Open Book Access

Co-Cities: Innovative Transitions Toward Just and Self-Sustaining Communities

The book is uniquely rooted in the authors' own decades-long research and first-hand experience working in cities around the world. Foster and Iaione offer their observations as “design principles”, adaptable to local context, to help guide further experimentation in building just and self-sustaining urban communities. 

/sites/lab-gov.csitestst.cc.columbia.edu/files/content/CO%20CITIES%20BOOK.pdf

Part 1: Rethinking Urban Infrastructure The book begins by identifying the tension between market-driven and community-centered values of urban land and infrastructure. It introduces the idea of the city as a commons, where residents repurpose underused assets into housing, gardens, and shared spaces through collective action.

Part 2: Defining and Constructing Urban Commons It then explores how urban commons differ from traditional natural resource commons, emphasizing the role of legal experimentation, state support, and social pooling. Bottom-up initiatives like community land trusts and co-housing are framed as innovative responses to urban inequality.

Part 3: Co-Governance and Design Principles The authors present a co-governance model involving public, private, civic, and academic actors. They propose a “quintuple helix” framework and outline five design principles that define a Co-City where infrastructure becomes a platform for collaborative stewardship of shared resources.

Part 4: Challenges and Future Directions The final chapter reflects on the practical challenges of implementing Co-City principles and calls for continued experimentation, research, and policy innovation to support inclusive urban transformation.