic- value outside the commons
of studioBASAR,
tion is between their desire and its reproduction), but also Urban Reactor,
to create the conditions for a strengthening of the auto 3*2*1*0, Oberliht
Association.
sharing and collaboration, and nomy of the commons outside
their need and desire to ex- of a capitalist context. In this
tract surplus value. I believe context, the new type of ‘for-
there is a potential solution, benefit’ market entities would
for the knowledge workers form a counter-economy out-
as peer producers, which is side the need for profit max-
the creation of new coopera- imisation and capital accu-
tive market entities, in which mulation. Counter-economic
the peer producers them- coalitions that would practise
selves would be the owners, shared design and open book
and with a mission-oriented management could obtain
structure and governance benefits in mutual coordina-
that subsumes the activities tion outside of the classic
of these new type of market cash nexus. �
The Boom of Commons-based
Peer Production (excerpts)
by Christian Siefkes
that cities are not only words, we explore how Dimitris Parsanoglou
spaces of concentrated the ‘roughness of street’, coordinates, as Senior researcher
diversity reproducing the kind of micropolitics of the Centre for Gender Studies
of the Panteion University of Social
new and old types of of encroachment of space and Political Sciences, the FP7
inequalities.1 They are is turned into ‘commons’. project “MIG@NET: Transnational
also spaces of precarity- Subaltern and precari- Digital Networks, Migration and
Gender”, and he teaches Sociology
and-resistance that ous migrants together at the Department of Philosophy
constantly redefine the with other subaltern and Social Studies of the Univer-
notion of ‘rights’ through sity of Crete.
and precarious subjects
the constant struggles are protagonists in these Vassilis Tsianos
about the character, processes. is lecturer at the Department
the meaning and the use of Sociology at the University
of Hamburg and Senior Researcher
of spaces; beautifully [ … ] with the European project ‘Mig@Net,
painted by Georgiou We are dealing with Transnational Digital Spaces, Migra-
tion and Gender’.
“the city is a canvas” heterogeneous trans-
for city dwellers who formations and events,
constantly “mark their different types of explo-
identities” in their sions, from the Occupy
“struggles to find a place Movement events
in the city and a place in to the rebellions and
the world”. 2 We explore riots in New York, Paris,
the potentialities for London and Athens,
Mobile Commons… � Nicos Trimikliniotis, Dimitris Parsanoglou, Vassilis Tsianos 61
right through to the re- of rage” are spread- 1 See Manuel Castells, Luttes ur-
baines (Paris: Maspero, 1973); Alain
volts in the Arab world. ing, causing panic
Touraine, La Voix et le regard (Paris:
The Occupy Movement is to the authorities. Éditions du Seuil, 1978); Saskia Sas-
as much a global as a lo- The responses by sen, Guests and Aliens (New York:
The New Press, 2000); Henri Lefe-
cal movement respond- the forces of law and
bvre, The Urban Revolution (Min-
ing to the particularities order are typical: they neapolis: University of Minnesota
within each society; produce “appropriate Press, 2003); David Harvey, Rebel
Cities: From the Right to the City
the Occupy the Buffer plans” to combat
to the Urban Revolution (Brooklyn,
Zone in Nicosia (OBZ), this “new enemy” in NY: Verso, 2012); Judith Butler,
one of the last divided post-cold war world. Parting Ways: Jewishness and
the Critique of Zionism (Columbia:
cities of the previous The titles of the two
Columbia University Press, 2012).
order of things, speaks documents produced
2 Myria Georgiou, Media and
then to a broader au- by the London security the City: Cosmopolitanism
dience. Hence, what authorities, which em- and Difference (Cambridge:
happens in Istanbul, phasized the dangers Polity Press, 2013), p. 66.
becoming more sig- attacks by ‘non-state 4 Clive Bloom, Riot City: Protest
different cities, from Together with the mas- Sociology from Below’, paper is
based on an address to the Con-
London, Madrid, Athens sive attack on labour ference of the Council of National
or Istanbul as the “days rights and freedoms, Associations of the International
Mobile Commons… � Nicos Trimikliniotis, Dimitris Parsanoglou, Vassilis Tsianos 62
towards Elephant & Castle, Albinus, Governor of Britain, 1 You can explore
all of these pho-
Tower Bridge, Spitalfields, allied with Septimius Severus,
tographs at Flickr:
Shoreditch and returns commander of the troops in (https://www.flickr.
to Kings Cross once more Illyricum and Pannonia, but com/photos/stml/
sets/721576490
by City Road. soon turned against him,
48658422/), and
For reasons that will be- proclaiming himself Emperor via this interactive
come clear, I did not complete with the support of the legions map (http://short-
termmemoryloss.
this walk within the day. in Britain and Hispania.
com/nor/map).
I did however document When Albinus narrowly
the portion that I under- escaped assassination by one
took — roughly, half of the to- of Severus’ messengers in 196
tal — in the form of 427 pho- he put himself at the head
tos of surveillance cameras. of a 150,000 strong army
I photographed every camera and ordered the construc-
I saw, which could see me tion of fortifications around
(consider this a gross underes- the city. Albinus did not last
timation of the total).1 long: sailing to Gaul, he met
The Congestion Charge Severus’ army at Lugdunum
Zone covers the area enclosed (modern Lyon). In short order
by the Third London Wall. This he was defeated and beheaded,
Wall continues the transfor- his headless body tossed into
mation, begun by the Second, the Rhine, and the head sent
from a physical into an elec- to Rome as a warning to other
tromagnetic entity. It is made usurpers.
of bits, electrons and radio The Romans and their
waves, becoming less and less successors rebuilt and refor-
visible even as it becomes tified the Wall for the next
more pervasive. 1,000 years. Enclosing some
The First London Wall was 330 acres, the Wall forced
built in the late 2nd century all visitors to pass through
by the Romans, in response seven narrow gates that con-
to a political crisis. Following nected the city to the Roman
the murder of Pertinax in road system. Following
193 — the Year of the Five the Blitz, the remaining
Emperors — the Empire de- fragments of the Wall were
scended into civil war. Clodius among the highest structures
All Cameras are Police Cameras � James Bridle 65
still standing in the City, and can both obvious and inevitable that
still be found extant at Barbican a physically static wall would not be
and Tower Hill. sufficient. Instead, the wall must ex-
The Second Wall was erected pand, and diffuse.
some 1,800 years later on the orders Much like its predecessor,
of the City of London Police, following the Second Wall still stands, but it
the bombing of the Baltic Exchange has been entirely subsumed within
in 1992 and Bishopsgate in 1993. the territory of the Third. Its sentry
Rather than the Kentish ragstone that boxes are frequently left vacant, its
made up the First Wall, the Second gates left open. The only permanently
Wall was built of sentry boxes and operating components, its video cam-
roadblocks, with access streets nar- eras, form an inner processing ring
rowed to chicanes to slow vehicles reinforcing those of its successor.
at designated choke points. (As with The Third London Wall — that
the redesign of Oxford Street follow- which surrounds the Congestion
ing the Gordon Riots of 1780, and in Charge Zone — was completed
contrast to Haussmann’s strategy in in February 2003, and extended
Paris, London pioneered the use of con- the traditional zone of the Wall from
gestion as a tool of state control, which, the financial district of the Square
if nothing else, is true to the sclerotic Mile to the West End, the commercial
nature of the city itself.) and entertainment district. In this
The Second Wall, commonly manner it follows, predictably and
known as the ‘ring of steel’, extended admittedly somewhat belatedly,
only slightly beyond the boundaries the expansion of capitalism itself into
of the first, as the new loci of value, the realm of everyday life.
the towers of global finance, were The core technology of the Third
broadly contiguous with older forms Wall, again pioneered but only par-
of wealth and power. In 2003, fol- tially implemented by the Second,
lowing the 11 September attacks is Automated Number Plate
on New York City, but preceding Recognition, or ANPR. Installations
the 7 July 2005 bombings on London of over 800 ANPR cameras record
itself, the police described the likeli- the unique ID of every vehicle that en-
hood of a terrorist attack on the city ters the Zone in vast databases for later
as “inevitable” and widened the ring analysis. When the Wall was initially
slightly. But ever since the 1996 constructed, the public were informed
bombing of Docklands it had been that this data would only be held,
All Cameras are Police Cameras � James Bridle 66
down Park Lane, I was accosted by equipment that may be used to commit
a man in a suit who demanded to know a burglary.
what I was doing. He took out his Of course, the threats of the
mobile phone, pointed it at my face, policemen were utterly baseless.
told me he was going to “circulate my Of course the use of cameras in public,
description”. as dictated in numerous statements
Shortly afterwards, a colleague by the Metropolitan Police them-
of his physically restrained me and selves, is not, and should not be con-
called the police. Both men worked strued as, a crime. But, as anyone who
at the Grosvenor House Hotel, whose has ever encountered the police in an
cameras were among those that had analogous situation knows, the law
been trained on me as I walked, and comes a distant second to the exercise
so are included in my documentation. of power itself.
