Autonomy, Erasure, and Persistence in the Urban Gardening Commons. Issue 4 (2nd May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ginn, Franklin; Ascensão, Eduardo
• Is Part Of: Antipode. Volume 50:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 929
• Page End: 952
• Publication Date: 2018-05-02
• Subjects: urban agriculture -- community gardens -- Lisbon -- Portugal -- subaltern urbanism -- commons; Geography -- Periodicals; 910.5
• DOI: 10.1111/anti.12398
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0066-4812

Abstract

Abstract: Collective gardening spaces have existed across Lisbon, Portugal for decades. This article attends to the makeshift natures made by black migrants from Portugal's former colonies, and the racial urban geography thrown into relief by the differing fortunes of white Portuguese community gardening spaces. Conceptualising urban gardens as commons‐in‐the‐making, we explore subaltern urbanism and the emergence of autonomous gardening commons on the one hand, and the state erasure, overwriting or construction of top‐down commons on the other. While showing that urban gardening forges commons of varying persistence, we also demonstrate the ways through which the commons are always closely entwined with processes of enclosure. We further argue that urban gardening commons are divergent and cannot be judged against any abstract ideal of the commons. In conclusion, we suggest that urban gardening commons do not have a "common" in common.