Chapter 4: The Commons as a Form of Urban Citizenship: From Post-Capitalist Resistance to Community Cohesion in Bologna¹

This chapter offers a comparative study of five urban commons experiences in the city of Bologna. They include three experiences that are social movement and activist in nature, one that is more of a cultural movement and one that is community-based. LU and PT self-identify as anti-systemic, anti-capitalist, CO aims at a more inclusive society that recognizes the rights of the LGBTQIA+ communities, while BL questions the sustainability of the mass consumption capitalist model. IS is a community-based group creating and sustaining neighbourhood social cohesion. Five different categories of analysis the authors selected to offer a deeper understanding of the nature and scope of each of these experiences and to what extent they can be understood as forms of citizenship: (a) inclusive commoning and governance; (b) feminist values and practices; (c) goals around identified and satisfied needs of beneficiaries; (d) appropriation of space/right to the city and ecology; (e) implication in politics and sociopolitical alliances. The authors explore the characteristics, values and actions according to which urban commons can be considered a post-capitalist or a post-industrial alternative to state- or privately run urban spaces or forms of resilience and social cohesion. The authors’ argument is that not all urban commons are post-capitalist and many experiences are in continuity with community organizing and social movement collective action that the authors define as urban citizenship.