When they arrived, the police of- The Fourth London Wall will
ficers explained that carrying a camera be made of transponders carried in
in the vicinity of Central London was the vehicles themselves. Various
grounds for suspicion. I might be a ter- forms of these are already on trial in
rorist who posed a threat to the good the United States, where the E-ZPass
citizens of London — my own city. system has migrated from toll bridges
Equally I might be casing the joint for and tunnels and out into the wider
some future crime, studying its defenc- city, where it can track the passage
es in order to circumvent them. of vehicles with radio waves. The in-
Carrying a camera thus justified troduction of diagnostic data ports
the suspicion of the security guards in cars has lead to the uptake of con-
who stopped me and performed a citi- sumer monitors that also transmit
zen’s arrest, detaining me until the ar- location data, as do many common GPS
rival of the police. This suspicion in systems. These systems will soon be
turn justified the actions of the police, formalised in the eCall platform, which
who threatened me with arrest if I did will be mandatory in all new vehicles
not identify myself and explain my by the end of 2015.
actions. For carrying a camera, I was It is also being seen in the devel-
told, I could be taken to the station opment and deployment of roving
and charged with “Going Equipped”, ANPR, fitted to every police vehicle and
a provision of the 1968 Theft Act that soon onto the bodies of council op-
determines the imprisonment for eratives themselves. Finally, the Wall
up to three years of anyone carrying loses all physical definition, becoming
All Cameras are Police Cameras � James Bridle 68
a truly ubiquitous zone, rather than unique, storeable profiles from them.
a fixed barrier. While it’s always amusing to think
As the intentionality of the camera’s of how such systems could be evaded
image disappears into automation, and through the use of masks or disrup-
the Wall becomes ethereal and obscure, tive patterns, it should be noted that
so the image itself dissolves, replaced Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice
by data. Cameras no longer see in pic- and Public Order Act 1994, deployed
tures, but record and process informa- across Central London on the night
tion: the string of numbers on a car li- of 5 November 2014, gives the police
cence plate, the dimensions of a human the right to define a zone in which any-
face, the IMEI of a mobile phone, the in- one refusing to reveal their face may be
frared reflectivity of plants, the depth imprisoned for up to a month.
and tonality of a voice. Each Wall, and the Abstract Wall
Around the time of the Fifth Wall, in its totality, is a model-mirror of so-
the system (which once contained ac- cial processes. As the Third Wall is
tual human sensors, men with spears the natural product of the expansion
atop its ramparts), will regain the abil- of financial systems and logics from
ity to see individuals. At first, this will the banking sector into every other,
be done through the medium of mobile and the Fourth Wall addresses the
phone tracking, which is also already mechanisation of the supply chain and
present within the Zone. The swift the domination of logistics systems,
shut-down by the City of London so the Fifth goes hand in hand with
of the Renew ‘spy bins’, which tracked the rapidly expanding privatisation
the movements of passers-by, belies of public space, the latest weapon being
the widespread existing implementa- deployed against Londoners’ lingering
tion of the system in shops and retail desire for the freedoms of city life.
zones across the city, continually I finished my walk at Vauxhall,
monitoring the movements of shoppers as my detention on Park Lane had cost
and passers-by. the better part of the early afternoon.
At the same time, camera sys- I hope to complete the walk at a later
tems deployed at the airports in date. The decision to stop was made,
the outer reaches of the zone have appropriately enough, in the shadow
already developed the ability to read of Vauxhall Cross, the headquarters
human faces, irises, expressions and of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.
gaits in exactly the same manner The blazing red spot on the map, de-
as their ANPR predecessors, and build noting a concentration of cameras, is
All Cameras are Police Cameras � James Bridle 69
What’s underlying the current politi- of the last four years. This was drawn
cal situation in Spain? What’s behind by the artist María Castelló and de-
the new political actors from Spanish veloped by ZEMOS98 in the context
civil society? What have we experi- of the project Radical Democracy:
enced since 15M (Spanish Occupy)? Reclaiming the Commons. A project
This is an illustrated genealogy that coordinated by Doc Next Network
tries to explain the process of some where the Spanish Medialab was
of the social movements that drew coordinated by Sofía Coca and
on the previous experience of the new formed also by Lucas Tello, Nuria
partiets and citizens’ platforms that Campabadal, Guillermo Zapata and
are changing the public institutions Mario Munera. More media and
in Spain. This is just one p
ossible other materials are available on
itinerary (there are many more) www.municipalrecipes.cc �
Class Discourse in the Metropolis
by Carlos Delclós
→ London housing
and gentrification
campaigns.
See https://www.
google.com/
maps/d/u/0/
viewer?mid=
zFuqvrQCgNdM.
kVkO1xRLk01I
Censorship
↙↓ Backward Run
Here are two frames from an animated film Backward Run by by Ayce Kartal,
2013, courtesy
Turkish animator Ayce Kartal. The animation shows how control of DNN Media
of television and newspapers kept the 2013 Gezi Park protests Collection (CC BY-
NC-ND 3.0).
from public view.
Repression
↖↑ I Believe by
ZEMOS98, 2013,
courtesy of DNN
Media Collection
(CC BY-SA 3.0).
Venal politics
↑ Hungarian
Two-Tailed Dog
Party by Áron
Halász, 2013,
courtesy of DNN
Media Collection
(CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0).
Big business
↑ A Little Piece
of Land by
Marjolein Busstra,
2014, courtesy
Excluded groups of DNN Media
Collection (CC BY-
NC-ND 3.0).
If measured in video minutes alone, the greatest problem with
democracy in Europe, according to the Radical Democracy Video
Challenge, was the low status of individuals and groups suffer-
ing discrimination, exploitation and criminalisation. This list
included homeless people criminalised for living on the streets
in Hungary, asylum seekers, sex workers, disabled people, gay
people, transsexuals and women. This frame is taken from A little
piece of land made by Marjolein Busstra. It shows ‘urban nomads’
struggling for the right to live on a strip of wasteland on the edge
of Amsterdam.
Watching Radical Democracy � Charlie Tims 91
↑ I Can Be
There Too? by
Emese Jerne, 2014,
courtesy of DNN
Media Collection
(CC BY 3.0).
Alternatives
But systemic proposals like this were few and far between.
Where films drew attention to alternatives and hope, ‘radical
democracy’ was interpreted to mean acting locally to defend
housing from developers, protecting and supporting the growth
of public spaces and challenging institutions to be more publicly
accountable. You could say that, for these video makers, radi-
cal democracy was about applying the principle of democracy
to everyday life.
Watching Radical Democracy � Charlie Tims 93
← A Winter’s
Tale of Spring by
Ermni Kadic, 2014,
courtesy of DNN
Media Collection
(CC BY 3.0).
←Grand Mansion
of el Pumarejo by
Emeko Fil Gullarie,
2014, courtesy
of DNN Media Col-
lection (CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0).
Watching Radical Democracy � Charlie Tims 95
← Fight Visual
Pollution by Marija
Jacimovic, 2014,
courtesy of DNN
Media Collection
(CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0).
Reclaiming the commons
← Londonville by
DNN UK Media
Lab, 2015, courtesy
of DNN Media Col-
lection (CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0).
These films show that it’s possible for governments to fulfil ↑ Londonville by
DNN London Media
their legal responsibility to provide people with shelter, but
Lab, 2015, courtesy
what results can often be far from what might be called a ‘home’. of DNN Media Col-
For these video makers, thinking of housing as part of the com- lection (CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0).
mons may not necessarily mean ‘sharing your home with other
people’ — but it does mean that homes in cities are not possible
if housing is left to be part of the market like any other commo
dity. A common good, perhaps.
Watching Radical Democracy � Charlie Tims 98
← Autonomy
on Two wheels by
Attila Endrődi-
Mike, 2014,
courtesy of DNN
Media Collection
(CC BY-SA 3.0).
Public spaces
← Valyo —
Meet the River by
the Valyo Group,
2014, courtesy
of DNN Media Col-
lection © Valyo
Group.
Watching Radical Democracy � Charlie Tims 99
↓ Open Jazdow by
DNN Polish Media
Lab 2015, courtesy
of DNN Media Col-
lection (CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0).
Watching Radical Democracy � Charlie Tims 100
← Open Jazdow by
DNN Polish Media
Lab 2015, courtesy
of DNN Media Col-
lection (CC BY-NC-
SA 3.0).
Political parties
← Municipal
Recipes by
DNN Spanish
Media Lab 2015,
courtesy of DNN
Media C
ollection
(CC BY-SA 3.0).
get to spend there. Where Oldenburg the new social spaces that have accom-
views this as an eternal feature of panied it, people have had powerful
human societies, we might recognise experiences of what it means to come
the third place as a kind of native reser- together, work and build communities
vation: an enclave in which our indig- under conditions other than those that
enous sociability exists under license, dominate the real-world communities
while the rest of the social landscape and workplaces we have inherited from
is subject to the demand for efficiency. industrial society.
Against this, it is striking that Whatever else, these ambiguities
the online spaces that inspire greatest imply the political nature of such
attachment seem to be those that have spaces: the new forms of collabora-
something in common with the camp- tion easily turn into new forms
fire, the bazaar, or indeed the commons, of exploitation — the line between
and that such pre-industrial social crowdsourcing and unpaid labour is
forms have been a recurring refer- poorly marked — and hence our con-
ence point within internet culture. versations in Stockholm also touch
These spaces exceed the boundaries on the need for new forms of collective
of the third place, both in the range organisation.
of activity taking place within them The historical commons might sug-
and the amount of time that many gest another element within the resist-
devote to them. Even the structure ance to exploitation and the formation
of the internet itself resembles not so of a new politics. As Ivan Illich and
much the ‘information superhighway’ Anthony McCann have argued, his-
envisaged by politicians in the 1990s torically, the commons was not simply
as the proliferating web of trade a pool of resources to be managed,
routes that centred on the Silk Road. but an alternative to seeing the world
(The historical analogy is also implicit as made of resources. Specifically,
in the argument made by the informa- the commons was not something to
tion activist Smári McCarthy, that be exploited for the production of com-
the radical possibilities of these tech- modities, but something that people
nologies are under threat from ‘the in- could draw on within customary limits
dustrialisation of the internet’.) to provide for their own subsistence.
