Can the commons be temporary? The role of transitional commoning in post-quake Christchurch

ABSTRACT

In recent work on commons and commoning, scholars have argued that we might delink the practice of commoning from property ownership, while paying attention to modes of governance that enable long-term commons to emerge and be sustained. Yet commoning can also occur as a temporary practice, in between and around other forms of use. In this article we reflect on the transitional commoning practices and projects enabled by the Christchurch post-earthquake organisation Life in Vacant Spaces, which emerged to connect and mediate between landowners of vacant inner city demolition sites and temporary creative or entrepreneurial users. While these commons are often framed as transitional or temporary, we argue they have ongoing reverberations changing how people and local government in Christchurch approach common use. Using the cases of the physical space of the Victoria Street site “The Commons” and the virtual space of the Life in Vacant Spaces website, we show how temporary commoning projects can create and sustain the conditions of possibility required for nurturing commoner subjectivities. Thus despite their impermanence, temporary commoning projects provide a useful counter to more dominant forms of urban development and planning premised on property ownership and “permanent” timeframes, in that just as the physical space of the city being opened to commoning possibilities, so too are the expectations and dispositions of the city’s inhabitants, planners, and developers.

KEYWORDS:

• Commons
• community economies
• subjectivity
• transitional spaces
• urban development
• Canterbury earthquakes

Disclosure statement

At the time of writing, Irene Boles was Chair of the board of trustees for Life in Vacant Spaces, the not-for-profit charitable organisation featuring in this study. Since article submission, Irene has stepped down and Kelly Dombroski has joined.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge that this article builds on a previous video production produced by Marney Brosnan at Mahi Pai media, and relying on Katherine Gibson’s contribution as interviewer in that film. Ngā mihi nui also to participants in our panel session at the Social Movements Resistance and Social Change Conference 2016 at University of Victoria Wellington for raising many useful points; Stephen Healy for his astute comments on several versions of this article; Matt Lesniak for his contribution to the case study of The Commons; Rachael Welfare and the board of Life in Vacant Spaces for their helpful insights and enthusiasm for this project; Gap Filler and Maja Moritz for the use of the Pallet Pavilion photo.

Notes

1 In New Zealand English, the Māori word “iwi”, meaning “tribe” or “tribal group”, is used to refer to the same. Ngāi Tahu was one of the first iwi to settle with the Crown under historic breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. For more information on the Ngāi Tahu settlement of 1997, see Gudeman (2001).

2 Two of the authors (along with others) have begun a National Science Challenge 11: Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities funded project, working with another Christchurch organisation that operates from a LIVS commoned site. See www.cultivatingurbanwellbeing.wordpress.com to follow progress on this project. During the writing of this article, another of the authors also joined the board of Life in Vacant Spaces.

3 Pākehā is the Māori word used to describe people of European descent, but can also refer to non-Māori more generally. Many New Zealand European settlers use it as a self-identifier.