PJ Dick Innovation Fund Project Grant: Commons-Public-Partnerships: Scaling Cooperative Housing for Just Transitions in Cities

Commons-Public-Partnerships: Scaling Cooperative Housing for Just Transitions in Cities
Stefan Gruber, Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon Architecture

This grant will support the ongoing development of a book manuscript by funding essential research trips for the fieldwork and archival investigations which are critical to two chapters. The manuscript explores the emerging concept of Commons-Public Partnerships (CPPs) as a transformational alternative to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), which typically privatize profit while socializing risk. Through four detailed case studies from the United States, Latin America and Europe, the book illustrates how community groups and municipalities collaborate to create and scale housing cooperatives, thereby driving systemic change. Distilled from an archive of over 70 case studies, the selected initiatives offer insights from the struggles and successes of tackling the wicked problem of housing affordability.

Grounded in the belief that decommodification is central to addressing the global housing crisis, the manuscript draws on the lived experiences of thousands of households in New York City, Montevideo, Vienna and Zurich. Against the odds of accelerating neoliberalization and the decline of the public sector, the unique case studies demonstrate how residents became agents of change by pooling resources, forming cooperatives, and in some cases collectively constructing homes through mutual aid. Beyond singular projects, the book also examines how these cooperatives established networks, advocated for their rights and secured government support in legal, financial, governance and technical domains.

CPPs provide a powerful framework for scaling these efforts up, out and deep. Although the term “Commons-Public Partnerships” is relatively new, organizations like the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) in New York City, the Uruguayan Federation of Housing Cooperatives through Mutual Aid (FUCVAM), the Viennese Settler Movements and the Association of Zurich’s Housing Cooperatives (Wohnbaugenossenschaften Zürich) have long pioneered models that embody its principles. By bridging the public and commons, they transcend the binary of public versus private and chart a pathway for achieving a Just Transition in cities. The research positions CPPs as pivotal for addressing housing inequities and enhancing climate resilience.

Image: View of Installation on Uruguay's Mutual Aid Construction Housing Cooperatives at the 2024 International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam entitled "Nature of Hope".