The Commons is a social method to collectively hold and manage resources: it cuts across all sectors of society. Common Praxis, our thesis group, studied commoning as it occurs in six different sectors in Brooklyn, New York. By overlapping these layers of activity we developed several findings concerning how a larger Urban Commons could be created, and in which areas of the city this type of activity would be most pertinent. We found that holistic community health, as it is fostered through community wealth building, environmental justice initiatives, permanently affordable housing, production and energy, and with involvement from key health institutions may be a central organizing tool for an Urban Commons.
Common Praxis is an independent research and advocacy group of interdisciplinary urban practitioners working for social justice in New York City. We offer a diversity of backgrounds in campaign organizing, community arts organizing, community-driven redevelopment, urban planning, green construction primary education. Formed in 2012, alongside the newly created Design and Urban Ecologies (DUE) graduate program at Parsons, Common Praxis believes in the democratization of New York City and the capacity of all its citizens to participate in a robust economy and diverse cultures.