Commoning Beyond Enclosures

Commoning Beyond Enclosures is a design research documentation that explores how marginal people in Dhaka claim urban resources through place-based inhabitation. The book examines how public spaces, green spaces, water bodies and other urban commons remain outside formal property regimes, yet are crucial for the livelihoods of the city's disadvantaged communities. It highlights how deep-rooted spatial disparity distributes these resources unevenly, while capitalist appropriation continues converting ecosystem services into propertied land.

The research focuses on Basila, Dhaka Western Fringe, where residents use roads, rivers and canals as urban lifelines for informal livelihood practices. Through a co-learning process involving stakeholders, students and design tutors at the Department of Architecture, BUET, the study documents how marginal communities reclaim urban space through material construction, social collaboration and building social infrastructure. The Dhaka Detailed Area Plan 2022-2035 recognizes urban commons as lifelines but lacks strategies to benefit marginalized populations, making this rethink of spatial disciplines necessary.

The book makes a plea for transformative practices that repair and rebuild urban commons, evoking people's right to the city. It argues for care-based approaches integrating architecture, urban design, landscape and planning rather than compartmentalizing these disciplines. For urban researchers, planners and students, this documentation offers valuable insights into grassroots urbanism in the global South.