11 THE ITALIAN LAW JOURNAL NO. 2 (2025)

 

Democracy and Spatial Justice in Times of Austerity. Creative Use of Law in Italian ‘Emerging Commons’

by Maria Francesca De Tullio

This paper analyses how EU economic governance – especially austerity and the Next Generation European Union (NGEU) framework – exacerbates Italy's territorial disparities and spatial injustice. Specifically, it investigates how Commons and pact-based instruments interact with democracy and equality. 
Public space is framed as a site of political participation, where the present EU economic governance is fostering securitisation and privatisation. The Commons are presented as a participatory response to these pressures. The study then shows how austerity policies, exemplified by the management of urban voids, temporary uses and project-based funding, tend to align with an ordoliberal logic, moving spatial governance beyond representative and participatory circuits. Conversely, the paper concludes by exploring a collaborative role for private law, proposing advocacy tools to formally support its constitutionally oriented use. The aim is to identify limits and potentials of private law as an hypothetical institutional partner for community-led governance in the pursuit of spatial justice.

DOI 10.23815/2421-2156.ITALJ           ISSN 2421-2156

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