Experimentingwith

Matina Kapsali* & Maria Karagianni**Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

AUTONOMA Towards the collective city1-2 July 2016, Athens

*skapsali@arch.auth.gr, **mkaragi@arch.auth.gr

From active citizenship to being-in-common

urban gardening

Introduction

•Urban gardening initiatives as a type of collectively produced space;•Not an a priori revolutionary re-appropriation of public space from the people;

•Social, political and environmental dimensions equally important for unpacking their urban imaginaries & everyday praxis;

Case studies: Kipos3 & Peri-Urban Gardening Group (PERKA) in Thessaloniki

Structure

•Theoretical framework: Urban political Ecology & Urban

Commons

•Research methodology

•Urban gardening initiatives in Thessaloniki

•Comparative analysis of Kipos3 & PERKA

•Concluding remarks

Urban gardens as commons?Theoretical framework

Urban gardening initiatives

Radical approaches:

•“spaces of contestation” | Eizenberg, Staeheli, Mitchell, Gibson

•“spaces of control” | Pudup

•“spaces of neoliberalisation” | Quastel

Multiple differences between initiatives & spacesNeed for a more holistic analysis

Theoretical framework

Urban political ecology

Urban commons

Urban political ecology

“environmental values drawn from a moral community have as much to say about the politics of the community as they do about the environment.”

Harvey, 1993

Axes:

• Environmental

• Political

• Ideological

• Social

Urban commoning

the common is “the opening of a space between beings (things), and the indefinite, maybe infinite possibility that this space opens, reopens, changes and modalises”

Nancy, 2010

• Political & social dimensions of space at the centre of analysis

Urban commons:

1. are produced;

2. present a set of ‘livelihood qualities over which rights are negotiated;

3. Include non-commodified practices; and

4. necessitate communities – the commoners

Unpacking the urban gardensThe imaginaries and everyday praxis of grassroots initiatives

Research methodology I

utopia as a “process of becoming, but one that is already geographically realisable within the interstices of everyday urban practice, [since this] constitutes precisely the foundation for transformative urban programmes”

Swyngedouw & Kaika, 2003

• Politics of possibility |

Gibson-Graham

• Everyday life as the level of analysis |

Lefebvre

Research methodology II

ImaginariesEveryday praxis

Research methods

Fieldwork: March-May 2016

• 5 semi-structured in-depth interviews;

• Document, and public & radio talks’ by participants collection & analysis;

• Announcements and publications by the initiatives or the local online & printed press;

• Participant observation.

Urban gardening initiatives in ThessalonikiA comparative analysis of Kipos3 & PERKA

• Formed: 2011

• Area: former military camp Karatasou

• Citizen-led initiative in collaboration with

the Cultural Club Karatasou

Peri-urban Gardening (Perka)

Self-sufficiency

Solidarity

Food quality

• Central goal: the communal cultivation

based on the principles of organic

farming

• Decision-making: assemblies

• Build solidarity network

A new relationship between

nature and the city “through the

principles of communality, self-

management, egalitarianism and

continued education, outside any political

party lines”

Kipos3 – City as a Resource

• Formed: 2014

• location: municipal area near the city centre

• Two architects and one agriculturist

• In cooperation with the Municipality of Thessaloniki

• Funded by Aggelopoulos Foundation through the programme

Aggelopoulos – Clinton GIU Fellowship.

• With the support of the School of Architecture and Agriculture

of AUTh

• Aim: “the transformation of

unformed spaces and urban

voids into spots for common

gardening and activities, driving

a broader impact on Greek city’s

everyday life”

Kipos3 – City as a Resource

“Reveal food in the core of the

crisis discussion, not as a means

of self-sufficiency only, but

mainly as a key tool for building

in a holistic way urban

resilience”

Organization

Knowledge production

Collaborating actors

PERKA

• Formal & informal ways

of knowledge production

• Informal resource of

learning

Kipos3

• Expert knowledge

“Focus on the importance of professional knowledge [...] in order to present spatial premises for a good life”

“Against the privatization, segmentation, selling out of the land and construction on it”

Municipality

“I love my city, I adopt my neighborhood”

Private sector

E.g. Agris Inc.

Civil Society

“[PERKA] is focused on the necessity for ideological and political background which was out of the team’s scope”

Kipos3

Active citizenship or being-in-common?

A new notion of citizenship that pushes the boundaries of formal decision-making processes and expands it towards citizens

Kipos3

• Expert-led initiative• New spaces in the city but

without challenging the existing framework

• Ameliorate life in the city and the city itself

• No strong sense of collectivism • Funded by private capital and

donations• Active citizens - not

commoners

PERKA• Collective action that challenge

the hegemonic social and spatial order

• Non-commodified practices• Environmental and political

scope • Decision-making through

assemblies• Being-in-common

Thank you!