The city as a commons

This social housing project in San José, Costa Rica, is looking at novel ways of solving housing problems for those in need based on the principles of ‘the commons’. Historically, commons were Crown-owned pieces of land that everyone had a right to graze their livestock on. Now they refer to any shared resource that is collectively managed – from community gardens to Wikipedia.

What interests me about this project is how it is championing collaboration over competition and striving to make space for combined academic, professional and civic engagement. This approach is bringing parties to the table equally and directly informing how the city and its resources are being governed and managed for economic and environmental sustainability.

This example of the commons in action traces back to the work of Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for economics. Ostrom analysed examples of well-functioning commons across the world and found the elements that enabled them to thrive could be grouped into eight principles, including:

• well-defined boundaries
• collective decision-making
• easily accessible conflict-resolution mechanisms
• smaller, nested enterprises to allow ground-level management of larger resources.

I also like that the San José project is demonstrating a systems way of thinking, using mapping and practicing to build deeper understanding of the local landscape so areas of intervention can be pinpointed.

– Kate Goodwin