Essai

Housing Commons

Alternatives to Housing Through Urban Commoning

Zacharias ValiantzasPaschalis Arvanitidis

The paper builds upon the concepts of the right to the city and urban commoning, to advance the theory of housing commons. Moreover, it draws on selected initiatives to highlight commonalities and differences, and to portray the diversity of contemporary housing commons. We articulate the framework of urban commoning that urban commoners proclaim through Lefebvre’s (1968) right to the city, i.e., urban dwellers’ collective right and power over urban qualities and the urbanization processes. This has been embraced by the new social urban movements to deploy a range of...

Essai

Political Ideology, Community Openness and the Commons

Paschalis ArvanitidisFoteini Nasioka

Vacant urban spaces are underutilized resources under threat that can be used to improve the quality of urban life and urban dwellers’ well-being. Yet, traditional (state or market oriented) approaches have failed to bring them to life, due to lack of necessary funds, investment interest or/and deficiencies in property rights. It has been argued (by scholars of different perspectives) that managing these spaces as commons constitutes a successful and sustainable practice, capable to address the social, political, environmental and nutritional needs of the respective community. Yet, the issue of...