Urban Commons ─ Rethinking the City

This book rethinks the city by examining its various forms of collectivity – its atmospheres, modes of exclusion, self-organization and governance – on the basis of a critical discussion of the notion of urban commons.

The idea of the commons has received surprisingly little attention in urban theory, even though the city may well be conceived as a shared resource. Consequently, this book aims to rethink what a city might be by studying how the notion of the commons opens up new understandings of urban collectivities; addressing a range of questions about issues such as urban diversity, belonging, sexuality, subcultures, emergencies, and creativity. Urban Commons: Rethinking the City also discusses in more methodological terms how one might study the urban commons, opening up a neglected area of enquiry in cultural and legal studies.

In these respects, the rethinking of the city undertaken in this book has an irreducibly critical edge, as the notion of the commons delivers new insights about how collective urban life is formed and governed. It will therefore be of great interest to those researching the city in law, urban studies, and cultural studies.

Christian Borch is Professor of Political Sociology at the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. His work focuses on crowds, architecture, financial markets and urban theory.

Martin Kornberger is professor of strategy and organization at Copenhagen Business School and visiting professor at the WU Wien. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Vienna before becoming associate professor for design and management and research director of the Australian government’s Creative Industry Innovation Centre at the University of Technology.