ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the change in resources that has supported the reinvention of the city after the environmental crisis, from the realm of the private to the commons. The thread of argument departs from economy, more specifically from political economy. Governments imposed harsh austerity measures that spread a rather oppressive precariousness throughout society, especially because they were accompanied by the privatization of public services in key sectors such as health and education. During the postwar period, the welfare state took over the role they played, expanding and institutionalizing them, therefore their essence as commons was lost. Nevertheless, their partial dismantling by neoliberal privatization policies has led to the recovery of certain communal practices, which are usually of modest pretensions and preindustrial. Nowadays, ethnic urbanisms have spread throughout Europe and North America because of the arrival of immigrants and asylum seekers that have projected their cultural and religious differences on cities.
