Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Antje Steinmuller
As environments and resources are increasingly threatened by climate change and economic austerity measures the commons have received new attention as an alternative form of ownership and governance. Sparked by a loss of confidence in the state as the steward of resources, and in the free market as provider of goods and services, today’s interest in the commons is rooted in their promise of a more equitable distribution of spatial and material resources. For architects and urbanists, the commons as a project –as a site but also as a multiplicity of user-owners, and as a governance model – has opened up questions and challenges. It is expanding how we conceive of clients and stakeholders. It has challenged conventional design and approval processes. Perhaps most importantly, the commons as the object of design asks architects and urbanists to rethink our position as an author and provider of services to that of a member and “activist-participant” in the process of commoning itself. Preparing students for such work necessitates changes to our pedagogies. This paper proposes a methodology for introducing the commons in the context of architecture education in the form of a seminar that makes tangible the commons in five ways: (1) building knowledge of historical and theoretical perspectives on the commons; (2) offering a framework for understanding critical aspects of the commons today through collective case study analysis; (3) placing development of a common project in the hands of the student group; (4) asking critical questions about how “commoning” as a process might translate into knowledge sharing beyond the classroom; and (5) testing this knowledge in a short design project related to a type of commons. As the paper sheds light on the successes and short-comings of what might be considered the construction of a micro-commons in the classroom, it also reflects on the implications for the role of the instructor, who stakes out territories of learning while becoming themselves a member of the classroom commons.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Teach.2023.19
Volume Editors
Massimo Santanicchia
ISBN
978-1-944214-44-9
