Force fields of Montaña Verde: Spatializing the commons in the city-as-oeuvre

Authors: Hanka Otte, Louis Volont

This article assesses what a spatial expression of the commons might entail. Lefebvre’s spatial triad is mobilized as an ensemble of sometimes conflictive and sometimes complementary ‘force fields’ that act upon these two variants of common space. The article takes as a central case study Montaña Verde (‘Green Mountain’), a wooden arch that was built and then dismantled as part of the Antwerp Baroque 2018 festival. Results showcase how a set of multiple significations was projected upon Montaña Verde: as urban green space, as museum domain, as common-pool resource, and as a means to recast public space for collective use.

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https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/12063312211057046