Common Shares

Essays from third annual Urban Omnibus Writing Competition

What do you hold in common with your fellow citizens, the strangers with whom you share your city? The writing in this volume offers three very different responses to this question. A woman sifts through what her neighbors discard to find her own place in the city. A man takes it upon himself to enforce the rules governing the gray area between personal and collective responsibility. And a pair of strangers navigates the extremes of the sharing economy.

Every year, Urban Omnibus, The Architectural League’s online publication dedicated to defining and enriching the culture of citymaking, hosts a writing competition. This year, the competition sought to probe what is public, private, and shared in the urban realm. This volume presents the winners, selected from 96 entries from around the world.

Visit Urban Omnibus for more information about the competition and to read the winning essays.

Printing of the booklet made possible by the Partnering Bookstore for Common Shares, McNally Jackson Books.