Practices of Re-Appropriation and “Liberation” of Urban Commons. The Case of Naples

Abstract

For decades, commons and related management practices have been at the center of a broader academic, political and public debate. There have been many attempts to recognize, categorize and analyse this type of goods, that are, by definition, other than State and Market. In the urban context, there are many experiences that show how the citizens, in order to reclaim abandoned and/or disused public spaces and places, act informal practices as a response to collective requests that try to resist and contain processes of commodification of space (Lefebvre, 1976). Starting from these reflections, the article engages with the debate on the practices of re-appropriation of urban commons put into action by the local community. Preferring an ethnographic research approach, the article presents the results of a case study concerned the building of Santa Maria della Fede “Liberata”. An abandoned public building, located in the historic area of Naples, at the center of a commoning and liberation process.