Embedded Files
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior learning:
Section 1.1.1 The economy and you, which explains what an economy is and how it is relevant to students’ lives
Section 1.1.2 The embedded economy, which explains the relationship between the economy and society and Earth’s systems
Section 1.1.4 Regenerative economies, which explains how circular, distributive and caring, needs-based and sufficient economies can meet human needs within planetary boundaries
Section 3.4.2 Relocationisation and bioregionalism, which explains the importance of communities’ engagement with their bioregion to strengthen local economies
Section 4.1.1 The commons as a system, which explains the parts, relationships, and functions of the commons and the relationship between the commons and other provisioning institutions
Section S.1 What are systems?, which explains what a system is, the importance of systems boundaries, the difference between open and closed systems and the importance of systems thinking
Section S.2 Systems thinking patterns, which outlines the core components of systems thinking: distinctions (thing/other), systems (part/whole), relationships (action/reaction), and perspectives (point/view)
Learning objectives:
explain how urban commoning can support relocalisation in urban communities
Bologna, Italy, has a long tradition of civic engagement. During World War II, it was a centre for the resistance, and for decades, citizens actively shaped their communities. However, by the early 2000s, participation in local government weakened. Complex rules and procedures, known as bureaucracy, made it hard for residents to improve neighborhoods, and the 2008 economic crisis eroded trust in politics. By 2014, voter turnout was extremely low, and many people stopped engaging in their communities. Migrants, making up nearly 15% of the population, often left due to a lack of connection to the city.
In 2014, Bologna tried something new. The city introduced “pacts of collaboration,” allowing residents to work with the local government to care for public spaces. This reduced bureaucracy and empowered communities to restore parks, repurpose abandoned buildings, and create urban commons—urban spaces where people manage shared resources together. These efforts not only improved neighbourhoods, but also strengthened community ties. Bologna’s story shows that when people shape their environment, they reconnect with each other and their city.
The short video below is about Bologna’s experience.
What are some examples of commoning in urban areas?
What are some examples of commoning in urban areas?
Urban commons can range from small community gardens to locally managed energy grids. They exist in parks, water systems, shared buildings, and even public transport. Here are a few examples:
Kibera Public Space Project (KPSP)
Kibera Public Space Project (KPSP)
In Kibera, Nairobi—one of Africa’s largest informal settlements—space is scarce, and infrastructure is limited. Since 2006, the Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) and local residents have transformed neglected spaces into community-managed areas. The Kibera Public Space Project (KPSP) includes gardens, sanitation facilities, bridges, and markets, all collectively maintained. Residents govern these spaces, fostering responsibility and cooperation. This improves living conditions and strengthens social networks.
Figure 1. KDI worked with local residents to design and install safe bridges across the Ngong River in Kibera, improving safe access across the settlement
(Credit: KDI)
Bukit Brown Cemetery Project
Bukit Brown Cemetery Project
In Singapore, citizens rallied to protect Bukit Brown Cemetery, one of the largest Chinese cemeteries in the world. The cemetery was threatened by development as the city expanded and increased population. The community organised tours, clean-ups, and research to raise awareness of the cemetery’s cultural and ecological value. The community actively manages parts of the cemetery, working together to preserve it as an historical landmark and a shared space for cultural learning, ecological stewardship, and community engagement.
Figure 2. The Bukit Brown Cemetery in Singapore
(Credit: Justin Zhuang, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Park Slope Food Coop
Park Slope Food Coop
In New York City, the Park Slope Food Coop (Figure 3) is one of the oldest food cooperatives in the United States, established in 1973. The coop’s 17 000 members work for two hours and 45 minutes per month in exchange for access to groceries at 20-40% lower prices.
Beyond the food cost savings, the cooperative fosters community by bringing together diverse people in the neighbourhood to support the store. Members help stock shelves, clean, and assist shoppers. The cooperative also provides free on-site childcare for the shift workers and shoppers, provided by other members. They get to know people in their neighbourhood that they otherwise might not have met, widening and deepening social networks. The cooperative’s model has inspired similar initiatives worldwide.
Figure 3. The Park Slope Food Coop is an example of how commoning can strengthen households
(Credit: JV Santore, CC BY 2.0)
How is urban commoning related to relocalisation?
How is urban commoning related to relocalisation?
Globalisation has made cities dependent on resources from distant places. While globalisation provides a wider range of cheaper goods, disruptions like wars, natural disasters or even a blocked canal (Figure 4) can cause problems for supply chains. Such disruptions can cause product shortages and price increases. For example, the war in Ukraine disrupted global gas and grain supplies, creating widespread economic problems.
