The Evaluation of Urban Commons, a Few Theoretical-Methodological Considerations

The role of urban commons is an issue of growing concern for all those involved in the re/generation of our cities, from both a theoretical and an operational point of view. However, their evaluation does not seem to have received equal attention to that for economic and environmental issues. This article, adopting a theoretical-methodological perspective, investigates the possibility to evaluate the effects that architectural and urban projects have on the quality of urban commons and which kind of evaluative approach should be suitable. After a short introduction, the contributors face and specify the question of which are the distinctive characteristics of common goods, and significantly their relational nature. This is followed by an explanation of a community-based concept of urban commons which requires a commonly shared governance model and a new evaluation approach. The further step argues the need to define the “value content” of urban commons according to their communitarian-relational nature. This means that their value does not merely depend on technical-functional and economical aspects, but must consider their community-relational quality and consequently the adoption of collaborative decision-making and governance. In this context, the contributors suggest an evaluation approach that should be firstly, open to the participation of all stakeholders (the community, the “professional authors”, local government, etc.); secondly, able to grasp the community aspects; and thirdly, build spaces for dialogue and relationship between all the actors in the search for shared solutions.