Against the Commons: A Radical History of Urban Planning

Against the Commons offers a radical counterhistory of urban planning that explores how capitalism and spatial politics have evolved to address the challenge of protecting collective autonomy from capitalist encroachment. It highlights episodes from preindustrial England, New York City, Chicago, Weimar-era Berlin, and neoliberal Milan, and outlines an alternative vision for a postcapitalist urban planning.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 27 September 2022
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

A compelling alternative history of capitalist urbanization is presented through the lens of the commons. These shared, self-managed access to food, housing, and the basic conditions for a creative life are vital for communities to thrive and safeguard spaces of collective autonomy from capitalist encroachment. Spanning over three centuries, Against the Commons offers a radical counterhistory of urban planning that delves into how capitalism and spatial politics have evolved to address this challenge.

The book highlights episodes from preindustrial England, New York City, and Chicago between the 1850s and the early 1900s, Weimar-era Berlin, and neoliberal Milan. Through detailed archival research and provocative critical theory, Álvaro Sevilla-Buitrago illustrates how capitalist urbanization has eroded the egalitarian, convivial life-worlds around the commons.

Against the Commons emphasizes the ways in which urbanization shapes the social fabric of places and territories, particularly focusing on the impact of planning and design initiatives on working-class communities and popular strata. The book projects history into the future, outlining an alternative vision for a postcapitalist urban planning. In this vision, the structure of collective spaces is ultimately defined by the people who inhabit them.

This alternative history provides valuable insights into the ongoing struggles over land, shared resources, public space, neighborhoods, creativity, and spatial imaginaries. It challenges the dominant narratives of capitalist urbanization and offers a vision for a more equitable and sustainable future. By reclaiming the commons as a central aspect of urban planning, we can create cities that are both prosperous and inclusive, where the rights of individuals and communities are upheld and where collective autonomy is protected from capitalist encroachment.

Weight: 454g
Dimension: 139 x 216 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517911768