Pappa, A., & Paio, A. (2022). Commoning (in) the neighbourhood, righting the city. In G. C. Moniz, I. Ferreira, B. Caitana, N. Nunes, & J. R. Pereira (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Nature for an Inclusive and Innovative Urban Regeneration (NATiURB 2022) (pp. 157-170), Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities 24.

Last month I had the chance to participate at the conference 'Nature for inclusive Urban Regeneration' organised by URBINAT in Milan. I was very pleased to present my working paper ‘Commoning (in) the Neighbourhood, Righting the City’ and discuss a definition of the Right to the City (R2C) through commoning and the role of the state in this discourse, looking at the case of Lisbon.   The first formulation of R2C dates back to 1960’s Henry Lefebvre (1996), but since then it has been a highly discussed topic and one of the main ideas reclaimed by emancipatory practices and practitioners, including the urban commoners. So, while the definition of the R2C through bottom-up commoning activities in the neighbourhoods clearly entails representations of collective struggles of communities to reclaim the urban value (Borch & Kornberger, 2015), there is a debate among theorists on the role of the state in these negotiations. In other words, the question that emerges is: Can the R2C and commoning be seen in terms of existing state and market principals? Possibly oversimplifying Huron’s (2018) analysis of two antithetical positions by anticapitalists on the one hand and institutionalists on the other, the response would be ‘no’ and ‘yes’ respectively.   Yet, exploring what lies between binary responses, I would argue, can also reveal radical alternatives. This consideration arose in my research explorations already since our RE-DWELL very first training activity back in September 2021, namely the Lisbon Workshop. There, during a highly engaging open discussion on participatory processes among Early-Stage Researchers, supervisors and representatives from our non-academic partners, Miguel Brito from the Municipality of Lisbon illustrated the notions of bottom-up and top-down initiated participatory processes as a wave. I spent days reflecting on the strength of this expressive image. What does it offer to conceptualise top-down and bottom-up initiated participation, or in extrapolation other emancipatory practices, such as commoning and the R2C, as a wave and what does this meeting serve?   The urgency for this encounter relates to the transformation of knowledge from static, siloed and self-referential that contributes to the preservation of the existing power structures, to dynamic flow between grassroots informal urbanisation and top-down formal urbanisation that can produce new strategies in research and practice. In this way, as Melanie Dodd (2019) explains, in one direction we must consider the ways in which urban activism can transform institutional structures and produce new kinds of institutions; on the other direction, ways that institutional resources can reach disadvantaged sites and transform unhealthy norms ingraining creative intelligence in informal dynamics.   Arguably, these knowledge flows need to be curated until the two notions reach a balance, in which communities remain committed to practicing their R2C and formal urban planning allows for real synergies and transformations to emerge. Until then, a great challenge remains. How to facilitate such dialogues without abandoning one’s radical values or serving unintentionally co-optation agendas?     References   Borch, C., & Kornberger, M. (2015). Urban commons: Rethinking the city. Routledge.    Dodd, M. (2019). Spatial practices: Modes of action and engagement with the city. Taylor & Francis.   Huron, A. (2018). Carving Out the Commons: Tenant Organizing and Housing Cooperatives in Washington, D.C. 1 edn. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press.   Lefebvre, H. (1996). The Right to the City. In E. Lebas, Elizabeth, Kofman (Ed.), Writings on Cities (Vol. 53, Issue 2, p. 260). Mass, USA Blackwell Publishers.

My Experience with LABIC and Participatory Planning During my secondment in Lisbon, I had the incredible opportunity to work on the LABIC (Neighborhood Innovation Laboratory) project in the historic district of Barreiro Velho. The project aims to bring together local residents and city officials to collaboratively design solutions for better urban living. My experience involved  insightful academic exchanges with the local researcher Carolina Cardoso (ISCTE) and gave me a closer look at the challenges and successes of community-driven urban regeneration in Portugal. The LABIC project, based in Barreiro Velho, focuses on fostering community cohesion and tackling urban issues like housing quality and public space management. The idea was to empower local residents to take part in shaping their own neighborhoods. The use of vacant lots for temporary libraries or play areas, and the involvement of children in these activities, showed me how powerful these simple actions can be in transforming spaces and creating connections between residents. I was fortunate enough to closely observe a community building event—a street party. This vibrant gathering, organized by local residents and project researchers, was a celebration of community spirit. With a small music stage, a barbeque, and an upcycling workshop, the event not only brought people together but also helped raise awareness about the ongoing urban interventions. As I wandered through the neighborhood, taking photos and chatting with the researchers present, I realized how much these small, community-driven events contribute to fostering social cohesion. There was a palpable sense of ownership, identity and community pride in the area, something that’s often difficult to achieve in areas nearer the city centre. Shifting My Focus: Housing, Informality, and AUGIs One of the most striking aspects of my secondment was the exposure to Portugal’s approach to informal settlements, specifically the Áreas Urbanas de Génese Ilegal (AUGIs), or areas of illegal housing construction. These neighborhoods, often located on the outskirts of cities, developed informally over time, and their residents have been working to legalize their homes and improve their living conditions. This topic intrigued me because it resonated with my research in Cyprus, where informal construction also plays a significant role in suburban and rural housing. I had the chance to conduct interviews with several key stakeholders, including academic researchers and municipal officials, to better understand how new participatory planning methods were being explored in these areas. These conversations were eye-opening, as they focused not just on the challenges of housing legality, but also on the social issues of self-governance, citizenship, and social cohesion for lower-income residents. In particular, I spoke with Carolina Cardoso, José Carlos Motta, and local officials from the Lisbon municipality, including Cláudia Batista and Álvaro Fernandez. The insights I gained were invaluable in exploring how participatory processes, such as community mapping and photo-voice methods, were being used to engage residents in transforming their own neighborhoods.  Taking Lessons Back to Cyprus The experiences gained during an Erasmus+ BIP Blended Intensive Programme, which I participated in at ISCTE, allowed me to gather new ideas for my own research in Cyprus. The programme also gave me a platform to collaborate with students and colleagues from Lisbon and Cyprus. Together, we explored the concept of Urban Living Labs, spaces where citizens and researchers can co-create solutions for urban challenges. This experienced enriched my understanding of how different South European countries approach similar issues. In particular, the participatory practices used in Lisbon’s AUGI areas—where residents collaborate with the municipality to legalize and improve their homes—provided a great example of how co-production of knowledge between citizens and authorities can lead to more sustainable and inclusive urban planning. Reflecting on my time in Lisbon, I realize that, from the lively street party in Barreiro Velho to the thought-provoking interviews on informal housing, it has been an experience which added to my understanding of urban planning. By seeing participatory urban planning in action, I realised that projects that take citizen participation seriously can make a real difference in the lives of  people in Lisbon’s peripheral neighborhoods. The power of community-driven urban innovation and experimentation is in reframing the prerequisites of urban planning, to start from the existing conditions and strengths of locality to build social cohesion towards socially sustainable housing envrionments.