Commons, counterpublics and dissident urban space

Abstract

We put into conversation two conceptual approaches for understanding the dissident nature of urban space: the commons and the counterpublics. This novel conceptual conversation asks the following questions - what is the interplay between them? Do they complement, build on, contradict, or ignore each other? What is urban about their particular interplays? These hypothetical matters are framed by a consideration of the fate of populations deemed surplus in urban space. Our conceptual conversation enables a new and productive way of understanding dissident urban spaces.