the Collective

The Story of Urban Commons Research Collective begun in 2018 with a series of conversations at Sheffield School of Architecture amongst researcher/educator/practitioners working with/on/for urban commons. The collective gathered and mapped resources on urban commons resulting in a database informed by members' situated practices, including their companions and allies. This situated approach manifested itself as a non-extractive and reflective research practice while limiting the territorial focus of research to the extended network of the collective that is based in European contexts and linked to their collective field of action. The conversations were loosely structured and deliberately included an expansive range of in-person and online formats: small-group meetings, public lectures and workshops, roundtables, writing retreats, and conference presentations. As a result of these conversations the collective has published the Urban Commons Handbook and are working on the Urban Commons Archive.

UCRC is composed of staff and doctoral researchers at Sheffield School of Architecture together with other academics associated with this group via previous roles and ongoing collaborations.

Emre Akbil is an architect, urbanist and educator working with minoritarian and commons based pedagogies and spatial practices.

Alex Axinte is an architect, educator, and researcher based in Bucharest, working to enact intermediary spaces for community activation through participative design and engaged education.

Esra Can is an architect, activist, and researcher based in Sheffield, UK and Famagusta, Cyprus focusing on community empowerment, inclusivity, and urban commons.

Beatrice De Carli is a Reader in Urbanism and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies at the School of Art, Architecture and Design of London Metropolitan University.

Melissa Harrison is a Berlin-based researcher working transversally across socio-political urban justice, critical spatial practice, and transformative pedagogies.

Ana Méndez de Andés is a researcher, practitioner and activist focusing on urban commons, collective governance of public spaces, and the feministisation of politics.

Katharina Moebus is a feminist designer, organiser, and researcher based in Berlin who works at the intersection of socio-politically engaged design, radical pedagogy, and do-it-together (DIT) making.

Eleni Katrini is a designer and researcher with experience in academia, local government, the private and voluntary sector. Her work focuses on the fields

of urban commons, sustainability, urban ecology, strategic and participatory design.

Thomas Moore is a Sheffield based spatial designer, educator, and researcher working through his practice with the UK’s first University backed Urban Room, Live Works.

Doina Petrescu is Professor of Architecture and Design Activism at the School of Architecture (SSoA), University of Sheffield and co-founder of atelier d’architecture autogérée (AAA).

Julia Udall is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Sheffield Hallam University, where she leads fourth year, and third year history and theory, and she is a director of the social enterprise architectural practice Studio Polpo.