Inclusive and Dynamic Commoning in Informal Urban Green Spaces

• In Event: The Limits and Possibilities of Democratic Environmental Social Movements

Abstract

Urban spaces characterized by informality, marginality, diversity of activities and imaginings present opportunities for bottom-up occupations and claim-making, both autonomous and collective. Collective occupations and claim-making involve commoning, processes through which people recognize that they share something and develop a sense of mutuality toward each other and whatever they share (Bollier and Helfrich 2019; Blomley 2008, 2016; Linebaugh 2008, 79, 279; Williams 2018). Commoning favors the emergence of informal decentralized systems of sharing and caring of the sort associated with what Tronto (2013) calls “caring democracy,” and contributes to their vitality and durability (Blau 2021; Gibson-Graham 2006; Ostrom 1990; Singh 2017).

But is commoning also compatible with the fluidity and openness from which it emerges? And how inclusive is it? One the one hand, mutuality, a defining feature of commoning, implies interactions and decision-making based on mutual respect and consent if not consensus. As an ideal type, commoning is an egalitarian, participatory, and deliberative process, thereby creating possibilities for social transformation (Agrawal et al. 2023; Federici 2019; Gibson-Graham et al. 2016). Yet, producing and reproducing commons means producing and reproducing norms and communities, and norms and communities are defined by what they exclude. Even new norms and communities emerge from existing societies, they may reproduce rather than challenge existing forms of inequality and exclusion (Blau 2021; Nightingale 2019; Velicu and García-López 2018).

Is it possible for processes of commoning to sustain rather than restrict fluidity and openness? Although inspired by examples of social mobilization related to informal urban green spaces in Montreal, this question is fundamental given the fluidity and diversity inherent in, arguably, all scales of contemporary society. Can we – individuals, collectivities, municipalities, states - find ways to engage each other respectfully as equals, without resorting to coercion or allowing the few to close off possibilities by refusing to cooperate? This paper explores these issues through a critical engagement with the literature on commoning and examples of mobilization to prevent destruction of informal urban green spaces in the name of development in Montreal.

Works Cited
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Author

• Amy R. Poteete, Concordia University