Cooperative Cities

In general, the responses to the familiar urban challenges described in the following pages represent innovative attempts to work within (or between) existing spatial, legal, or economic arrangements. Most involve ways for people to work together to meet shared needs–ways that do not rely exclusively on market mechanisms or on legal institutions such as private property. It is particularly noteworthy, although perhaps not surprising, that almost all of the projects recounted in this volume have been initiated or primarily maintained by women: not surprising in that, in urban contexts throughout the world, women tend to be disproportionately affected by the sorts of problems indicated above. The creativity, thoughtfulness, and determination that the women profiled in these pages have brought to bear in jointly addressing their shared challenges–often without official state support and sometimes in the face of serious injustice–is truly inspiring. They are enacting new forms of economic cooperation, of social participation, and of political action, in the process lifting up entire communities while setting examples and suggesting new possibilities for us all.