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Against the Commons: A Radical History of Urban Planning
An alternative history of capitalist urbanization through the lens of the commons
Characterized by shared, self-managed access to food, housing, and the basic conditions for a creative life, the commons are essential for communities to flourish and protect spaces of collective autonomy from capitalist encroachment. In a narrative spanning more than three centuries, Against the Commons provides a radical counterhistory of urban planning that explores how capitalism and spatial politics have evolved to address this challenge. Highlighting episodes from preindustrial England, New York City and Chicago between the 1850s and the early 1900s, Weimar-era Berlin, and neoliberal Milan, Álvaro Sevilla-Buitrago shows how capitalist urbanization has eroded the egalitarian, convivial life-worlds around the commons. The book combines detailed archival research with provocative critical theory to illuminate past and ongoing struggles over land, shared resources, public space, neighborhoods, creativity, and spatial imaginaries. Against the Commons underscores the ways urbanization shapes the social fabric of places and territories, lending particular awareness to the impact of planning and design initiatives on working-class communities and popular strata. Projecting history into the future, it outlines an alternative vision for a postcapitalist urban planning, one in which the structure of collective spaces is ultimately defined by the people who inhabit them.
Characterized by shared, self-managed access to food, housing, and the basic conditions for a creative life, the commons are essential for communities to flourish and protect spaces of collective autonomy from capitalist encroachment. In a narrative spanning more than three centuries, Against the Commons provides a radical counterhistory of urban planning that explores how capitalism and spatial politics have evolved to address this challenge. Highlighting episodes from preindustrial England, New York City and Chicago between the 1850s and the early 1900s, Weimar-era Berlin, and neoliberal Milan, Álvaro Sevilla-Buitrago shows how capitalist urbanization has eroded the egalitarian, convivial life-worlds around the commons. The book combines detailed archival research with provocative critical theory to illuminate past and ongoing struggles over land, shared resources, public space, neighborhoods, creativity, and spatial imaginaries. Against the Commons underscores the ways urbanization shapes the social fabric of places and territories, lending particular awareness to the impact of planning and design initiatives on working-class communities and popular strata. Projecting history into the future, it outlines an alternative vision for a postcapitalist urban planning, one in which the structure of collective spaces is ultimately defined by the people who inhabit them.
- GenresUrbanismArchitecture
318 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2022
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243 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 17, 2022
I'm of two minds about this book. On one hand, there is some really provocative writing. Particularly around the Irish enclosures and Milan in the anni di piombo. It's really great to see urban planning described as an explicitly authoritarian profession, and then in the conclusion talk about ways in which the profession can move forward.
On the other hand, it's really dense and tough to read. Definitely one of the more impenetrable academic texts I've read recently. And it kind of suffers from that "here's my point, and here's some case studies" that make it tough to thread. Like, what about the counter-examples through the centuries?
I was going to give it three stars, but there is some great stuff about enclosures in there, and I'm a softie. I definitely don't think this is a "Must Read" by any measure, but there are maybe some sections I'd cut out and teach in a a grad course.
On the other hand, it's really dense and tough to read. Definitely one of the more impenetrable academic texts I've read recently. And it kind of suffers from that "here's my point, and here's some case studies" that make it tough to thread. Like, what about the counter-examples through the centuries?
I was going to give it three stars, but there is some great stuff about enclosures in there, and I'm a softie. I definitely don't think this is a "Must Read" by any measure, but there are maybe some sections I'd cut out and teach in a a grad course.
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September 23, 2024gems throughout, although they require an unnecessary degree of mining through dense language, imho.
the conclusion in particular deserves a read; really provocative thinking about how theories of radical planning might reflect in practice.
overall premise: planning (as a discipline) functioning towards neoliberal //decommonizing// efforts rather than as the beacon of social progress it imagines itself to be.
liked it, definitely had to stay with it for a while, but glad to finally get to it on the TBR
the conclusion in particular deserves a read; really provocative thinking about how theories of radical planning might reflect in practice.
overall premise: planning (as a discipline) functioning towards neoliberal //decommonizing// efforts rather than as the beacon of social progress it imagines itself to be.
liked it, definitely had to stay with it for a while, but glad to finally get to it on the TBR
October 28, 2023
Un excepcional aporte a la historia del urbanismo.
Original, claro en sus planteamientos y sus propósitos, bien estructurado, bien fundamentado, estupendamente escrito, revelador, sugerente... Una gozada.
Con este magnífico libro, Sevilla-Buitrago debería posicionarse entre los investigadores más agudos de cuantos se aproximan a los estudios urbanos desde una perspectiva radical.
9'5/10
Original, claro en sus planteamientos y sus propósitos, bien estructurado, bien fundamentado, estupendamente escrito, revelador, sugerente... Una gozada.
Con este magnífico libro, Sevilla-Buitrago debería posicionarse entre los investigadores más agudos de cuantos se aproximan a los estudios urbanos desde una perspectiva radical.
9'5/10
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews