Urban commons and the local state: co-production between enhancement and co-optation
Autores:
- Iolanda Bianchi (IGOP – UAB)
- Marina Pera (IGOP – UAB)
- Laura Calvet Mir (Institut d’Estudis Regionals i Metropolitans de Barcelona)
- Sergio Villamayor (ICTA – UAB)
- Mara Ferreri (Universidad Politècnica de Torí)
- Núria Reguero (IGOP – UAB)
- Sara Maestre Andrés (ICTA – UAB)
Año: 2022
Urban commons have emerged within the latest mobilization cycle, and have developed forms of everyday politics. Marxist and social movement scholars tend to see the urban commons/local state interactions that assemble commons’ material infrastructure as the prelude to commons being co-opted. Governance scholars uphold that these interactions can bring political benefits to the commons. By bridging these two perspectives, this article analyses urban commons/local state interactions that develop in the context of material-assembling practices in the light of what we call ‘commons-led co-production’: processes where commons gain political advantages from this co-production. By studying commons initiatives in two neighbourhoods in two different municipalities in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, we analyse and discuss a spectrum of five positions. We contend that material-assembling practices act as a condition of possibility for developing the everyday politics of the commons, where commons-led co-production can be laid out, in context-specific and variegated ways. However, the arrangement of commons-led co-production does not necessarily guarantee the long-term enhancement of commons’ political action. We conclude by calling for a more nuanced understanding of urban commons/local state interactions within material-assembling practices, one that considers both co-optation and enhancement as possible long-term outcomes of these interactions.
Bianchi, I., Pera, M.., Calvet Mir, L., Villamayor, S., Ferreri, M., Reguero, N., & Maestre Andrés, S. (2022). Urban commons and the local state: co-production between enhancement and co-optation. Territory, Politics, Governance, https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2022.2108491