There are deep ambiguities here: During the generations of enclo-
technologically, the internet represents sure and industrialisation, the meaning
an intensification of many of the dy- of the term ‘subsistence’ was turned
namics of the industrial era; yet in upside down: a word which, in its
Commoning in the City � Dougald Hine 106
→ Chisinau Civic
Center — open air
cinema, 2012.
→ Chisinau Civic
Center — people’s
park, 2014.
Dance perfor-
mance by contact
improvisation group
in Zaikin Park.
Transition Towns, or the Desire for an Urban Alternative � Adrien Krauz 116
Transition Towns, or the Desire for an Urban Alternative � Adrien Krauz 117
A Brief History of P2P Urbanism
(excerpts)
by Nikos A. Salingaros and Federico Mena-Quintero
of all the people who par- that document and interpret 7 Nikos Salingaros,
“Life and the geom-
ticipate in the P2P-Urbanism the positive or negative ef-
etry of the environ-
community. fects the built environment ment”, Athens Dia
Construction firms that has on human psychology logues EJournal,
Harvard Univer-
embrace P2P-Urbanism may and well-being.7 People’s in-
sity’s Center for
end up being well-liked in stinctive preferences can be Hellenic Studies
the communities where they driven either by Biophilia (November 2010)
http://zeta.math.
work, for they will actually (a preference for organic
utsa.edu/~yxk833/
be in constant communica- environments) or fashion lifeandthege-
tion with the users of their (with sometimes disastrous ometry.pdf
of life; spaces in which many different they don’t actually live in close contact
types of people are brought together. with any Muslims.
Wouldn’t this result in people inte- Urban planning needs to be com-
grating? Not necessarily. But it would pletely rethought. We need to be fo-
at least create the kind of physical cusing on precisely these peripheral
environment in which people zones between different urban areas.
could integrate. For example, we should be building
I believe this is really important. schools on the edges of communities
Most of the experiences we have in rather than in the middle of them.
cities are silent ones. l’m not talking And, as in Copenhagen, we should
about reading out the UN Universal take people who suffer from that
Declaration on Human Rights every terrible disease into the city, instead
time we go to buy a piece of cake or of keeping them in isolation. We need
a bottle of milk. But people generally to start thinking of these peripheral
remain silent around people who are zones between urban areas as our
different to them, even though they natural environment. They may not
are sharing the same physical space. be the most attractive areas, but they
Their experiences of coexistence tend are important. I believe this is where
to be of a physical nature, rather than urban planning should start.
a verbal one. I also believe urban plan- I would like to quote Kant once
ners have got it wrong, because they again, as he is often held up to support
should be creating a physical experi- arguments in favour of cosmopolitan
ence in which seeing the way some- behaviour. It is worth remembering
body moves, for example, or noticing that the French word cosmopolite was
whether they wear a burka or how originally used to describe diplomats.
they stand next to somebody else can They were meant to be able to move
actually lead to learning how to live to- easily from place to place, culture
gether, no matter how disturbing that to culture, without becoming inte-
might seem. Ironically, the supporters grated or a part of them. In the 19th
of the Pegida movement live in an area century this idea of mental mobility
of Germany with one of the lowest stood in stark contrast to the idea
percentages of foreigners. It doesn’t of physical mobility. In those days,
really surprise me that these people, a cosmopolitan person was somebody
who have very little actual contact who could move around a city like one
with Muslims, think that all Muslims of Baudelaire’s flâneurs and observe
are terrorists. The reason for this is that the various comings and goings from
Stimulating Dissonances � Richard Sennett 129
Although 2011 was a year to get involved in social gov- Tessy Britton
in which the headlines were is co-founder
ernance roles, representing
of the Civic
stolen by revolt, riot and stakeholders and groups in Systems Lab,
demonstration, highlighting a variety of ways. We take and Director
of Zero Zero,
large-scale, sometimes violent, on formal roles and respon-
a collaborative
rejections of the status quo, sibilities, through school studio of architects,
it was also a year in which governance, standing for local strategic designers,
programmers,
creative and collaborative local councils, acting on commit-
social scientists,
projects pushed through in tees and community forums, economists and
sufficient numbers globally and of course voting in elec- urban designers
practising design
for patterns and longer-term tions. As a way of ensuring
beyond its tradi
implications to become clearer fair and equitable account- tional borders
than ever before. ability on decision-making, (www.project00.cc).
Here’s a simple example of these new needs of people, the ideas and methods
creative and collaborative behaviours: of making these social projects suc-
a person has an idea of how their street cessful, is slowly becoming more wide-
or community might look or feel differ- spread. Professionals are deploying
ent. Maybe they think a few benches in their expertise in their own communi-
their street would create new oppor- ties voluntarily. There is a much deeper
tunities for neighbours to get to know and wider appreciation of the idea
one another better through informal of waste, the current waste of people’s
contact. Historically, they could take talents, ideas and energies, as well
their idea to the local authority or their as the physical resources lying empty.
ward councillor — to be supported Collectively, these different strands
or not. But if that person knocked of thinking represent opportunities
on a few neighbours’ doors, described to act in clever and successful ways
their idea and managed to collect some that have the potential to transform
donations and together, they could how we live day-to-day.
buy a bench or two, or even go so Five years ago, if someone told you
far as to design and make their own that their street had joined together
benches, perhaps with materials from to rent a space to serve as a creative
their own gardens, then this would common community space, you
be significantly different to asking would have been very surprised.
the authorities to respond to your But last month in Rotterdam I spent
suggestion. They wouldn’t be acting the morning in one of these spaces,
out of charity, or representing anyone, called the Living Room. This beautiful
or campaigning. They had a creative, space is paid for by membership from
socially informed idea and, working the community, each paying 3 Euros
collaboratively with neighbours, they per month, and managed by volunteers.
made it happen. In Israel, the practice of communities
This same pattern is appearing renting a shared house for community
all over the place, through commu- activities is becoming commonplace
nity fruit collections, skill sharing, in some areas.
resource sharing and tons of projects People across the globe are redis-
relating to food — growing, cooking, covering the pleasures and benefits
making and learning — and what we of common activity: neither as passive
are seeing is culturally very different consumers of culture, nor as needy
from what we have witnessed before. recipients of charity, but as active
Knowledge about systems, the social makers and designers of where they
Creative and Collaborative � Tessy Britton 134
live. There is a new sense to live in beautiful places and, 1 See http://www.civ-
icsystemslab.org
of agency emerging, of opti- very importantly, that they
mism and of control, and it is want new types of common 2 See http://www.
revealing itself through real, space, places where they can community-
loversguide.org
positive activity on a human start the work of building
scale, not through theorising more sociable communities.
or large systemic change. They say that they want to cre-
For nearly four years, ate a sense of community,
I have been working to pool their own ideas, tal-
on a project called Social ents, and build on their innate
Spaces,1 concentrating resourcefulness and resilience
obsessively on understand-
through simple activities.
ing these phenomena in When added together, they be-
great detail, as they have lieve that these activities can
emerged. We now have 45 start to make significant steps
collaborative books in pro- towards transforming their
duction — The Community communities, and individual
Lover’s Guide to the Universe 2 — pieces of research confirm this.
collecting stories of these new What has emerged from this
types of local project from work is an amazing collective
places around the world. vision: a home-made vision
Over the past 15 months, that is not being imposed by
we have worked in over social theorists, the media
80 communities, asking 2,000 or Hollywood.
people what they would like It is important to under-
to see more of in the places stand and analyse what effects
where they live. Not a single this new type of participa-
person has asked for more res- tion may be having, because
taurants, clothing or jewellery at scale this new independent
shops. Instead, people from creativity, often happening
all around the UK told us that without the need for funding
they want to live in commu or permission, has the poten-
nities where the divisions tial to seriously disrupt many
between age, culture, wealth of our existing systems.
(and lack of it) are bridged. If local people can con-
They told us that they want nect with one another easily,
Creative and Collaborative � Tessy Britton 135
Michel Before we explore your work, what sparked your passion for
Bauwens urban commons?
Michel What else are you working on? What are your long-term
Bauwens goals?
the trash ends up, this is all part of a 21st century way of living:
a way of sharing things, sharing services, sharing spaces, sharing
production and sharing responsibilities.
You need a ‘nudging class’ instead of a ruling class, a class
that has the drive to convince and nudge society and institutions
towards a sharing and collaborative paradigm. But you cannot
force change, you have to nudge people to share and collaborate.
For this reason, since 2012, I’ve suggested the creation
of a federalised network of local hubs of expertise gathering
best practices, starting up experimentations in different territo-
ries, spreading governance culture and disseminating knowledge
among Italian territories. This National Collaboration Network
could become a hub that provides collaboration toolkits, regula-
tions and governance schemes, as well as training programmes
and day-by-day assistance for local administrators to help them
drive change toward sharing and governance of the commons.
This could accelerate the shift towards a 21st century paradigm
of public administration.
Michel What other cities are you allied with or are learning from?
Bauwens Is CO-Mantova part of any networks or associations that support
commons-based urban development?
most important assets, the and for not having a v ision. 1 Robert D. Putman,
host, Christian Iaione of LUISS LabGov, for quality of life, not to mention
Fordham University professor Sheila the tourist trade.
Foster, commons activist David Bollier There I saw the regulation’s multi-
and I gave short talks about the urban stakeholder collaboration in action.
commons. Sheila focused on the poten- The painting crew was a non-profit,
tial of the urban commons to foster hu- Lawyers at Work. The municipal waste
man development. David spoke about management company Hera had
commons-based economic develop- dropped off the painting kit earlier
ment and Bologna’s potential to inspire in the day. It included paint that met
other cities. And I spoke about the how the city’s historical code, brushes,
living day-to-day in the commons smocks to protect clothing, cones
builds citizenship. to mark off the work area and more.
