Commoning Accessibility: a Research Agenda

This paper introduces Commoning Accessibility (CA) as a new framework for understanding and enabling equitable access to urban services within the context of the 15-minute city (15mC). While the 15mC promotes proximity-based access to everyday amenities, it often overlooks the social and relational processes through which accessibility is produced and maintained. Drawing on emerging debates about commoning mobility and mobilities of care, we argue that accessibility should not be understood merely as a function of spatial proximity or individual mobility, but as a collectively shaped resource that emerges through shared practices, infrastructures, and governance. Inviting for a reflection on a wide range of underexplored community-led initiatives—from shared mobility schemes and care services to locally run facilities—that actively reshape access in ways aligned with the principles of commoning and framing those under the umbrella of CA, the paper propose a new research agenda. The research agenda is structured around five key areas: firstly, mapping enabling conditions for CA practices; secondly, understanding CA practices; thirdly, supporting the development of CA as experiments; fourthly, assessing CA impacts; and fifthly, identifying supportive policy frameworks. With such an agenda, the paper calls for a shift in accessibility planning—from top-down, metric-driven approaches to ones that centre collective agency, everyday interdependencies, and community-led innovation. This reorientation has significant implications for how accessibility is governed, experienced, and sustained in the pursuit of just mobilities.