Figure 4. The container ship Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal in March 2021
(Credit: NASA, public domain)
Globalisation can also weaken local-social and local-ecological connections that involve strong social norms of responsibility and care for people who have direct relationships with one another. Networks where the people we rely on are more distant and unknown to us can be more fragile. As cities grow, the demand for food, energy, and housing rises, and many urban areas struggle to meet these needs. With over half the world’s population now living in cities, this overreliance on distant networks to meet needs is risky.
Relocalisation offers part of the solution to this problem (Section 3.4.3). Instead of depending entirely on global trade systems, relocalisation is about developing the local economy to meet many of a city’s needs locally. This can make cities more resilient, as local networks and relationships are strengthened and people work to meet their needs by using more of what is available and abundant in their region.
Relocalisation addresses these problems. Relocalisation focuses on strengthening local economies to meet cities’ needs using nearby resources. This reduces dependency on global systems, making cities more resilient. Urban commons are important for relocalisation. Locally managed housing, parks, or energy grids empower communities to meet needs while reducing reliance on distant supply chains. For instance, community-led housing projects provide affordable homes and prevent outside developers from driving up prices. Farmers’ markets promote local produce and seasonal eating.
Relocalisation also builds stronger communities. Managing shared resources fosters trust, cooperation, and mutual support, strengthening social cohesion to better face challenges like economic crises or climate change. Relocalisation doesn’t seek to eliminate global trade, but balances local and global connections, promoting sustainability and fair exchange.
Figure 5. Farmers’ markets bring people in the local community together, encourage people to eat seasonal produce, and can be a venue for many types of interactions
(Credit: Tony Wu, Pexels licence)
Relocalisation also fosters a stronger sense of community. When people work together to manage a shared resource—whether it’s a park, a food coop, or an energy grid—they form connections with each other. They build relationships based on trust, cooperation, and mutual support. This social fabric can make cities more resilient in the face of challenges like economic downturns or climate change.
Relocalisation doesn’t seek to eliminate global trade or isolate communities from the wider world. Instead, it aims to balance local and global connections by strengthening local systems while still engaging in fair and sustainable trade with other regions. By focusing on what can be produced and consumed locally and reducing dependence on distant supply chains, communities can become more resilient to global disruptions while still benefiting from global exchange. At the same time, relocalisation can strengthen values around social and ecological responsibilities.
What challenges face urban commons and relocalisation?
What challenges face urban commons and relocalisation?
Creating urban commons and relocalising economies isn’t easy. Securing spaces, financing activities, and encouraging participation require effort and creativity. State policies or market interests can sometimes block these efforts. States may fear loss of control over urban areas and businesses may see commoning as a threat to profit-making. However, as Bologna’s success shows, communities are able to overcome these challenges.
Technology can also support urban commons. Digital platforms help coordinate resources and connect participants. For example, a shared tool library (Figure 6) might use an app to track loans, or online platforms can link people interested in commoning projects (Section 4.2.5)
By reclaiming and managing shared spaces, communities not only meet immediate needs but also build stronger, more resilient cities for the future.
Figure 6. Digital apps support commoning, like this Library of Things, where people can rent things they need, rather than buying them
(Credit: Library of Things)
Activity 4.2.3
Activity 4.2.3
Concept: Regeneration
Skills: Reflection, Thinking skills (transfer)
Time: varies
Type: Individual, pairs, or small group
Option 1: Care and urban commoning
Time: 20 minutes
Section 4.1.5 explained the role of care in commoning, using the example of forest communities in Odisha, India who care deeply about the forest and work diligently to protect it. Affect is the emotional bond people feel toward a place, community, or shared resource. It’s what makes people care deeply about something beyond their own needs. Affective, emotional relationships between people and place are a core part of healthy commoning.
Section 4.1.5 outlined some things that communities can do to develop care:
Cultivate shared purpose and values
Ritualise togetherness
Contribute freely and practise gentle reciprocity
Trust place-based knowledge
Preserve relationships in addressing conflicts and reflect on governance
Individually, with a partner, or in a small group, discuss:
To what extent might it be easier or harder to cultivate care in urban areas as opposed to rural villages. Why?
What might an urban community need to do differently than a rural community to cultivate care about its shared resource? You may want to consider a specific context to make it easier to discuss, for example by focusing on one of the examples of urban commoning from this section.
