Understanding the Micro-Urban Commons as a Shared Public Interior Framework

Abstract

The micro-urban commons are understood as liminal spaces within the urban fabric. They are nominal yet integral to the city’s function and identity. Across their shared platforms, the micro-urban commons fundamentally possess the potential for hosting communal interactions and transactions within the built environment that seed nonconfrontational approaches to stereotypes and prejudices. Activated by employing urban interior approaches, this essay highlights the role such spaces play in nurturing empathetic exchanges, increasing an understanding of our differences and inherent similarities. Moreover, it calls for rethinking urban design legacies that have often neglected interstitial entities that interlace the social fabric and enable everyday encounters.