The ceremony was concluded Hera had also cleared the painting
in the most fitting way possible. project with the building owner and
All the leaders of projects operating city. The city hosted an online map
under the regulation were invited that showed all the projects active that
on stage. The Mayor gave each a USB day and their location. Citizens could
key to the city with a copy of regula- track and join projects online or do it
tions on the drive. The USB key was spontaneously. A neighbour had joined
the brainchild of Christian Iaione and Lawyers at Work when they happened
Michele d’Alena, the civic collaboration by the worksite, something that hap-
fest project leader. What a great idea. pens regularly with Bologna’s urban
It created a joyful moment that sym- commons projects. Neighbours also
bolised a shift in power from elected share project activity on social media,
leaders to citizens. which can spark more activity and
The next day Christian Iaione and civic pride.
Elena De Nictolis, Alessandra Feola and My idea of placemaking was radi-
Elia Lofranco of LUISS LabGov gave cally upgraded by witnessing the regu-
a delegation including Sheila Foster lation in action. Here the making part
and I a tour of projects that were active of placemaking was brought to life in
that day. Our first stop was one of a vivid and dynamic way. No longer
seven citizen groups painting buildings was placemaking for urban design
in the city’s historic centre. Painting experts who plan everything out in
is a big deal because of an abundance advance, but rather it was for every-
of graffiti and the need to maintain one in a real-time multi-stakeholder
the ancient buildings, which is crucial dance that included both planned and
Bologna Celebrates One Year of a Bold Experiment in Urban Commoning � Neal Gorenflo 151
RECYCLAB RECYCLING
AND ECO-CONSTRUCTION
ECOHAB ECOLOGICAL
COOPERATIVE HOUSING
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acilities.
Credit: atelier
d’architecture
autogéré
R-URBAN or How to Co-produce
a Resilient City (1st excerpt)
by Constantin Petcou and Doina Petrescu
creates the conditions because collective power 1 See Brigit Maguire and Sophie
artwright, Assessing a commu
C
for this ‘right to sustain- is necessary to reshape
nity’s capacity to manage change:
ability’ to be exercised, urban processes. Harvey A resilience approach to social
not only as a right to rely describes ‘the right to assessment (Bureau of Rural
Sciences, May 2008).
on and consume sustain- the city’ as the citizens’
Available at http://www.tba.co.nz/
ability (provided by freedom to access urban tba-eq/Resilience_approach.pdf
the remains of the wel- resources: “it is a right
2 We are here joining the ranks of po-
fare state or bought to change ourselves
litical ecologists who criticise the su-
from private providers), by changing the city”.6 perficial understandings of politics,
but as a right to produce In this sense, R-URBAN power and social construction
popularised in resilience rhetoric
it (allowing citizens’ follows Harvey’s ideas
(see Alf Hornborg, ‘Zero-sum world:
involvement in decision- and facilitates the as- Challenges in conceptualizing
making and action). sertion of this ‘right’ environmental load displacement
and ecologically unequal exchange
Although sustainability through appropriation,
in the world-system’, International
is on the agenda of many transformation and Journal of Comparative Sociol-
urban projects today, this networking processes, ogy, 5(3 – 4), 2009, pp. 237 – 265).
closer to Lefebvre’s idea of many individual and 6 David Harvey, ibid., p. 23.
British journalist Paul Mason to create algorithms for how Noel Hatch
recently listed “the 10 things is the recipient
cities should be run.
of a 2014 Research
a perfect city needs”,1 rang- While one day the smart and Development
ing from hipster economics city may be able to track grant from ECF
for his idea: ‘Hack
to political unrest, but with every interaction we have
Your Borders’.
no mention of public space! with the spaces around us He is a trustee
Other city indexes focus to design the optimal ‘user of European Alter-
natives (http://www.
on public space, like those experience’, we value public
euroalter.com/).
produced by the EIU 2 and spaces in much more instinc-
Monocle. 3 Where they differ tive ways — like our trip
from Mason’s is their data- to the seaside as a child or
driven approach. our first kiss in the park.
If you took their methods However, we’ve had smart
to their logical conclusion, city movements before, from
we could end up living in Roman builders to Victorian
a world where democracy engineers, transforming our
is replaced by a Panopticon, lives for the better, intro-
tracking everything to en- ducing new technologies
sure the places we live in are to help us travel more quickly,
aligned with these indexes. to managing our sewage more
Imagine your council’s prom- efficiently.
ise in 2030: “If it’s not meas- Nowhere is this more vis-
ured, it won’t get done.” Part ible than by the sea. As Dan
of the smart city movement Thompson highlights, 4 sea-
believes we’ll soon be able side towns were “the places
From Lamp Posts to Phone Booths: Using Technology to create Civic Spaces � Noel Hatch 161
that industry carried out its structure and control inter- 1 Paul Mason, ‘The 10
things a perfect city
research and development. action like shopping malls,
needs’, The Guard
They are scattered with rusted churches or sports clubs. ian, 25 August
remains of prototyped cutting- Other groups prefer to use 2014. See http://
www.theguard-
edge technology, from con- public spaces as infrastructure
ian.com/com-
crete seawalls to mechanical to create new forms of in- mentisfree/2014/
marine lifts.” The difference teraction, from doing hob- aug/25/10-
things-a-perfect-
nowadays is that it’s become bies together, watching over
city-needs
much easier for citizens to use the neighbourhood to more
the infrastructure that tech- spontaneous interventions. 2 See http://www.
eiu.com/public/
nology runs on to carry out There are different mod-
topical_report.
our own research and develop- els of how cities should be aspx?campaignid=
ment, from creating a website designed. As you can see liveability2014
different groups. What’s most im- like using sensors and gaming to get
portant is to support different forms lampposts to talk to people. In other
of interaction that can complement words, we can find new ways of u sing
each other. existing resources that may never
So how can we create ‘in between have been used in public space.
spaces’ that are at the intersection As Demos argues: “If we can get
of spontaneous and curated activities, the micro public spaces of street cor-
of formal and informal design and ners, cafés, malls and parks to flourish
of intimate and collective interactions? in a way that simultaneously meets
We can invert roles, getting citi- people’s personal needs and the wider
zens to be the designers of their local common good, then this intelligence
parks. We can subvert resources, filling and the patterns of interaction stimu-
sweet machines with seed bombs so lated might just ‘trickle up’ and start
children can grow their own food. We creating patterns and value on the next
can graft practices from other fields, scale up.” �
“‘Change life!’ ‘Change
society!’ These precepts
mean nothing without
the production of an
appropriate space.”
— Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Spaces
The Civic
Public as a Constellation
by Pelin Tan
itself into urban assemblies in power that derives its visibil- 3 Alain Badiou, Meta
politics (London:
different districts and parks ity and action from the urban
Verso, 2005) p.142.
within Istanbul? territory can create its own
In the last five years we heterotopic site, which is 4 David Harvey,
Rebel Cities:
have participated extensive the moment when the public
From the Right
ly in and witnessed many collectively re-inhabits and to the City
instances of how city centres reclaims urban space despite to the Urban
Revolution (Lon-
host — spatially — urban their differences.
don: Verso, 2012).
uprisings all over the world. In the case of Gezi Park,
Urban resistance, street recent events testify to a new 5 David Harvey, ibid.
blocks and roads into parking � The citizens have been con- 4 Construction
in the Republic
areas, thereby limiting space tinuously excluded from
of Moldova.
for pedestrians and cyclists. decision-making processes National Statistics
� Intense migration from rural concerning urban policies, Bureau, Chisinau,
2011, p. 58 (see
to urban areas and the sub- city development, local
http://www.statisti-
sequent need for residential project financing and more. ca.md/public/files/
buildings has resulted in � The city centre has been taken publicatii_electro-
nice/Costructii/
the explosion of the construc- over by large commercial
2011/Constructii_
tion industry. Between 2005 projects such as those of Sun 2011.pdf).
and 2010 over 10,000 new City (a mall), Skytower (an of-
5 The Black Book
apartments were built in fice building), the Nobil Hotel
of the Cultural
Chisinau, 4 resulting in the de- and Grand Plaza (a residential Patrimony of Chisi
forestation of green areas, complex). nau, 2010.
of a ‘decent’ city, such as home- recent, having taken place in 6 For a wider discus-
sion see Sonia
less people, beggars, prosti- the last two to three years, al-
Hirt, Iron Curtains
tutes, people with alcohol or though some of the organisa- Gates, Suburbs
drug addictions, etc. tions became active much ear- and Privatiza
tion of Space in
Such transformations are lier. The Oberliht Association,
the Post-Socialist
not unique to Chisinau. Most for example, a participant in City (Hoboken,
post-Socialist cities have un- the protest at Europe Square, N.J.: Wiley & Sons,
2012) and Kiril
dergone similar processes re- has been active in the pub-
Stanilov, The Post-
lated to the political-economic lic space of Chisinau since Socialist City:
context. They have encoun- early 2000. Urban Form and
Space Transforma
tered accelerated reforms for My perspective is two-
tions in Central and
the introduction of the market fold, as both an activist and Eastern Europe
economy, the de-industrialisa- a sociologist. Therefore this After Socialism
(Springer, 2010).
tion of urban economies and text will speak in two voices
the growth of the services sec- that may sometimes overlap 7 Michael Burawoy,
tor, the rise of consumption, but in other cases will speak “For Public Sociol-
ogy” in Public Soci
the gradual dismantlement distinctly. As a sociologist
ology: Fifteen Emi
of the social state, the rise I will attempt to anchor my nent Sociologists
of social inequality, political observations, the facts and Debate Policies
and the Profession
and religious populism, and the activities in the context
the Twenty-First
the consolidation of some of contemporary social theory. Century, edited
political-economic oligarchies My activist perspective will by Dan Clawson
et al. (Berkeley:
at local and national levels.6 be influenced more person- University of Cali-
ally, as I participated directly fornia Press, 2007)
in various ways (in the or- pp. 23 – 64.
