Urban gardens, commoning, and vernacular governance

Hanmer, Owain

Abstract

Given that one of the foundational pillars of the commons is self-management (Stavrides 2015), where people themselves determine the rules, traditions, and values of the spaces and resources (Bollier 2020), this paper specifically explores the everyday dynamics of governing urban gardens as commons. The paper initially documents the internal/endogenous dynamics of self-management, and in particular the frictions and tensions that arise as people negotiate the everyday politics of managing an urban space. However, these endogenous dynamics naturally relate with, and are partially shaped by, exogenous actors. Using Scott’s (1999; 2012) theories provides a foundation for understanding the ways that landowning institutions of urban gardens attempt to rule, order, and organise the everyday dynamics of these sites, and crucially the vernacular forms of governance that extend despite and beyond these limitations. These everyday observations highlight the possibilities and challenges of commons governance in action, and in particular raises questions as to the role of the state in co-governing the commons (Foster and Iaione 2022). The paper argues that micro experiments such as urban gardens provide an opportunity for (often non-politicised) groups to develop skills and capacity in self-management. As such, they can be important politicising moments both in realising the nature of the neoliberal state (its priorities of land ‘development’ and its distrust of people and communities as actors) as well as realising their own collective power.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Social and Solidarity Economy and the Commons
• Start Date: Nov 9, 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 27, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 28, 2023
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11458505