13 - Business Improvement Districts and the Urban Commons

Summary

This chapter focuses on the governance of the city and what we mean by the “urban commons” in regard to the Business Improvement District (BID), a hybrid public/private entity. There is no consensus on whether bodies like BIDs are an example of the urban commons or whether they exist to advance a narrow set of private property interests without the involvement of participants who have other claims to city space. Scholars have differently theorized BIDs in relation to the notion of the “urban commons,” both in regard to the property that they govern, and in the multifarious governance networks that result among them and other bodies, including city governments, neighbourhood associations, and other interest groups. Drawing on the work of Foster and Iaione and other scholars, I explore the existing legal framework of BIDs, asking whether they can be considered to be a form of urban commons by justifying a typology of analysis that focuses on decision-making, representation and accountability as elements of just urban governance.