The Problem(s) of Caring for the Commons
Jonas Fritsch, Joanna Saad-Sulonen, Giacomo Poderi · 2022
In the following critique, we attempt to engage with, reflect upon, and problematize how we might care for the commons by opening a discursive space for us as researchers to be touched by our troubled presence in a world rapidly moving towards a number of far-from equilibrium tipping points. We will do this in relation to our (the three authors’) experiences with a particular area of Copenhagen: Amager Fælled (in English ‘Amager Common’). Our text, the result of an experimental and undisciplined collaborative writing project, adopts a posthuman epistemology and is an implicit critique of solutionist ways of conceiving participative computing where the dichotomies between e.g. agency-structure, body-mind and research subjects-objects can be easily identified and used. By linking our three vignettes of personal encounters with a specific common and its associated commoning practices, we show our different personal and affective relationship to Amager Fælled. Through them we interweave our private and professional selves and reflect on our positioning with regards to immediate and future ecological concerns towards more sustainable futures in HCI and design. By weaving together bodily felt experiences, technological engagements, and theoretical perspectives, we aim towards cultivating an agenda for future research and activation that both resonates with existing research in HCI and design and hopefully opens new discussions and research trajectories.