The Commoning Practices and Transforming Spaces: Examples from Turkey and Spain

Abstract

The concept of “common” connotes a partnership established on a resource or goods. However, this concept covers also all material and non-material forms of the living space of a community or group. This study aims to reveal the transformations that social movements have created on urban space and the ways of using the space with a specific focus on " the right to the city and commoning practices" after the 2008 crisis. By focusing on urban social movements after 2008 crisis, case study areas are chosen based on commoning practices from Turkey and Spain.  We employed a qualitative research design by collecting a secondary data from articles, websites, and interview articles for  analysing natural, urban, and system commons with content and document analysis. The movements we focused on are urban social movements in which their achievements against private or state interventions against the natural (ecological) commons, the urban commons, and the commons as systems. One of the main conclusions we reached is that spaces shaped in line with the demands of social movements can be a guide for a fair and participatory urbanization processes.