The proposed paper discusses participatory design as a commoning practice in urban environments. Urban development often prioritises growth, leading to conflicts between commercial interests and the ethical considerations of local communities and the environment. The research has been built upon a three-year research/practice/educational project titled Common Gardens, which took place 2023-2026 as a collaboration between Loughborough Farm and London South Bank University, Division of Architecture. The farm, founded in 2013 by the volunteer-led charity LJAG, transformed an abandoned plot into a community and ecological asset. In 2022, they secured a 25-year lease to remain on site, but the redevelopment resulted in the loss of a mindfulness garden. The goal of the project was to reinstate this space. Each year concluded with a design intervention and a public event, culminating in the creation of a learning garden to celebrate and share farm knowledge.
Since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, increasingly more built environment professionals have adopted dual roles as volunteers, blending activism with professional practice to mediate these competing priorities. This is especially relevant for architects, who have ethical considerations embedded in their code of conduct. Through the lens of commoning, design becomes an inclusive and transformative practice. It serves not only to reclaim urban territories for community ownership but also to restore ethical agency within the architectural profession.
This study investigates participatory strategies as a way for built environment professionals to regain agency and resolve conflicts between commercial development imperatives and ethical considerations in urban design. It explores how buildings can serve as artefacts of land claims and as sites for negotiation. It raises questions about how these processes can cultivate alternative relationships, such as those involving volunteer consultants and suppliers. Finally, the study examines how participatory design can create meaningful impacts and resolutions in urban development, using commoning as a framework for ethical and inclusive transformation.
