Commons and belonging
153 places in the atlas
Places whose reason for being is to sustain the bond: belonging to something shared rather than consuming a service. Urban commons, self-managed or co-managed spaces, cohousing and places of belonging (ibasho).
Japan5
Ibasho House居場所ハウス
Ofunato, Iwate · Tohoku
A donated farmhouse dismantled and rebuilt by local artisans after the 2011 tsunami.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceIshinomaki Laboratory石巻工房
Ishinomaki, Miyagi · Tohoku
Born as a public DIY workshop so that neighbours hit by the tsunami could repair houses and furniture; today it is a global "Made in Local" furniture…
VerifiedSee place →Civic foodProjectKodomo Shokudo / Musubieこども食堂・むすびえ
Tokio · Nationwide
A network of community canteens that reached a record 12,601 in 2025, outnumbering public high schools.
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villageMachizukuri de Ishinomaki y Kesennuma石巻・気仙沼
Miyagi · Tohoku
Participatory reconstruction after the tsunami: local initiatives in central Ishinomaki and the regeneration of Kesennuma's fishing cultural landscap…
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villageMano / Nagata (Kobe)真野・長田
Kobe, Hyogo · Kansai
A founding case of machizukuri: its neighbourhood organisational fabric enabled a participatory reconstruction after the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Ear…
VerifiedSee place →Spain16
Astra
Gernika · Basque Country
Gernika's former arms factory converted, through youth and neighbourhood initiative, into a "social creation factory" co-managed with the town counci…
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceAteneu Popular 9 Barris
Nou Barris, Barcelona · Catalonia
An asphalt plant occupied by neighbours in 1977 and turned into a community cultural centre devoted to social circus.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceCan Batlló
La Bordeta, Barcelona · Catalonia
A 19th-century factory precinct recovered through neighbourhood pressure ("tick-tock, Can Batlló") and run communally: people's library, carpentry, b…
VerifiedSee place →Third placeSpaceCasa Grande del Pumarejo
Sevilla · Andalusia
An 18th-century palace inhabited and defended by its neighbours as a community house: living heritage, a popular school, a solidarity pantry.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceCSA La Tabacalera
Lavapiés, Madrid · Madrid
The former Embajadores Tobacco Factory, partly ceded as a self-managed social centre: workshops, rehearsals, a garden, screen printing and assemblies…
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceEl Campo de Cebada
La Latina, Madrid · Madrid
The lot of the demolished La Latina sports centre, ceded to neighbours and run by assembly for seven years: garden, sport, cinema, assemblies and sel…
VerifiedSee place →France23
Coco Velten
Marseille · Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Temporary occupation of a former public building in central Marseille, led by Yes We Camp with Groupe SOS and Plateau Urbain.
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceDarwin Écosystème
Bordeaux · Nouvelle-Aquitaine
A former 19th-century military barracks, handed over in 2008 and transformed since 2011 into an ecological transition ecosystem with coworking space,…
Partially verifiedSee place →Third placeSpaceÉcolieu La Filerie
Fresnes · Centre-Val de Loire
A resource space for ecological transition in the Sologne, created in November 2019 by a group of residents of Loir-et-Cher around a vegetable garden…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceL'Hermitage
Autrêches · Hauts-de-France
A former 30-hectare farm estate in the Oise forest, bought in 2017 by a citizen initiative that brought together 850 people and a crowdfunding campai…
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic foodSpaceLa Cagette
Montpellier · Occitanie
A cooperative and participatory supermarket opened in 2017, run by more than 5,500 members who are at once owners, customers and volunteer workers.
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceLa Californie
Toucy · Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
A former industrial friche in Toucy transformed since 2018 by three local associations and residents into a space for making, experimentation and enc…
VerifiedSee place →Italy44
Camini
Camini (Reggio Calabria) · Calabria
A village in the Aspromonte that was losing population to emigration until, from 2011, the social cooperative Jungi Mundu (founded in 1999) began hou…
Partially verifiedSee place →Third placeSpaceCasa del Popolo Il ProgressoCircolo Il Progresso
Florencia (FI) · Toscana
The Casa del Popolo Il Progresso was founded in 1915 in the Florentine district of Rifredi as a workers' recreational society and moved in 1922 to th…
VerifiedSee place →Civic foodProjectCasa delle AgriCulture Tullia e Gino
Castiglione d'Otranto (Lecce) · Puglia
An association founded in 2013 in a village in the Salento to reclaim more than fifteen hectares of abandoned land lent free of charge by their owner…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationSpaceCasa Netural
Matera · Basilicata
The first rural coworking and coliving space in southern Italy, opened in Matera in 2012 before the city became European Capital of Culture.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceCascina Cuccagna
Milán · Lombardia
This 17th-century farmhouse, municipal property since 1984, was abandoned and declared uninhabitable in the 1990s.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingSpaceCascina Roccafranca
Turín (Mirafiori Nord) · Piemonte
A former 17th-century farmhouse abandoned in the 1960s and recovered by the Turin city council's Progetto Urban, which reopened it as a casa del quar…
VerifiedSee place →Thailand30
Alternative Agriculture Network Isanเครือข่ายเกษตรกรรมทางเลือกภาคอีสาน
Yasothon · Northeast (Isan)
Network of north-eastern small farmers defending food sovereignty against the chemical model and debt to the agricultural bank.
