Open Community Based Commons
Example
Ana Sofia Acosta Alvarado:
(interpretation of the translation, not the exact quote, by z.ai)
"What makes L'Asilo a new type of "common" — in the sense given to this concept by Elinor Ostrom — is the particular set of distinctive features that set it apart from other commons documented in the literature. These features justify designating it as an open community-based common. At its core lies a socio-economic model and a mode of governance centered on deliberation, through which the community collectively shapes the rules, offerings, and direction of the space.
The institutionalization of L'Asilo followed a remarkable trajectory: from an illegal occupation to a formally recognized "common good of the city of Naples," validated through the deliberations of the City Council. This transformation was achieved by revitalizing the notion of civic uses (usi civici) — an ancient legal device rooted in the Italian rural tradition — and updating it for application to a modern urban context. Through this creative legal reinterpretation, the community was able to anchor its collective claim to the space within an established institutional framework, while simultaneously expanding that framework to accommodate a new kind of common.
In this sense, the affirmation of L'Asilo as an entity of a new type is nothing less than the writing of a new page of the return of the commons."
(https://www.encommuns.net/articles/2026-10-14-lasilo-a-naples-un-commun-de-communaute-ouverte/)