too soon to evaluate its chances as ‘regular’ local artists are obses-
of long-term success. Fortunately, sively separate from politics. This is
the boulevard plan is still in discussion a consequence of the excessive po-
and there is strong enough opposition liticisation of art in the Soviet period
from the artistic community against its and tendency to keep any political art
construction. On the other hand, entre- to ‘quiet’ themes such as anti-Commu-
preneurs and commercial agents have nism, national identity or orthodoxy.
taken advantage of the chaos of GUP The possibilities of art interventions
and ZUP to demolish and rebuild large are truly limitless, both in real space
parts of the area without the approval and in virtual space.
of the authorities. As indicated by The second community is that
one of the activists, there is a risk that of foreign artists. Their significance
the Cantemir Boulevard zone could be lies in the possibility of establishing
completely demolished even before any transnational connections. However,
decision is made on its plans. this community is not without its
In these circumstances, two com- complications. Although its efforts
munities gain particular significance. could improve the visibility of local ac-
The first of these is artist com- tions outside the country, it could also
munities, specifically those within take away opportunities from local
urban activism. They decidedly enrich Moldovan artists; art interventions in
the symbolic repertoire, make activ- public spaces could become a privilege
ist movements more attractive, and of foreign artists, leaving Moldovan
bring about new reflections and ar- artists to search for other niches. There
tistic practices in public space. Urban is a difficult balance to strike between
activist-artists are as opportune their respective involvements.
of the cause from any political par- usual in 2014, an election year for
ties, political influence was palpable the Parliament. In the political context
at each step. Initially, Igor Dodon, at the time of writing, Mayor Chirtoaca
the former mayoral candidate and represented a national political party
President of the Socialist party — that was in strong opposition to and
and therefore a political rival of the competition with the other parties,
serving Mayor — participated ac- especially the Communist Party.
tively at the general cleaning from The success and failures in Chisinau
3 February, both personally and would count immensely on Chirtoaca’s
through a youth organisation he leads. election agenda; this is why a success-
His p resence as well as his declarations ful initiative such as the Rotonda, con-
significantly impacted the Mayor’s ducted without support from the local
quick reaction, who dubbed the re- authorities, would be rather uncom-
covery of the Rotonda populist. After fortable for the city administration,
this, political interest in the Rotonda which might decide to get involved
diminished for a while, allowing in order to co-opt the movement and
the movement to develop following claim its success for the administra-
its own logic and to plan, far from tion. On the other hand, some other po-
the eyes of the press, its further ac- litical forces such as the Socialist Party,
tions. Eventually, however, some jour- with the most consistently anti-Chir-
nalists, political activists from another toaca platform, might decide to claim
opposing party — the Communist being part of the success of this move-
Party (PCRM) — became involved. ment and to become involved at a later
These included Dimitrii Kavruk, stage of the project. If that happens,
the Editor-in-Chief of the Communist we shall see.
publication PULS, and Constantin � The ethnic-cultural moment:
Starish, Deputy in the Parliament The initiative for the revitalisation
of the Republic of Moldova from PCRM. of the Rotonda is certainly anchored
Even though they claimed exclusively in the personal and collective nostalgia
civic, non-party-affiliated participa- of a particular social group — a large
tion, their known affiliation repre- part of Chisinau’s Russian-speaking
sented a challenge for the movement population (which includes Russians,
to c onstantly prove that it positioned Ukrainians and Jews). This is one
itself outside party sympathies. of the project’s strengths, but simul
� The challenge of political affiliations taneously also one of its greatest
was likely be more acute than vulnerabilities. The explicit aim
The City Belongs to Everybody � Vitalie Sprinceana 193
Rob You use this term ‘insurrectionary imagination’. Could you just
Hopkins say a little bit more about what you mean by that?
Rob Permaculture is a big part of your work. Could you say a bit about
Hopkins that? Why is permaculture important to what you do?
John And we have this ten-day training called Think like a Forest, which
Jordan we have done four or five times over the past years. It’s actually
very inspired — it’s a training in art, activism and permaculture
and it really looks at what does art bring to activism, what does
activism bring to art, what does art bring to permaculture, what
does permaculture bring to art and activism and so forth, to look
at it as a system of three worlds. That training was actually very
Rise of the Insurrectionary Imagination � I sabelle Frémeaux and John Jordan with Rob Hopkins 229
producing one’s resour of artists uses to trans- 7 Vandana Shiva talks about self-
making or swadeshi as a desire
ces or, as Vandana Shiva form the role of the crea-
to achieve the ultimate quality in
calls it, “self-making”.7 tive subject in contem one’s own making: “If we’re going
This generation tells porary Slovenian to live in a world beyond the finan-
cial crisis, we’d better start doing
stories about the gene society, or as Bojana
things for ourselves, making things
rations of their p arents Kunst writes on this for ourselves, growing our food,
and grandparents intertwining of labour making our homes, creating our
education and health systems.
with a lot of empathy, and life:
Putting pressure on the state
or assumes the posi- “Labour must think is fine, but ultimately I believe we
tion of co-creators of about its modes of pro- need to go beyond the centralised
state and centralised corporate
their own generation. duction; in the case
control. We need to go into decen-
Despite the relevance of contemporary art, tralised communities that reclaim
of the above-mentioned these are the (open, the capacity to make. And that is
swadeshi.” Vandana Shiva in an
criticism of it, I used flexible, communica-
interview for Yes Magazine, 2009.
the concept of resilience tive, affective) post-
as flexibility as the main Fordist modes that 8 The term ‘flexicurity’ denotes
achieving maximum synergy of ef-
metaphor for this trien- actually separate work
fects and balance in the conditions
nial survey of the pro- from the materiality ruling the labour market in the EU.
duction of younger to of the work process in The purported goals of flexicurity
include allowing greater individual
middle generation a rtists advance… Today pro
participation in the labour market,
living under today’s duction modes are reducing unemployment, sup-
conditions of crisis and literally fused with la- port in entering the labour market,
and easier and faster transition
with minor, even major bour itself, the flexibility from one contract to another.
disasters following one and communicativeness
another. This also ironi- of the work processes
cally refers to the con- overlap with the open-
cept of “flexicurity”, 8 ness and processuality
which in Slovenia of work, while the use
at least remains just of creativity overlaps
unrealised potential. with experimentation
Blending work and and research; this leaves
everyday life forms the artists virtually forced
basis of new economic, to keep revolutionising
ethical and produc- their production modes…
tion p
rinciples that The principal techno
the younger generation logy of producing work
Not Sustainable Development, but Sustainable Co-living � Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez 234
unease of, and the exist- abstract and concrete 13 Such examples were one of Maja
Delak’s actions in the Transmit
ing or emerging relations spaces of capitalism,
tance performance, the debate
between neighbours in, the role and influence organised by DPU, Leja Jurišić
the urban space in which of new technologies and Teja Reba’s Sofa, and
the installation/barrier blocking
the Museum square with on the individual and
the passage between the Mu-
its four museums is lo- society and the bio- seum square and the ACZ Me-
cated and which directly politics of the centres telkova City bearing the legend
“No pasarán” [they shall not pass].
relates to the legendary of power. For the most
Autonomous Cultural part they revolved 14 From Adela Železnik’s opening re-
Zone Metelkova. around problems expe- marks at the debate with the Cluster
network, 29 September 2013.
Employing a variety rienced by particular
of approaches, some institutions, structures,
of the participating initiatives and individu-
artists and neighbours als in the shared space
also reacted critically of the Metelkova neigh-
to the concept.13 bourhood and the Tabor
Debates were or- district, and on the pos-
ganised in collaboration sibilities of connect-
with individual agents, ing and networking in
group initiatives and the field of politics and
structures. The main top- culture. The last debate
ics of the debates related in particular, about
to the concept of resil- the work of the interna-
ience via the particular tional network Cluster,
interests and activities stressed the impor-
of the participating tance of solidarity in
initiatives. The guests view of the fact that all
and the public discussed agents in a particular
hybrid spaces in art, country are dependent
the economic position on the same cultural
of artists in present- politics, which puts their
day society (both from struggle for survival in
the local and interna- a mutually dependent
tional perspectives), con- relationship with their
temporary production collaboration with one
models and institutions, another.14
Not Sustainable Development, but Sustainable Co-living � Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez 238
eager to maintain their balance in a sit- of rights reached quite another level for
uation of extreme poverty, of almost me: the right to a decent life, to normal
permanent crisis. Courage, ingenuity, conditions of education, to health. Thus,
and initiative by women have always I made efforts to bring about changes
impressed me. I began my ‘social’ com- that were modest but still useful for
mitment in primary school when I read the people.
and wrote letters for the adults who Much later, my participation in
were almost all illiterate. the struggle of the Sans-Papiers (ille-
Our own history — of my people gal immigrants) was the continuation
and of our nation — has always been of my early commitment. Increasingly,
hidden from us by the colonisers in I realised the absurdity of the situation:
order to maintain their domination. that human beings should be deprived
Only much later did I learn that, ac- of their basic right of movement. This
cording to oral traditions, as early is simply unjust.
as in 1222 the ‘Mande Charta’, a first Immigration laws have certainly
declaration of human rights for people become more exacting and more co-
in Africa, was declared by Soundiata ordinated on a European scale; this
Keïta, Emperor of the Mali Empire. is also because of a paradigm shift.