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceBaan Luang Rajamaitriบ้านหลวงราชไมตรี
Chanthaburi · East
House of about 150 years that belonged to a local aristocrat, on the Chanthaburi riverbank, restored as an inn and museum with money from more than 5…
Partially verifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismProjectBaan Mankong, programa de vivienda seguraบ้านมั่นคง
Bangkok (Bang Kapi) · Nationwide
A national programme for upgrading informal settlements, launched in 2003.
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismProjectBaan Mankong a escala de ciudad en Uttaraditบ้านมั่นคง อุตรดิตถ์
Uttaradit · North
One of the city-wide Baan Mankong pilots.
VerifiedSee place →Art and territorySpaceBangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)หอศิลปวัฒนธรรมแห่งกรุงเทพมหานคร
Bangkok (Pathum Wan) · Bangkok
A public art centre opened in 2008 at the Pathumwan junction.
Partially verifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villageComunidades del canal Bang Buaชุมชนริมคลองบางบัว
Bangkok (Bang Khen y Chatuchak) · Bangkok
About a dozen informal settlements along the Bang Bua canal, home to some 3,400 families, joined the Baan Mankong programme in 2004.
VerifiedSee place →Laos35
Association Ecotouristique de Konglor-Natane (AEKN)ສທກນ
Kong Lor (Khammouane) · Central
An association of some 400 residents of Kong Lor and Natan, the villages at either mouth of a 7.5 km river cave, which runs the site through eight vi…
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingProjectBan Mano Pond Committee
Luang Prabang · North
Luang Prabang has a network of urban ponds being filled in or polluted in a city without sewers: according to Gret, there were 183 in 1999 and 120 re…
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic foodProjectBan Sai Lao-Lao Cooperative
Saysetha (Attapeu) · South
In Ban Sai, a village the government classes as poor, women distilled lao-lao (rice spirit) separately and sold it cheaply.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingProjectBeung Kiat Ngong Wetland and Ban Kiet Ngong
Pathoumphone (Champasak) · South
Some 7,400 people from 20 villages live off the Beung Kiat Ngong wetland, where a 2010 district regulation sets zones, assigns conservation pools to…
VerifiedSee place →Third placeSpaceBig Brother Mouseອ້າຍຫນູນ້ອຍ
Luang Prabang · North
A publisher of children's books in Lao, also free to download, that holds book parties in schools and, according to its website, now runs nine school…
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic foodProjectCoffee Producers Cooperative (CPC)
Bachiangchaleunsouk (Champasak) · South
A cooperative of smallholder coffee growers on the Bolaven Plateau that washes beans at village centres, exports organic and fair-trade coffee and sp…
VerifiedSee place →Related events See the theme Urban commons and municipalism →
Renovation School Shonan Oba 2026 (Fujisawa)リノベーションスクール@湘南大庭2026
Fujisawa · Japan
First school in Shonan Oba, a large housing estate in Fujisawa, 10 to 12 October 2026 (pre-session on 30 September).
OngoingSee the event →15 to 18 October 2026Third places and tiers-lieuxConfluenze. Camp Abitiamo Lo Stato dei Luoghi, Ferrara 2026
Ferrara · Italy
The network's autumn camp in Ferrara, titled Confluenze and focused on the human and more-than-human communities of hybrid spaces.
See the event →28 to 30 October 2026Civic tech and digital democracyDecidim Fest 2026
Barcelona · Spain
2026 edition on the theme 'Democracy and technology in a multipolar world', within the Barcelona Open Tech Week (26 to 30 October).
See the event →What they share: Governance rests with those who inhabit the place, and belonging matters more than using.