The common(s) in architecture

Beyond the public and the private

Abstract

The recurrence of global economic, political and social crises along with the embracement of the emerging paradigm of the common(s) call for a new space perspective. This approach helps us to conceive an alternative logic that goes beyond both public and private space. It deals with our personal and collective identities and the space where they develop and interact. In this sense, the hypothesis introduced by this article is that the paradigm of the common(s) can allow us to rethink the contemporary habitat and its political and economic issues. Collective housing and its common spaces would play a fundamental role in the search for space justice, fairness and inclusion.
In order to achieve our goal, we address paradigmatic case studies from different periods of the history of collective housing in the cities of Rosario and Buenos Aires.  Categories of the common(s) are analyzed to find clues in the history of both cities leading to better transforming proposals adjusted to our time. Thus, we outline some possible guidelines which are considered project strategies that confront a patriarchal, colonial and extractivist view of the urban-housing space.