Lessons on empowering inhabitants through Extended Mobility and the commons

Based on the theoretical framework developed in Part I and on the volume’s in-depth case studies of Maré (Rio de Janeiro) and San Siro (Milan), this chapter discusses how citizens are subjected to and empirically respond to their lack of Extended Mobility. It stresses the value of examining a diverse set of initiatives, ranging from social movements, concerted political action, and alternative collective solutions (including self-help groups and work-related informal cooperatives) to the constitution of commoning processes and places. Through such activities and actions, groups are, to differing extents, able to mobilize commoning strategies that enhance their power to act and to perform in the city. To illustrate these points, it assesses the Rio and Milan case studies to ask if and how their commoning patterns present a pathway toward a city of rights to all – a city whose inhabitants not only cooperatively share the results of mobility solutions, but collaborate in the production of urban places and decision-making processes.