ABSTRACT

Are we facing a crisis in the field of designing the urban commons? Some would even say we are already in the midst of it. According to the organizers of the International Building Exhibition (IBA Hamburg, 2012), public planning is suffering from a lack of legitimacy, as its goals and objectives are no longer grounded in what is usually called ‘public interest’. Pluralization and individualization – the hallmarks of modern societies – have resulted in a large variety of divergent interests and circumstances of life, which makes it difficult for urban planners to define shared values and common goals needed to provide guidelines for the design of urban commons.