In this he called for respect for human Europe uses increasingly stringent
life, respect for one’s neighbour and measures to limit, and even suppress,
social justice, while condemning two the right to travel freely. Foreigners
serious evils, notably hunger and slav- living on European territory are in-
ery, thus making his people subject sidiously pushed into illegality by
to the rule of law. the conditions and criteria required
My commitment to human rights when seeking extension of residence
dates back to that period in my child- permits. These are undignified and
hood. I did not understand why frankly unbearable. For example, a for-
the people were and remained deprived eign student or worker being required
and I only thought about helping to queue up in front of foreign na-
them in the best way I could. I began tional registration offices at 4 o’clock
to think about solutions and I started in the morning in the hope of being let
to make small contributions: teaching in at 9 o’clock; families end up being
literacy courses, providing school as- separated, with estrangements en-
sistance, organising cleaning actions. couraged and with children being con-
When the strong wind of May 1968 trolled when leaving school. The hard-
reached us also in Africa, the question ening of immigration policy becomes
Madjiguène Cissé on the occasion of her receipt of the Wilhelmine of Bayreuth Prize 2011 242
evident before a foreigner even sets society have thus reunited and organ-
foot on European soil. Be it a busi- ised themselves in order to take their
nessman, professor, human rights destiny into their own hands.
activist, student or trader, the appli- In Senegal, REFDAF (Réseau des
cant for a visa has to undertake a real femmes pour le développement en
combative encounter and undergoes Afrique) was born in 2000 by the will
all sorts of vexations and humiliations of women who were victims of aus-
to his dignity as a human being in or- terity policies and of the lack of po-
der to get an entry visa for European litical will among our leaders to get
territory. This creates frustrations that out of the diabolical circle of poverty.
are not conducive to good relations By combining women’s networks and
between Europe and the countries their grassroots associations, REFDAF
of the South. wishes to promote a new vision
This policy against human rights of economic and social development in
is often justified by the need to pre- Africa and to reflect the role of women
serve economic stability, notably in the creation of conditions for sus-
employment, within a Europe that tainable development.
has, for many years, pursued ultra- The majority of women live in un-
liberal policies. And now Europe is acceptable conditions: without running
about to undergo draconian austerity water or electricity, without rewarding
measures very much like those struc- outlets for their produce, sometimes
tural adjustment plans imposed in without a roof. Their most fundamental
the 1980s on the countries of the South rights are plainly ignored: the right
by the International Monetary Fund to health, to education, to training,
(IMF) and the World Bank. The payment the right to entertainment…
of interest on the debts of the Southern To redress this situation, REFDAF
countries, together with bad govern- has created Local Product Exchange
ance, has gradually suffocated our Platforms (Espace d’Échanges). This
economies, jeopardising all economic, is a project whose first step has been
social and cultural development. to buy market stalls and shops for
In Africa, from the first, mutual so- women in the big markets of Dakar
cial assistance and solidarity permitted in order to allow women to sell their
the populations to resist the exacerba- local products at just prices. A chain
tion of poverty. Then, gradually, social develops from the woman who culti-
movements and organisations arose. vates land, raises birds or processes her
The most vulnerable strata of African products, up to the marketing spaces
Madjiguène Cissé on the occasion of her receipt of the Wilhelmine of Bayreuth Prize 2011 243
← R-URBAN
in Colombes:
Recyclab, 2015.
Photo credit: atelier
d’architecture
autogéré.
unit for students and resear Flows, networks and 4 For more informa-
tion about the R-
chers. Ecohab will be run cycles of production and
URBAN coopera-
as a cooperative. consumption will emerge tive land trust, go
R-URBAN’s collective faci between the collective facili- to http://r- urban.
net/en/property/
lities will grow in number and ties and their neighbourhood,
be managed by a cooperative closing chains of demand 5 This collabora-
land trust that will acquire and supply as locally as pos- tion is supported
by the Life+
spaces, facilitate development sible. To overcome the current
programme in
and guarantee democratic crisis, we must try “to pro- a partnership be-
governance. 4 duce what we consume and tween aaa, the City
of Colombes and
In parallel, the strategy consume what we produce”,
public works.
will be propagated on larger as the French philosopher
scales: regionally, nationally, André Gorz puts it.6 6 André Gorz,
Ecologica (Paris:
Europe-wide. The art and R-URBAN interprets this
Éditions Galilée,
architecture practice ‘public production and consump- 2008), p. 13.
works’, R-URBAN’s partner tion chain broadly, well
in London, is currently de- beyond the material aspects,
veloping a connected project to include cultural, cognitive
in Hackney Wick: R-URBAN and affective dimensions.
Wick. 5 The first R-URBAN The project sets a precedent
facility in Hackney Wick is for a participative retrofit-
a mobile production unit: ting of metropolitan suburbs
Wick on Wheels (WOW). where the relationship be-
This unit encourages collec- tween the urban and rural
tive production in situ, using is reconsidered. It endeav-
local materials, resources ours to demonstrate what
and knowledge. It is a parti citizens can achieve if they
cipatory project engaging change their work routines
with residents and local ar- and lifestyles to collectively
tisans to produce, reuse and address the challenges
repurpose. of the future. �
Kicking Off a Year of “P2P Plazas”
Research and Cartography
by Carmen Lozano-Bright
← Urban garden
in an abandoned
lot. Vallcarca,
Barcelona. Winter
2015, photo credit:
Carmen Lozano-
Bright.
giving it back some of the features points’. And, as in real life, the initial
Lizzie conceived more than a century well-being conditions are not the same
ago. The key wasn’t to produce a new for each player. They differ according
game with the resulting waste of hy- to gender, class, citizenship and skill.
pothetical production and distribu- Furthermore, by investing welfare
tion processes, but hacking the board to unblock the privatisation of goods,
game every family has at home and players gain legitimacy points.
playing it with different rules. ‘Repair’ Legitimacy and welfare are li-
in Spanish is a word with more than able to disappear, at least to a great
one meaning. This variety of meanings extent, if the player happens to fall
contributed to defining our new board into the square called Tragedy of the
game: it can mean repair in the sense Commons. Time is also lost — in the
of fixing, in its Spanish term reparar; form of turns — while points are won
it also means to realise; in addition if chance takes us to the Bureaucracy
we were also inspired by the free or Assembly squares.
interpretation in English of ‘re-pair’ But why play if there’s no compe-
as re-couple or reunite. tition? Does a board game rewarding
After three working days, we found ‘good’, where the commons is the best
the key: in Commonspoly you’re playing and only possible world, make any
against time. In a set number of turns, sense? Of course not. The challenge
the goods at stake will be privatised. is in the ability to preserve the com-
And the players are challenged to mons in general without losing one’s
liberate them for the commons. individual well-being. From this point
The dice determines the stage of the of view; no one is the w inner — we
game for each object at stake on a scale all ‘don’t win’.
that ranges from‘ Pure Mad Max The scale of the game has many
Horror’ (near Margaret Thatcher’s wet- things in common with the camps
test dreams) to ‘Commonsfare Utopia’ that filled squares in 2011. We mean
(a fantasy beyond Elinor Ostrom). that Commonspoly is not a particu-
The scale comprises private, public lar city, nor does it refer to a global
and communitarian goods. board. Instead it represents a link with
The goods under threat belong the ephemeral villages built and dis-
to four categories: urban, environ- mantled in so many cities and in so
mental, related to the body and many formats: from 15M to Occupy,
to knowledge. In order to prevent from the Arab Spring to Syntagma,
privatisation, each player has ‘welfare from Brazil to Gezi Park.
Between Random and Democratic Practices: The Commons Board Game � Carmen Lozano-Bright 260
← Original drawing
of Commons
poly board by
Carla Boserman.
Board designed
and developed
by members of
Table 5, ‘Reclaim
the Commons’
hackcamp —
17th Edition of
the ZEMOS98
festival. Photo:
Julio Albarrán.
From Public Space to Common
Good: Poland’s Urban Political
Activism
by Claudia Ciobanu
issues to root causes of city life prob- people, with social being cheaper
lems while building broad alliances to rent and having worse conditions
on the way. than communal) are very hard to access
According to Jakub Zaczek, the in Poland because of the limited stock,
reprivatisation of public buildings in high rents relative to incomes and
Poland, which has been taking place tough criteria for accessing this kind
since 1989, is a highly abusive process, of accommodation.
not only because those claiming build- Until recently, a legislative gap
ings often falsify their rights to the made it impossible for those know-
property with authorities turning ing they would be evicted to apply
a blind eye, but also because Polish au- for social housing until the moment
thorities are not forced by law to offer they were effectively out of their old
alternative housing to those kicked out. homes. In practice, this meant p eople
Interestingly, reprivatisations in were pushed into homelessness
Warsaw in particular offer an occa- by state policies.
sion to question what is often a dogma In this context, tenants sup-
in post-Socialist Central and Eastern ported by activists (often from
Europe, that private property is small leftist and anarchist groups
the core building block of a fair, free such as Syrena squat in Warsaw
and democratic society. Notoriously, or Zaczek’s Committee for the
Warsaw was virtually effaced Defence of Tenants — Komitet Obrony
at the end of World War II, and the re- Lokatorow) started resisting evictions.
construction of its building stock was In response, they were often harassed
done with huge reliance on volunteer by the new owners of buildings,
efforts by citizens. These same people including via making the building
were then given the right to live as ten- uninhabitable. In an infamous case that
ants of the city in the new buildings, became a symbol for the movement,
which became property of the Socialist the body of a tenants’ rights activist,
state. And they (or their heirs) are be- Jolanta Brzeska, was found in 2011
ing evicted today in the name of a pre- charred in a forest near Warsaw.
war order. The tenants’ movement, driven
The lack of any protection for by the vulnerable people evicted from
the evicted tenants adds insult to in- their homes and supported by radical
jury. Social and communal housing activists, enjoys the sympathy and
(these are two categories of housing sometimes support of city movements.
