Rebel Cities-David Harvey

72 REBEL CITIESthe like. (I say "so-called" because all resources are technological, economic,and cultural appraisals, and therefore socially defined.)Ostrom, along with many colleagues and collaborators, later wenton to examine other forms of the commons, such as genetic materials,knowledge, cultural assets, and the like. These commons arc also verymuch under assault these days through commodification and enclosure.Cultural commons become commodified (and often bowdlerized) by aheritage industry bent on Disncyfication, for example. Intellectual propertyand patenting rights over genetic materials and scientific knowledgemore generally constitute one of the hottest topics of our times. Whenpublishing companies charge for access to articles in the scientific andtechnical journals they publish, the problem of access to what shouldbe common knowledge open to all is plain to see. Over the last twentyyears or so there has been an explosion of studies and practical proposals,as well as fierce legal struggles over creating an open-access knowledgecommons.9Cultural and intellectual commons of this last sort are often not subjectto the logic of scarcity, or to exclusionary uses of the sort that apply tomost natural resources. We can all listen to the same radio broadcast orTV show at the same time without diminishing it. The cultural commons,Hardt and Negri write, "is dynamic, involving both the product of laborand the means of future production. This common is not only the earthwe share but also the languages we create, the social practices we establish,the modes of sociality that define our relationships, and so forth."These commons are built up over time, and are in principle open to all. 1 0The human qualities of the city emerge out of our practices in thediverse spaces of the city even as those spaces are subject to enclosure,social control, and appropriation by both private and public/state interests.There is an important distinction here between public spaces andpublic goods, on the one hand, and the commons on the other. Publicspaces and public goods in the city have always been a matter of statepower and public administration, and such spaces and goods do not necessarilya commons make. Throughout the history of urbanization, theprovision of public spaces and public goods (such as sanitation, publichealth, education, and the like) by either public or private means hasbeen crucial for capitalist development. 1 1 To the degree that cities have