Option 2: Bologna case study
Time: 35-40 minutes
Read the case study about the changes made in Bologna to promote urban commoning:
As you read, make a list of specific things that people did to support urban commoning, including by cultivating care (see Option 1 for some information on care).
Discuss what happened in this case with a partner, small group or as a class, using your list.
Consider what, if anything, the residents of Bologna could do to ensure that commoning is supported in the long run, even if the local government changes.
Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 4.5 Taking action
Checking for understanding
Checking for understanding
Further exploration
Further exploration
Kibera Public Space Project - the website capturing the commoning activities of Kibera. The Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is a community development design firm nonprofit helping Kibera’s residents design and plan their initiatives. Difficulty level: easy
Co-creating urban commons in Bologna, Italy - a webpage from Johns Hopkins Cities of Service website highlighting the Bologna Regulation, a policy framework that enables public-private partnerships to restore and maintain shared resources like parks, abandoned buildings, and public spaces. Difficulty level: easy
CLES: The (UK) national organisation of local economies - the website of an organisation working to relocalise economic activities and put economic management in the hands of local communities to build community wealth. Difficulty level: easy
How The World's Largest Community Kitchen Feeds 100,000 Daily - a short video showing the daily activities of the world’s largest community kitchen at The Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Difficulty level: easy
De Torteltuin - the website of a group of Dutch young people, fed up with the housing crisis, who decided to set up a cooperative to build green, social, affordable housing. The website provides information on the project, including how it was funded. Difficulty level: Easy
Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing Our Cities - an online guide describing how cities can harness the maker movement to spur innovation, and community engagement through collaboration among makers, governments, and businesses, with many examples related to commoning. Difficulty level: medium
Milwaukee Water Commons - an approach to water commoning in a high-income country. Difficulty level: medium
The Commoners Catalog for Changemaking: Tools for the Transitions Ahead - an online publication filled with interesting examples and stories of diverse forms of commoning, including urban commons. Difficulty level: medium.
Sources
Sources
Bollier, D. (2025). “8. Local, Vernacular, and Alive.” Think Like a Commoner, 2nd edition. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. https://www.thinklikeacommoner.com/
Cities of Service. (n.d.). Co-creating urban commons in Bologna, Italy. https://citiesofservice.jhu.edu/resource/co-creating-urban-commons-bologna-italy/
Kounkuey Design Initiative. (n.d.). Kibera public space project network. https://www.kounkuey.org/projects/kibera_public_space_project_network
Mont, O. (Ed.). (2025). Understanding the urban sharing economy: Sustainability and institutionalisation. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/understanding-the-urban-sharing-economy-9781035320530.html
Rueb, E. S. (2024, October 13). Joe Holtz, 76, the Park Slope Food Co-op’s general manager, steps down after 50 years. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/13/nyregion/park-slope-food-coop-joe-holtz.html?searchResultPosition=1
UN-Habitat. (2023, May 17). Urban commons: Reimagining public spaces [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/z3itmhDuem8
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Terminology (in order of appearance)
civic engagement: all the ways that people take action together to address issues of public concern
bureaucracy: complex rules and procedures
empower: becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights
urban commons: spaces in urban areas that are collectively managed by those who use them
informal settlement: residential areas where the people who live there do not own their property and have no formal legal right to settle there
infrastructure: large scale physical systems that a society needs to function (roads, railways, electricity networks, etc)
sanitation: conditions supporting public health, especially clean drinking water and sewage disposal
market: a system where people buy and sell goods and services for a price.
govern: to control, direct, or strongly influence the actions of other people or things
culture: the beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
historical landmark: an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved
stewardship: the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organisation or ecosystem
cooperative: an organisation owned and controlled by people to meet their common economic, social, and/or cultural needs
globalisation: the increased movement and influence of humans, products, money, technologies and culture across borders
supply chain: the sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of a product
shortage: when there is temporarily not enough of something
norm: a social rule for accepted and expected behaviour, can be stated or unstated
relocalisation: the process of shifting economic activities closer to where people live
trade: to exchange something for something else
economy: all the human-made systems that transfer and transform energy and matter to meet human needs and wants
resilient: able to recover after a disturbance
abundant: when something is available in large quantities
climate change: a change in the temperature and precipitation patterns in an area, in recent times due to human economic activities
sustainability: meeting people’s needs within the means of the planet
value: ideas about what is important or good
affect: a display of or feeling emotion
care: the act of providing what is necessary for the health, welfare, upkeep, and protection of someone or something
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse