Topical Issue of lo Squaderno
Commons: practices, boundaries and thresholds
edited by Giacomo D’Alisa & Cristina Mattiucci.
In recent years, the issue of the commons seems to have become crucial. On the one hand, academic and political debates have focused on defining the characteristics of common goods and services, along with the institutional frameworks where they are managed. On the other hand, in an array of everyday life experiences reference to common goods has turned into the expression of new practices of citizenship.
In different contexts, groups of self-organized citizens have designed sets of pooling practices concerning spaces, goods, times and knowledge, experimenting management in ways that are alternative both to centralized regulation and to the capitalist market. These social and political practices contribute to the identification and recognition of the commons, insofar as they transform current values and produce specific spatial and social relationships.
This issue of lo Squaderno aims to explore some specific aspects that regard the practice and interpretation of the common goods. In particular, we aim to investigate the dichotomy between access to and exclusion from resources, spaces and rules. What sort of scalability do common goods have, and how is it possible to create inclusion / exclusion through them?
Opening up a reflection on the differences between the common, the public and the private domain – as well as on the relationship between access, use, ownership and property – we aim to foster a debate that also tackles the rhetoric of the commons as they are tested on, or applied to, specific spaces and places. We invite contribution both drawing from direct experience and developing theoretical reflections. Some of the key issues which we invite authors to deal with are:
– How are common goods created? Which needs and which desires do they attempt to fulfill?
– Why certain commons work for centuries and others just for a few years? What major management problems do they encounter? What exogenous forces determine their existence?
– Why are commons always associated with a community? How to define a community? Can the term ‘community’ be applied both to villagers who manage the scarce resources and global internet users who share software code?
– What power issues arise in the management of common goods? Can the commons be seen as a counter-power to contemporary capitalism? Is it ultimately possible to avoid the absorption of commoning practices into the capitalist process?
Deadline for contributions: 30 September 2025