On civic actors in urban dynamics: urging shared ownership, the social value of autonomy, maintaining autonomy as intermediaries, as based on rigorous fieldwork!

In recent decades, citizens active in urban governance have taken up their roles as autonomous subjects, negotiating with governmental actors on the reuse of vacant buildings while representing the wishes of fellow residents to create self-managed communal spaces that are open to neighbourhood residents. They have appropriated vacant properties — and, where possible, constructed new buildings — in line with their own interests, those of civic groups, and the common good. They work to create affordable working, living, cultural and community places in an increasingly commercialised urban environment. In this publication, these civic actors are referred to as citizen professionals (CPs).

Written by Karin Christof, with a foreword by Elke Krasny.

Urban researcher and curator Karin Christof examines questions of housing and the distribution of land and property in the city, as well as self-initiated neighbourhood projects that contribute to communal living and co-working spaces. Having trained as an architect and artist in Vienna, Amsterdam and London, she has worked in visual arts and architecture since 2000. In 2024, Christof completed her PhD, which focused on the role of citizen professionals in cooperative and participatory housing and co-working projects. In these projects, citizens act as intermediaries between civic initiatives, market parties, and governmental actors.

As co-founder of the consultancy practice DwellingMatters, she provides advice on community-led urban development and self-managed community spaces for neighbourhoods. Christof collaborates with organisations such as BAK Basecamp for Tactical Imaginaries, Amsterdam Alternative, and the Faculty of Art and Culture at the University of Amsterdam.

The publication builds upon literature from the fields of urban movements, civic engagement, and critical urban theory.