Spaces of Commoning in the EX-YU Region

In October 2020, the Ministry of Space collective published a study titled Spaces of Commoning: Urban Commons in the ex-YU region, which aimed to understand both the theoretical and empirical position of urban commons within a specific political and cultural context. The first part offers digested theoretical insights into the concept of (urban) commons, while the second presents 15 case studies from Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro of the commonly produced and governed spaces or struggles for spatial commons. The case studies represent contributions from three research teams (Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro), and are introduced through the authors’ own involvement and/or conversations with direct actors. It is important to note that our geographical scope comes from the aim to produce a study complementary to what our comrades from the Institute for Political Ecology in Zagreb, did in the study Commons in South East Europe: Case of Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia (Tomasˇevic ́ et al. 2018), offering an insightful overview into the theory of the commons in general and covering the limited territorial range of Croatia, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, we consider these publications as a means to collectively offer a comprehensive understanding on more specific types of commons in the entire region. In addition, pointing to the former Yugoslav region (rather than the commonly referred to Balkan region) in the title of the study, we aimed at emphasizing the legacy of self-management socialism, as well as referring to our shared history and turbulences that particularly shaped our political and economic trajectories relevant for understanding and interpreting the contemporary commons in this region.