Residual residential space as commons

Research on common pool resources (CPR), which began with a focus on rural communities and their defining agricultural practices, shifted recently also to the urban context, looking at community gardens, city parks and other recreational facilities. This article extends the use of CPR theory to residential complexes. Courtyards, lawns, lobbies, cellars, stairwells and other parts that fall outside individual apartments are aggregated as a new sub-set of CPR, defined herewith as Residual Residential Space (RRS). Based on findings from three main types of RRS in Israel, the article evaluates some of the mechanisms designed to regulate such space. In line with earlier work on CPR, the article suggests that legal instruments, important as they are for general guidance, do not suffice. To be effective they need to echo popular framings of Residual Residential Space, to be congruent with local sensibilities regarding micro-history, and to concur with expectations stake-holders might have from their own community.