Sharing the city: from short-term interventions to long-term forms of collective ownership

Workshop leader: Marco Clausen

Workshop description: 
How can spaces be used collectively to benefit the common good? What kind of legal and economic frameworks are needed to stabilize sharing practices? The starting point for a discussion will be a thesis that urban commons understood as long-term arrangements of users are highly unlikely in times of privatization of public goods and financialization of real estate markets. At the same time the ongoing political, social, economic and ecological crises makes the creation of new forms and the re-invention of traditional forms of collective use of resources and spaces more urgent than ever. What kind of practical models can be found to formulate alternatives?
During the workshop concrete experiences of Prinzessinnengarten – a social and ecological urban garden in the center of Berlin will be shared. From a discussion on the potential but also the limits of forms of in-between uses the participants will arrive at practical proposals for new forms of collective ownership.

Who is it for?
People interested in collective practices of governance. Since the aim of the session is mutual learning and knowledge sharing, participants already engaged in self-organized spaces are especially welcome.

What are the aims?
By bringing together different experiences and knowledge we will try to formulate 6 general thesis about the possibility and the need for collectively managed and self-organized spaces with cultural, political and ecological benefits for the common good.