PAX – Patios de la Axerquía

About

PAX – Patios de Axerquía, a citizen-led association, operates in the Axerquía, the eastern side of the historic centre of the city of Córdoba, in southern Spain. Córdoba has a rich history, having been the second-largest city in Europe in the 10th Century and the capital of an Islamic Caliphate. It is the city with the most UNESCO-recognized Heritage Sites globally, and its city centre in its entirety is considered historical heritage. [3;5] The patio-houses themselves not only are a tangible heritage structure but also have immaterial value, as they represent a traditional system of communal living. Moreover, they are recognized for their ecological importance, as they play an essential part in supporting biodiversity and climate regulation in the Mediterranean urban environment. [4;6]

To counter depopulation in conjunction with gradual and severe degradation of its heritage, due to increasing tourism and gentrification in the historic Axerquía district, the initiative of PAX has taken up the challenge to revive community-based living spaces. [1] It undertakes research activities to promote the creation and transfer of knowledge about societal and urban entrepreneurial problem-solving. It also aims to promote the implementation of social innovation strategies, the social and solidarity economy and cooperativism in order to find new ways to satisfy housing and social needs and is involved in the training of citizens in regeneration activities. Finally, it promotes knowledge and recognition of good practices in urban areas, encouraging the emergence of spaces for exchange, debate and cooperation. [4]

An essential pillar of their work is the ‘heritage communities’ that PAX aims to strengthen. It does so by promoting co-ownership and co-management of the traditional patio-houses. The association has enabled and supported the creation of citizen-led cooperatives through which individual patio-houses are acquired, renovated, and finally, inhabited. [1;4] Spain’s increasing property ownership culture has made the model of this initiative an innovative one, promoting alternative forms of ownership in a high heritage value environment. [2] PAX aims to operate as a structure that unites housing, rehabilitation, and service cooperatives to generate a local microeconomy. PAX is devised as a model to be repeated in other areas in Córdoba and similar cities, especially in the Mediterranean area. [1]

Governance

The organisation of the initiative takes place at two different levels. At the first level, there’s PAX, the association, which was co-founded by two architects and one architect/anthropologist. These three individuals currently form the executive board of the association. The association collaborates with a range of organisations and institutions (both public and citizen-led) to gather the most accurate knowledge for the initiative to work effectively. At this more strategic level, decisions are made about the operational model of the initiative as a whole. [1;2]

On the second level, activities ‘on the ground’ are conducted. PAX supports the creation of citizen-led cooperatives for the rehabilitation of patio-houses. As these cooperatives are formed by the (prospective) owners/users of a patio-house, this group of individuals effectively makes the final decisions on how the space is distributed, what activities take place within the premises, and how day-to-day management will be conducted in their specific house. PAX provides support and advice throughout this process. [1;2]

Business Model

Given that the traditional banking system did not acknowledge the legal structure of a collective property, the initial investment was provided by an ethical bank – Fiare Banca Etica. The ethical bank was willing to finance the acquisition and rehabilitation of the first patio-house, providing trust in PAX’s strategy to invest in urban regeneration without aiming for financial speculative value. [1] The association in itself does not necessarily need any financing, and so the individual cooperative that is formed for each patio-house is the entity that requires funding for the acquisition and renovation of the patio-houses. The individual cooperatives have thus far raised funding from out-of-pocket money of members and loans from the ethical bank Fiare Banca Etica. [1]