P2P Foundation » Blog Archive » Definition of Peer-to-Peer Urbanism
This definition has been prepared by the “Peer-to-peer Urbanism Task Force” consisting of Antonio Caperna, Michael Mehaffy, Geeta Mehta, Agatino Rizzo, Nikos A. Salingaros, Stefano Serafini, and Emanuele Strano (September 2010). References for further info are here. “P2P (PEER-TO-PEER) URBANISM is an innovative way of conceiving, constructing, and repairing the city that rests upon five basic principles. 1) P2P Urbanism defends the fundamental human right to choose the built environment in which to live, selecting from amongst diverse features those that best meet our needs. 2) All citizens must have access to information concerning their environment so that they can engage in the decision-making process. This can be actively supported by ICT (Information and Communication Technology). 3) The users themselves should participate on all levels in co-designing and in some cases building their city. They should be stakeholders in any changes that are being contemplated in their environment by governments or developers. 4) P2P Urbanism relies on available open-source knowledge, theories, technologies, and implemented practices for human-scale urban fabric that are free for anyone to use and review. 5) Residents have the right to implement evolutionary repositories of knowledge, skills, and practices, which give them increasingly sophisticated and well-adapted urban tools.”