offered by the state for less privileged Reprivatisations affect not only people
From Public Space to Common Good: Poland’s Urban Political Activism � Claudia Ciobanu 268
but also green areas or buildings hardly reaches 10% of voters’ prefer-
of historical value, which the urban ences these days and is rejected by
middle classes are concerned about. the new left activists for implementing
Importantly, the movement makes neo-liberal measures in the past.
the link between a destroyed green Potentially the best political
area or an evicted family and the wild expression of Poland’s new left is
reprivatisation strategies of city au- the Polish Green Party, which has
thorities and the lack of social support been steadily growing over the past
for the evicted and for poor families year, but still got below 3% of the vote
who cannot afford rent in general. at the Warsaw mayoral elections via
its candidate Joanna Erbel. According
to Ewa Sufin-Jacquemart, it is a strug-
The left is up for grabs gle to compromise between the needs
of ecologists, feminists, socialists and
In Poland, a new generation has grown other progressives, all of whom see lit-
and started having an impact on poli- tle chance of party representation out-
tics. To be sure, activism in the cities side of the Greens.
goes way beyond the urban movements The Greens are now collecting sig-
and some of the initiatives, among natures to put forward a candidate in
them food or biking cooperatives or this year’s presidential elections. Their
squats, are explicitly trying to propose proposal is Anna Grodzka, a transgen-
alternatives to a capitalist system they der parliamentarian known for her
consider abusive. work against evictions, for fairer taxa-
Yet this fresh activist energy for tion and for the environment.
the moment lacks a strong expression “The labels of green and left that
in electoral politics (Porozumienie is the Green Party carries now are not ac-
non-ideological and only interested in ceptable for those in Poland who would
the local elections). As in most other benefit from leftist policies,” comments
Central and Eastern European coun- activist Michal Augustyn, who cre-
tries, in Poland too, the left is discred- ated a popular non-monetary exchange
ited and the main political parties have system, Wymiennik. In coal-reliant
a right-wing agenda, no matter what Poland, environmentalists are as mar-
labels they carry. ginal as the left, in large part because
Poland’s main centre-left of systematic pro-coal and anti-green
party (the former Communists in propaganda of all parties in power
the Democratic Left Alliance, SLD) since 1989.
From Public Space to Common Good: Poland’s Urban Political Activism � Claudia Ciobanu 269
Grillo with his Five Star Movement. co-existence from a perspective of the
The movement on water as a commons commons is of great significance. It’s
has been instrumental for the mobili- important because eventually this will
sation of the intergroup. lead to a move towards the sustainable
management and equitable sharing
[ … ] of resources.
Another aspect that makes this
approach appealing is that the com-
Fundamental change in sight mons movement takes a community
and ecological systems perspective.
We have to take a step back and ask: This philosophy moves away from
What are commons? What are common a purely individual rights-, market-
goods? There are distinct definitions: and private property-based world-
On the one hand, an operational no- view. No need to elaborate that for
tion would define commons as shared many this worldview is at the root
resources, governed by a certain com- of the current economic and environ-
munity. On the other hand, a moral mental crises.
notion would say commons or com- Commons thinking expresses
mon goods refer to goods that benefit a strong denial of the idea that society
society as a whole, and are fundamental is and should be composed of atom-
to people’s lives, regardless of how they ised individuals living as consumers.
are governed. Instead the commons discourse points
These could be many things. to the possibility that people can live
Politically it will be more about claim- their lives as citizens, deeply embed-
ing certain matters as commons or ded in social relationships. Moreover,
common goods, for example, natural that citizens’ active participation is
resources, health services or useful important in realising well-being and
knowledge. Tackling core areas of our a well-functioning society. �
Reclaiming the Commons through
Culture and Arts
by Julie Ward, MEP
Reclaimed spaces
workshop, 2013
coordinated by:
studioBASAR;
drawing by:
Cristi Stoian.
“Since the urban
process is a major
channel of surplus
use, establishing
democratic manage
ment over its urban
deployment constitutes
the right to the city.”
— David Harvey, The Right to the City
Culture hunters
by Tinni Ernsjöö Rappe
on to the next phase, and recruit a new pality and its projects. Now, we have
group of participants. a folio of previous participants that
� “We consider the effects of empower the municipality can access when they
ing individual citizens this way. What need people for various projects. I want
are the costs, and what are the benefits? to offer influence and resources to peo-
One thing we’re seeing is that it pro- ple who would never have them other-
vides a recruiting base for the munici- wise. That’s my job,” says Ceylan. �
Participatory Art as a Vector
of Innovative Governance:
Reflexivity at the Heart
of the Formalisation Process
by Philippe Eynaud and Sam Khebizi
This research aims to question paths and follow isomorphic Philippe Eynaud
the formalisation process set logic, which can make them is Associate
Professor, IAE
up in a social innovation ap- fall under the company-based Paris, Panthéon-
proach. Through a case study, model or the public service Sorbonne. Winner
of the Robert Reix
we will demonstrate how concession-based model. 2
prize 2008, his
developing a reflexive analysis In order to face this macro- research focuses
with non-financial institu- social level of determination on information
technology sys-
tional partners allowed for and maintain a specific in-
tems and how they
significant progress in govern- novation process, associa- contribute to new
ance building in an association tions’ collectives must agree governance models
in the non-profit
using artistic participatory locally on the nature of their
sector.
practices as a mobilisation project, their form of gov-
tool for the populations on its ernance, 3 and their shared Sam Khebizi
vision of solidarity.4 To do is the founder
territory.
of Les Têtes de l’Art
Many surveys have dem- so, they need new categories association in Mar-
onstrated the capacity for and new concepts. According seille, France (www.
lestetesdelart.fr),
associations to develop in- to Dandurand, social innova-
one of the hubs in
stitutional logics promoting tion “often comes from citizen the European Cul-
social innovation.1 Yet, social initiatives and, upstream or tural Foundation’s
Networked Pro-
innovation is a complex thing downstream, from outcomes
gramme — Con
to achieve for associations. resulting from research in so- nected Action for
Indeed, to establish new proc- cial sciences and humanities, the Commons.
And so, like technological to highlight its major stages 1 Juan-Louis Klein
& Denis Harrison,
innovation, social innovation and limits. A first draft was
L’Innovation so
can benefit from and develop prepared by the researcher ciale: Émergence
thanks to cross-pollination on data collected during et effets sur la
transformation
between research, experimen- the qualitative analysis
des sociétés http:/
tation and in-field action. But approach. It was proofread and site.ebrary.com/
if this interaction between commented on by the Director id/10226263,
13 February 2012.
researchers and practitioners of the association. Following
in technological innovation a discussion between him 2 Jean-Louis Laville,
is richly documented, it is not and the researcher, a second L’association: Soci
ologie et économie
so much the case with social version was produced, which
(Paris: Pluriel, 2013).
innovation. In this paper, we was read by two members
will question the institu- of the Board of Directors. 3 Jean-Louis Laville
& C. Hoarau,
tional processes of innova- Their comments led to further
La Gouvernance
tion between an association discussion. The researcher des associations
and outside partners who conducted interviews with (Paris diffusion:
Cairn.info, 2010).
have both the know-how members of the Board
and the experimentation in of Directors, during which 4 Juan-Louis Klein,
this field.6 We will seek to un- debates took place and a third Jean-Louis Laville
& Frank Moulaert,
derstand the conditions for version was written. This
L’ innovation so
the emergence of innovation, version is the final one. ciale (Toulouse:
as well as its feasibility and Ères editions, 2014).
why they have seized the the cultural sector considered 10 Regional Cham-
ber of Social and
opportunity to work with the governance mechanisms
Solidarity Economy
the CRESS 10 on establishing as far too formal. From of the Provence-
bridges to provide guidance the start, he considered his Alpes-Côte
d’Azur Region.
(and to valorise) collective Board of Directors as being too
approaches, and to ensure complacent. There was a lack 11 Management
the legitimacy and sustain- of balance of power, and it was of social and
cultural organisa-
ability of cultural, citizen ac- a real hindrance. His training
tions — 1st level.
tion. In so doing, TDA benefits at the CNAM seemed to be for
from numerous individual him the place where he could 12 Lecturer at CNAM
and Chief E
ditor
and collective ‘Dispositif get inspiration from conceptu-
of Recma.
Local d’Accompagnement’ al and pragmatic tools to meet
(DLA, a local support measure), the demands of TDA’s project.
on various aspects (budgetary After this two-year period, he
and accounting management, launched a process that aimed
project structuring, communi- to transform the uses in his
cation tools and data manage- association.
ment, strategic and provisional Putting theory into prac-
job and skill management tice, he laid the foundations
analysis…). of his association on five
At the same time, cross-sectoral approaches
the Director followed a com- to foster real and active par-
bined work/training scheme ticipation: Information —
at the CNAM (National Share — Co-construction —
Conservatory of Arts and Connect — Qualify.
Crafts) in Paris.11 This two- Thus, a methodology took
year training period gave him shape with:
the opportunity to conduct an � comprehensive information
action research project under � debates
the direction of researcher � decision-making spaces
Jean-François Draperi.12 TDA’s � training spaces.
Director tried to model some This methodology was
principles of his association, implemented both in a for-
and include them in those mal way (Board of Directors,
of the social economy sec- General Assembly) and in an
tor. Indeed, he could see that informal one (festive events).
