Abstract
The right to the city is a concept that helps rethink spatial–social dynamics, which has recently reinvigorated the field of organization studies. Following Lefebvre and considering the failure of both the market and the state, other scholars pinpoint the need to rethink social–spatial and geographical–historical relations. They do so by theorizing the city as a host for urban commons. Collective and non-commodified, these spatial–social experiences need to be constantly reproduced and preserved through commoning practices in the struggle against spatial injustice. A case study shows that a civil society organization (CSO) uses participatory art to (re)produce urban commons at the level of a local community and to redress partially spatial injustice. We theorize participatory art-making as a social practice of commoning, i.e., a process of organizing for the commons—collective art-based activities to serve a community—and of the common—to (re)produce a community while performing them. Such commoning practices are not only about sharing urban resources but also about using and experiencing differently urban spaces. By making participatory artworks in public spaces and co-designing street furniture with residents of poor areas, TDA helps to better cope with the tensions between residents and local authorities and between amateurs and professional artists. By negotiating the long-term implementation of these creative artworks in the public space with public authorities, TDA has fostered the empowerment of inhabitants as they have experienced citizens’ reappropriation of some public spaces in Marseille.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Authors’ translation.
Visa vert is a charter written by the municipality of Marseille. When approved and signed, it allows the inhabitants to and plant out some public spaces at their own expense to make them greener.
References
Aubouin, N., & Coblence, E. (2013). Les Nouveaux Territoires de l’Art, entre îlot et essaim. Piloter la rencontre entre friche artistique et territoire. Artistes et territoires créatifs en Europe. Revue de géographie et d’aménagement, 1, 17–18.
Barry, D., & Meisiek, S. (2010). Seeing more and seeing differently: Sensemaking. mindfulness, and the workarts. Organization Studies, 31(11), 1505–1530.
Bauman, Z. (1999). Urban space wars: on destructive order and creative chaos. Citizenship Studies, 3(2), 173–185.
Becker, H. S. (2008/1982). Art worlds. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Blondiaux, L. (2008). Le nouvel esprit de la démocratie. Seuil, Paris: Actualité de la démocratie participative.
Brawley, L. (2010). The practice of spatial justice in crisis. In B. Bret, P. Gervais-Lambony, & C. Hancock (Eds.), Justice et Injustices Spatiales. Paris: Presses universitaires de Paris.
Carrel, M. (2013). Faire participer les habitants? Citoyenneté et pouvoir d’agir dans les quartiers populaires. Lyon: ENS Éditions.
Clegg, S. R., & Kornberger, M. (Eds.) (2006). Space, organization and management theory. In Advances in organization studies. Copenhagen: Liber & Copenhagen Business School.
Costes, L. (2010). Le droit à la ville d’Henri Lefebvre: quel héritage politique et scientifique? Espaces et sociétés, 140, 14.
de Vaujany, F.-X., & Mitev, N. (Eds.). (2013). Materiality and space: Organizations, artefacts and practices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
de Vaujany, F.-X., Mitev, N., Lanzara, G., & Mukherjee, A. (2015). Materiality, rules and regulation. New trends in management and organization studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dewey, J. (2012). The public and its problems: An essay in political inquiry. Pennsylvania State University Press, Critical ed. (First ed. 1927).
Dikec, M., & Gilbert, K. (2002). Right to the city: Homage or a new societal ethics? Capitalism Nature Socialism, 13(2), 58–74.
Donzel, A. (2014). Le nouvel esprit de Marseille. Editions L’Harmattan.
Eme, B., & Laville, J. L. (2004). L’économie solidaire ou l’économie comme écologie sociale. Ecologie & Politique, 1, No. 28.
Fournier, V. (2013). Commoning: on the social organisation of the commons. Management, 16(4), 433–453.
Harvey, D. (2012). Rebel Cities: From the right to the city to the urban revolution. London, New York: Verso.
Henry, P. (2011). Démarches artistiques partagées #1: des processus culturels plus démocratiques? https://www.editions-attribut.fr/Demarches-artistiques-partagees-1. Accessed April 6, 2018.
Hidalgo, R., Volker, P., & Ramírez, N. (2014). La ciudad inmobiliaria : mecanismos institucionales, relaciones de poder y mercantilización del medio natural. El caso del Área Metropolitana de Valparaíso. Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y. Ciencias sociales, 493, 34.
Hirschman, H. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Honneth, A. (2000). La lutte pour la reconnaissance. Paris: Le Cerf.
Kornberger, M., & Clegg, S. R. (2004). Bringing space back. Organization Studies, 25(7), 1095–1114.
Lacoste, Y. (2010). La géopolitique et le géographe. Entretiens avec Pascal Lorot. Paris: Choiseul éditions.
Laville, J.-L. (2016). L’Économie sociale et solidaire. Pratiques, théories, débats. Editions Points.
Laville, J. L., Sainsaulieu, R. (2013). L'Association: Sociologie et économie. Fayard/Pluriel.
Laville, J. L., Salmon, A. (2015). Associations et Action publique: Solidarité et société. Desclée De Brouwer.
Laville, J.-L., Young, E., & Eynaud, P. (2015). Civil society, the third sector and social enterprise: Governance and democracy. London: Routledge.
Lefebvre, H. (1968). Le Droit à la ville. Paris: Editions Anthropos.
Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lefebvre, H. (1996). The right to the city. In E. Kofmanand & E. Lebas (Eds.), Writings on cities. Cambridge, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lundin, R. A., & Wirdenius, H. (1990). Interactive research. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 6(2), 125–142.
Maisetti, N. (2014). Opération culturelle et pouvoirs urbains: Instrumentalisation économique de la culture et luttes autour de Marseille-Provence Capitale européenne de la culture 2013. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Mangin, D. (2010). La ville franchisée : Formes et structures de la ville contemporaine. Paris: Editions de La Villette.
Mattina, C. (2016). Clientélismes urbains: Gouvernement et hégémonie politique à Marseille. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.
Neveu, C. (2011). Démocratie participative et mouvements sociaux: entre domestication et ensauvagement ? Participations, 1(1), 186–209.
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Peraldi, M., Duport, C., & Samson, M. (2015). Sociologie de Marseille. Paris: Editions la Découverte.
Rancière, J. (2000). Le Partage du sensible, La Fabrique.
Raulet-Croset, N. (2013). When urban space becomes organizational space: A space-based coordination to deal with volatile and recurring problems of urban incivility. In F. de Vaujany & N. Mitev (Eds.), Materiality and space: Organizations, artefacts and practices (pp. 157–178). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sainz, M. A. (2014). La ciudad en la economía de la experiencia y el rol de los ciudadanos. Necesidade de participación ciudadana en Bilbao. Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y. Ciencias sociales, 493, 10.
Salamon, L. M., & Anheier, H. K. (1992). In search of the non-profit sector. I: The question of definitions. Voluntas, 3(2), 125–151.
Soja, E. W. (2010). Seeking spatial justice. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Tesch, R. (1990). Qualitative research: Analysis types and software tools. New York: Falmer.
Thévenot, L. (2014). Engaging in the politics of participative art in practice. In T. Zembylas (Ed.), Artistic practices: Social interctions and cultural dynamics (pp. 132–150). London: Routledge.
Van Til, J. (2008). Growing civil society: From nonprofit sector to third space. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Wacquant, L. (2009). The body, the ghetto and the penal state. Qualitative Sociology, 32(1), 101–129.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eynaud, P., Juan, M. & Mourey, D. Participatory Art as a Social Practice of Commoning to Reinvent the Right to the City. Voluntas 29, 621–636 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-018-0006-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-018-0006-y