Commons Codes
The aim is to foster the decentralisation of power structures, the identification and recognition of the subjects involved and the legal status of public-common institutions.Since the first event held at the Medialab-Prado in Madrid in September 2016, the objective of the different encounters coordinated by Códigos Comunes has been to develop a theoretical-practical framework of legal tools promoting processes of democratic transformation and openness (participation, co-creation, co-management, control and monitoring, decision-making, etc.).
The aim is to foster the decentralisation of power structures, the identification and recognition of the subjects involved and the legal status of public-common institutions.
The book Códigos comunes urbanos. Herramientas para el devenir-común de las ciudades [Urban Common Codes. Tools for the Becoming-Common of Cities] looked at legal, institutional and social forms of urban commoning in the municipalist experience in Spain and Italy and was published with a Creative Commons licence in January 2021.
What is a ‘city in common’, and what legal tools can be used to radically democratise decision-making on the urban scale? How are the processes of citizen re-appropriation of law and rights already underway articulated?
Our hypothesis is that the “common codes” are part of a set of legal and institutional proposals capable of rebuilding the management of our territories and resources.
Urban commons are not only self-managed spaces but, above all, democratic practices that represent a fundamental paradigm shift. From public space to housing, water, energy or public health, it is a question of overcoming the alternative between the market and the state and recovering democratic control of the collective means by which we satisfy our basic needs.
