Hardin’s legacy as a need for a ‘commoning turn’ in planning

Abstract

Hardin’s legacy in planning is highly relevant to current concerns, as planners shape the management of resources in the face of climate change and urbanization. Through a broad literature review of planning articles citing Hardin’s ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ we find out that Hardin’s suggestions are rejected by planning theory, yet have been implemented in planning practice. However, the rejection of Hardin’s suggestions, has evolved in an ongoing and growing ‘commons trend’ in social science. We review the presence of this trend in contemporary planning literature. Our results call for a turn towards the commons in planning, that is, for a dialogue between planning and the heterogeneous ideas embedded within the commons trend – a necessary endeavour if we are to address several critical planning questions of today.