Waste as a Commons: Shared Practices of Materials Reuse for the Design of the Built Environment

Technological progress and the diffusion of waste separation arisen in the last decades have made possible the acknowledgement of the inherent potentialities of urban solid waste in environmental and economic terms. Waste is gaining a primary role in the spatial, social, economic and cultural metabolism of the city; in the framework of the renewed attention recently devoted to the topic of the urban commons, the definition by Bollier stating that a commons arises «whenever a given community decides that it wishes to manage a resource in a collective manner, with a special regard for equitable access, use and sustainability» (2007) is assumed as a premise to affirm that waste is part of the urban commons, as increasingly at the center of formal and informal urban practices rely on it as a common resource. Architects, designers, urban activists as Assemble, Rural Studio, Rebiennale have already proven the potential of material waste coming from construction sites, spatial renovations and demolitions to pursue a communal shaping process of an inclusive and sustainable urban environment. Many small-scale urban regeneration projects are based on the shared experience of materials reuse, as the ongoing renovation of Mulini di Gurone (VA) in the project of Casamatta Circular Hub managed by environmental association Legambiente. Mentioned case studies are conducted from a critical position not accepting the status quo of citizens as customers (Streeck, 2012), employing waste as a tool to outline common spaces, intended as physical urban spaces and relational spaces designed according to shared values.