As explained in the introduction of this book, the study of the commons as a socio-economic system started with the analysis of natural common pool resources (Ostrom, 2015). The very idea of commons, however, was used to describe not only natural resources like fisheries or land, but also intangible ones, such as knowledge, ideas and creativity; this evolution is the origin of the term “cultural commons” and its current use. This chapter aims to retrace the trajectory of the evolution of the idea of commons, with a particular focus on how the concept of cultural commons was first generated in relation to the broader ideas of knowledge, intellectual property, creativity and cooperation in the last 50 years. In order to do so, it will examine academic literature from the late 1970s until the 2020s, focusing on how the term has been used in the fields of labour studies, law, cultural policy, urban studies and geography. In this analysis, the terms “knowledge commons”, “creative commons”, or “information commons” will also be included in the discussion of this discourse as, especially in the 1990s and early 2000s, these were often used in lieu of cultural commons, as it will be analysed later. Moreover, this chapter aims to analyse the intellectual context for the different uses of the concept of cultural commons, identifying key challenges and ambitions that defined the different eras in the study of these ideas. As a result, this will also help us defining a history of social dilemmas connected to the sphere of arts and culture, highlighting matters related to intellectual property, creativity, participation and governance. Lastly, this discussion serves as a starting point to identify how the concept of cultural commons has been deployed to counteract neoliberal narratives in different domains, from the digital sphere to urban spaces. This will serve as a prompt for the design of the framework proposed in Chapter 6.