Rethinking the Anticommons: Usufruct, Profit, and the Urban

Abstract

The lens of usufruct is a productive way through which to anthropologically examine experiences of fast rates of urban growth. Within cities, temporary access to land (by developers, construction companies, or governments) forms a nexus that transforms space from public to private and from municipal to corporate. This can begin to blur the boundaries between such dualities, giving rise to varying forms of public–private partnerships and pseudopublic urban spaces. In what follows, I explore the transformational nature of this nexus of usufruct through a discussion of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.