Governance & Policy
Urban Commons
Definition
Urban commons are resources in cities that communities create, manage and govern collectively: community gardens on vacant land, shared public spaces, housing cooperatives, community energy schemes, tool libraries and mutual aid networks. Applying Ostrom's commons framework to the city, the concept covers both the resource and the social institution — the rules, roles and trust — through which urbanites self-organise provision that neither market nor municipality supplies adequately.
References
Source imported for editorial provenance.
This reference provides supporting context for how “Urban Commons” is defined and used.
Overview
How it is used
The concept structures community asset policy, participatory urban governance, sharing economy (non-commercial) analysis, and urban resilience research.
Why it matters
Cities are humanity's largest commons experiment; the urban commons shows their residents governing it themselves.