ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the communitarian project of building a free wireless network in a working-class neighbourhood of London. It unpacks sociotechnological issues at the heart of technology making, wireless connectivity networks, and Living Labs deployment. Based on primary fieldwork data and years of participatory research with observations, action research, and networking in the field, the chapter takes the reader behind the routing mesh, from cabling and firmware upgrading to social trust and communitarian bonds. It reflects on the commoning practices of its community of interest in a rapidly changing and gentrifying urban space. The chapter makes a positional argument for a ‘smart approach’ to the commons, advocating for the ‘intelligent city’ to become a crucial stakeholder in creating and maintaining urban commons. An alliance between city and the commons, rather than the market, can start removing some of the barriers in the adoption of technologies which depend heavily on the Internet of People and Things.
