From Land Ownership to Landed Commons

Social Innovation in the Commoning of Scarce Land Resources

Edited by Frank Moulaert, Emeritus Professor of Spatial Planning, P&D, Faculty of Engineering, Pieter Van den Broeck, Professor of Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, KU Leuven, Belgium, Pavlos-Μarinos Delladetsimas, Department of Geography, Harokopio University, Greece and Liana Simmons, Political Scientist, Food Activist, Italy

This book offers a comprehensive survey of the history of thought and practice of commoning of land from a social innovation perspective. Presenting refreshing theoretical and historical perspectives and examining three case-studies in great depth, it explores how social relations, ethics, and agencies affect the building and development – but also the decline – of Landed Commons.

‘This magisterial work will surely become a landmark in the scholarship of landed commons. It deftly synthesizes a vast literature while opening up fresh vistas of understanding, balancing general lessons with complicated details. The result is a rich, broad-spectrum portrait of commons that includes a history of land ownership, contemporary case studies, and attention to the micro-social dynamics of commoning, as well as critical lessons (and limitations) of Ostrom’s commons research, anarchism, political ecology, and Marxism. Highly recommended!’
– David Bollier, Schumacher Center for a New Economics, US

‘At a time when the contradiction between land stewardship and land speculation in public policy is at the centre of heated debates, this book offers both key international historical insights as well as Belgium-based case studies to all those interested in changing the historical course of land ownership and in building landed Commons through an institutionalist pathway.’
Chiara Tornaghi——英国考文垂大学