Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses how house and care work is organised, shared and negotiated in a housing commons. Through this case, I show how the democratisation of care entails the socialisation of reproductive work and the de-commodification and affordability of reproductive spaces.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses how house and care work is organised, shared and negotiated in a housing project known as La Borda. This project is part of an emerging self-managed housing cooperative model in the city of Barcelona based on public-common partnerships. The findings of this paper are informed by 10 months of qualitative research based on in-depth interviews and participant observation. I treat La Borda as a housing commons, in contrast to co-housing, because it guarantees de-commodification, promotes self-management and socialises reproductive work. The literature on cohousing tends to keep the collectivisation/democratisation of homes and de-commodification of housing as two unrelated phenomena. This often means that cohousing projects in urban spaces become an alternative for the privileged few. I argue that struggles for the collectivisation of social reproduction and the decommodification of space must be thought of together. I situate La Borda in a tradition of social reproduction struggles that have challenged the separation of private and public spheres, and the household economy from the economy. In this housing project, elements such as collective self-management, participatory democracy, and the co-production of space have created some conditions for sharing and visibilising home-based reproductive work while creating systems of accountability and renegotiation. However, I show that despite their non-speculative character, the projects under this model are not accessible to everyone. In arguing that democratisation of care entails the decommodification and affordability of reproductive spaces, I detail the policies and public-common partnerships that could soften the socio-economic and cultural boundaries surrounding housing commons.