Elinor Ostrom
1933–2012
American political scientist and Nobel laureate who proved that commons can be managed without privatising or nationalising them.
Against the «tragedy of the commons» — the idea that any shared resource ends up exhausted — Ostrom documented hundreds of real cases, from irrigation channels to fisheries, where communities had managed them well for centuries. And she extracted the eight conditions that make it work.
For the city this is a first-order framework: public space, water, clean air and cooperative housing are urban commons. Her work offers a third way against the choice between privatising and leaving everything to the council.
On Elinor Ostrom in this archive
- Public space
Managing Shared Resources Sustainably
Governing the Commons (1990) by Elinor Ostrom is a seminal work that challenges conventional theories about the…
Elinor Ostrom 2 min read - Public space
Elinor Ostrom: governing the commons without selling them
Ostrom proved that communities manage shared resources well without privatising or nationalising them, and her…
Elinor Ostrom 2 min read
