Bracket [On Sharing] considers the historic roots of sharing and their relationship to contemporary models of sharing.

Sharing is one of the humanity’s most basic traits; we intrinsically recognize the benefits of pooling resources within a community in order take advantage of varied abilities and access in order to fulfill needs. The impact of sharing goes beyond simply satisfying the necessities for survival and extends itself into the social and cultural dimensions of our communities.

In constructing an urban commons, composed of collectively managed and shared resources, we shape our physical, social, and cultural environments to achieve some degree of shareabilty—whether of goods, services, or experiences. These historic and evolved cultural roots ensure that sharing is inevitably part of our daily lives. Yet, its central role in how we organize and manage our cities is increasingly threatened. Within a context of increased emphasis on the individual and privatization of the commons, sharing holds much promise for re-evaluating our economic, political, and social relations to equitably distribute resources and services at the scale of both the individual and the collective.

Neeraj Bhatia is a licensed architect and urban designer from Toronto, and the founder of THE OPEN WORKSHOP. His work resides at the intersection of politics, infrastructure, and urbanism. He is an associate professor at California College of the Arts, where he also codirects the urbanism research lab The Urban Works Agency. Bhatia has also held teaching positions at UC Berkeley, Cornell University, Rice University, and the University of Toronto. He is the coeditor of the books Bracket [Takes Action], The Petropolis of Tomorrow, Bracket [Goes Soft], and Arium: Weather + Architecture, and coauthor of Pamphlet Architecture 30: Coupling—Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism.

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Maya Przybylski is an associate professor and interim director of the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo where she founded the DATAlab group. Maya combines her background in architecture and computer science to explore how the increased availability of data and the emergence of computational design transforms the theoretical frameworks, methodologies, tools, and outcomes of the architect. Select distinctions and awards for scholarly work include Canada's Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant (2018), Sidewalk Labs Grant (2018), ACSA Faculty Design Award, and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Medal. She is co-editor of books Bracket [On Farming] and Bracket [At Extremes] (Actar), and co-author of Pamphlet Architecture 30: Coupling—Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism (PA Press). Through her design work, Maya has collaborated with a range of practices including Material Syntax, RVTR, Lateral Office, WilliamsonWilliamson Architects, and Bruce Mau Design.

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