Participatory Art as a Vector of Innovative Governance � Philippe Eynaud and Sam Khebizi 283
One must add that the associa- we awkwardly call participa- 14 Notes on a work-
shop by Jean-
tion had about 10 member art- tory arts. If we agree on this
Michel Lucas, aka
ists when it was first created, reference, it is, I think, logical Doc Kasimir Bisou,
but there were 120 in 2008 to conclude that participatory lecturer at Rennes
2 University.
and some of them wanted arts wrongly call themselves
to move forward. ‘participatory arts’. They
TDA’s Director com- should rather put forward
mented: “Our social purpose the deliberation capacity
was participatory art. How of the people (and not resi-
could we move forward dents’ participation) and assert
without participatory gov- the universality of the freedom
ernance? Participatory art of artistic expression.”14
was our starting point. And This is how TDA’s artistic
we have a collective artistic approach made sense: “A col-
participatory practice, i.e., we lective work is when, in fact,
seek debates and confronta- there is already a competence.
tions between individuals. Everyone knows… Everyone
Participatory governance is is an artist, so to speak. And
a process that goes beyond so, in a collective, you know
statutory, legal frameworks where you’re going, there is
and intends to involve stake- a sort of charter. It is a collec-
holders in a common project tive. While, in participatory
in both vision and decision- works, you are really free.
making processes. It leads Anyone can get involved,
to a collective project where give something personal
each and everyone finds their during a project they did not
place and personal develop- even know anything about,”
ment in the long run.” (Sébastien Zanello, artist).
A researcher, participat-
ing in a reflection workshop
at TDA, said the same thing: Comparing one’s own
“As far as I am concerned, participatory governance with
I think the best possible that of other associations
framework is human rights.
Because it is rational enough In 2009, TDA set up an
to legitimise these practices engineering platform for
Participatory Art as a Vector of Innovative Governance � Philippe Eynaud and Sam Khebizi 285
‘guidance’ — as was the case TDA has strengthened its le- 17 The European Cul-
tural Foundation
with La Claie — but rather gitimacy at a local level.
(ECF) inspires and
‘pushing for’ directions for TDA is mature enough too involves people
others. “For us, the fact that to re-open debates on ideas in a shared vision
of citizenship
ECF chose us is very impor- around its project. In April
throughout Europe.
tant. They expect that WE car- 2013, they invited researchers It shares and con-
ry out objectives. We said we (Jean Caune, Philippe Henri, nects knowledge
between the Euro-
wished that all stakeholders Jean-Michel Lucas19) for a two-
pean cultural sec-
of TDA, as well as all cultural day debate on participatory tors and engages
organisations on the territory arts with their different in arts at every
level in political
be part of it on this theme. stakeholders (employees,
decision‑making
In so doing, the programme Board of Directors, artists, processes.
will be a basis for reflection residents, partners). In 2014,
18 The Idea Camp is
on our relationship with they organised a workshop
part of Connected
the territory,” (TDA’s Director). with two other researchers, Action for the Com-
Then everything pro- Claude Paquin and Geneviève mons, a three-year
initiative launched
gressed quickly — financial Goutouly-Paquin, from
by ECF that
help to host and co-organise Agency Tertius, on the fol- aims to connect
an international meeting in lowing theme: ‘Beyond a myriad of change-
makers offering
Marseille: the Idea Camp.18 Participation — Towards
new perspectives
In October 2014, TDA wel- a Relationship Policy’. The on culture’s role
comed 50 project leaders from purpose of this workshop was in democratic
practices all over
23 countries. It gave the asso- to further examine the issue Europe.
ciation the opportunity at last of participation from the asso-
to gather together a great ciations’ perspective. “We try 19 Jean Caune is
Professor Emeritus
number of partners around to multiply action-research at Stendhal Uni-
its project. ECF’s programme approaches. We draw a great versity in Grenoble.
is stretching over a three- benefit from this work with His work covers
aesthetic practices
year period, which gives TDA researchers…,” (TDA’s Director) such as cultural
time to valorise the activi- The whole effort even- mediation proc-
ties launched at a local level, tually bore fruit in terms esses. Philippe
Henri is Lecturer
after this meeting. Over 60 of participatory governance. and accredited
local organisations attended In September 2014, meet- research director
to collect information on this ing the member artists at the Theatre De-
partment of Paris 8
programme. After being rec- for a rentrée session was University — Saint
ognised as a mediator by ECF, an encouraging success. Denis. Jean-Michel
Participatory Art as a Vector of Innovative Governance � Philippe Eynaud and Sam Khebizi 288
2015
‘Place à l’Art
2015’ (Belsunce
district, Marseille):
construction:
example of a of
urban furniture with
the inhabitant and
kids of the district,
construction by
local inhabitants.
Photo credit: Les
Têtes de together
with the collective
ETC.
Les Têtes de l’art — ‘Place à l’art’ 292
Les Têtes de l’art — ‘Place à l’art’ 293
Les Têtes de l’art — ‘Place à l’art’ 294
New Models of Governance
of Culture
by Katarina Pavić
The opinions expressed in this Art and culture are not, Katarina Pavić
work are the responsibility is a member of Cul-
and cannot be, excluded
ture 2 Commons
of the author and do not neces- from the overall context (Alliance Operation
sarily reflect the official policy of the aforementioned issues, City: operacijagrad.
net; Clubture Net-
of the Council of Europe. not only because the results
work: clubture.org;
of the crisis (often represent- Right to the city:
ed solely as red figures) are pravonagrad.org),
one of the hubs in
The democratic deficit having negative effects on dif-
the European Cul-
is a matter of culture ferent aspects of cultural and tural Foundation’s
artistic production, but also Networked Pro-
gramme — Con
The crisis has had numerous because ultimately, the cul-
nected Action for
negative effects in many vital ture crisis directly deprives the Commons.
sectors of European societies, the most vulnerable groups
but it has simultaneously of their fundamental cultural
revealed the existence of a se- rights. These groups embrace
rious democratic deficit in a range of artists and cultural
today’s European societies. operators, as well as many
This deficit is not a completely other citizens affected by
new discovery, but the recent policies that restrict their
developments in the political participation in cultural and
arena and their repercussions social life. The threatened clo-
on the streets of various sure of 20% of public libraries
European cities point to real in the United Kingdom is
reasons to fear that the gap be- only one highly publicised
tween the decision-makers and example of the current state
the citizens is liable to grow of art in this respect,1 and
even wider in the near future. throughout the continent and
New Models of Governance of Culture � Katarina Pavić 296
← Croatian high-
ways Referendum
campaign (October
2014). Official Cam-
paign Leaflet.
management and public pro- skills and joint programme 7 Further reading:
Katarina Pavić and
motion of cultural policies. production by independent
Milica Pekić, Exit
At the same time, cultural organisations was Europe — New Ge
the Clubture network has followed by a drive to create ographies of Cul
ture (The Clubture
pioneered the promotion partnerships with strategic
Network, 2011)
of regional cooperation by civil society organisations and www.exit
involving independent organi- active in other important europe.net
↘↓ POGON —
Zagreb Center for
Independent Cul-
ture and Youth
www.upogoni.org
Exhibition: Sybille
Neumeyer: past
presence, present
absence —
urban aspects.
Pogon — Jedinstvo
factory, February
1–6, 2013.
Photos by:
Damir Žižić
& Barbara Šarić.
New Models of Governance of Culture � Katarina Pavić 301
Michel Yes, in some ways, but what matters is that politics ended up
Bauwens re-imposing itself through collective learning. The Commons
Transition Platform, in which I am very involved, gathers and
details the political transformation plans necessary for the im-
plementation of a post-capitalist society. This is also the idea
of the approach we applied with the FLOK project in Ecuador.
The devised political transition plan, which included civil society
at the centre of public- value creation, a market sphere inte-
grating external factors and a State that serves as a facilitator.
FLOK was a partial failure, due to a lack of political will and lack
of social base on which to lean for support. However, the politi-
cal vision we have outlined is making its way to Europe (some
proposals have been included within the economic programme
of Syriza in Greece).
The Transition Will Not Be Smooth Sailing � Michel Bauwens and Arthur de Grave 309
Arthur It is true that none of the partisan parties really seized this idea
de Grave of commons. Was it a mistake? Can we really make this a political
topic? The concept of commons remains somewhat abstruse.
Ugo Mattei, ‘The State, the Market and Some Carlos Delclós, ‘Class Discourse in the Metropolis’
Preliminary Questions About the Commons’ Originally published in Polish translation in MOCAK
Ugo Mattei’s talk was originally given at the ‘Du Public au Forum magazine, issue 1 2015, Museum of Contemporary
Commun’ conference on 6 April 2011 Art in Krakow — https://en.mocak.pl/mocak-forum
http://www.printfriendly.com/print/?source=cs&u
rl=http%3A%2F%2Fdupublicaucommun.blogspot.
nl%2F2011%2F03%2Fcontribution-dugo-mattei-pour-
le-seance.html
Contributors and Sources 313
Tessy Britton, ‘Creative and Collaborative’ Vitalie Sprinceana, ‘The City Belongs to Everybody:
Originally published at appropedia.org under Claiming Public Spaces in Chisinau’
a Creative Commons 3.0 ShareAlike license — A version of this text was published in Nataša
http://www.appropedia.org/Creative_and_ Bodrozic and Nici Palavandishvili (eds.), SPACES:
collaborative_-_Tessy_Britton Cultural Public Sphere in Armenia, Georgia,
Moldova and Ukraine, (Vienna: Verlag Bibliothek
der Provinz, 2014), pp.154–169. Published with
the kind permission of the author.
Contributors and Sources 314
→ Think Like a
Forest workshop
in art activism and
permaculture.
Laboratory
of Insurrectionary
Imagination, la
r.O.n.c.e, Brittany,
Autumn 2011. Photo:
John Jorda
Contributors and Sources � David Harvey 316
Contributors and Sources � David Harvey 317
Further Reading
and other interesting links