IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Abstract

Today, we are in the danger to lose a crucial cultural value that originated in European cities: the idea and concept of free citizenship, the base of democracy. Free citizenship has been connected to the notion of the city as such, originating from the Greek Polis and kept alive since then, in many different versions. In historical terms, no other culture than Europe has developed the concept of a free citizen, actively participating in the political, social, and architectural shape of the city. Both as an ideal and a political guideline, that concept has been adopted worldwide and is closely related to human rights, democracy, and human dignity. Etymologically, the term ‘citizen’ derives from the Roman ‘civis’, referring to a Roman individual endowed with specific rights as well as duties, and ‘civitas’, denoting the collective community of such citizens. While it embodies the early frameworks of civic identity and participatory governance, the concept of free citizenship is currently under siege, threatened by neoliberal agendas that promote city gentrification, the erosion of public spaces, the loss of historical urban fabric, and authoritarian regimes, as well as right-wing movements. We are a foundation concerned with community and space and want to present an outlay of the concept, grounding in its historical anchorage in a cultural heritage: its basic understanding, its underlying assumptions as regards a supposed conditio humana. We want to address its architectural manifestations through the idea of the communal place, and the threats to this core value of democracy.