ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the conceptual relation between “Do It Yourself (DIY) urbanism” in vacant commercial buildings and mainstream capitalism and urbanization. It does so through an exploration of the discourses and practices of a particular case study: the self-initiated DIY urbanism of the Renew Newcastle (RN) scheme in the post-industrial inner city of Newcastle, Australia. It is the contention of this chapter that between the DIY urbanism of Renew Newcastle and select philosophical and historical accounts of self-initiated, artisanal production methodologies, lies a specific account of, and response to, the failures of capitalism as a singular monolithic force in the urban milieu.
