Sharing is one of the humanity’s most basic traits; we intrinsically recognize the benefits of pooling resources within a community in order to take advantage of varied abilities and access in order to fulfill needs. Sharing is the key driver behind civilization’s move towards collective living – first in small settlements and eventually in megalopoleis. The impact of sharing goes beyond simply satisfying the necessities for survival and extends itself into the social and cultural dimensions of our communities. In constructing an urban commons, composed of collectively managed and shared resources, we shape our physical, social, and cultural environments to achieve some degree of shareabilty – whether of goods, services, or experiences.
These historic and evolved cultural roots ensure that sharing is inevitably part of our daily lives. Yet, its central role in how we organize and manage our cities is increasingly threatened. Specifically, the resources previously contained within the commons are slipping into privatized forms of management. Commodifying elements of the public realm, such as energy, space, water, transportation and education, among others, has fragmented the commons and led to major, now too familiar, issues of injustice and inequality. Within a context of increased emphasis on the individual and privatization of the commons, sharing holds much promise for re-evaluating our economic, political, and social relations to equitably distribute resources and services at the scale of both the individual and the collective.
