2. Recreational Centres as Urban Commons: Potential and Barriers to Regeneration in Zambia

The wellbeing of people centres on the value of their families and jobs; hence, they exert effort on issues directly impacting these two sections. However, this focus has led to the decline of social cohesion. Thus, cities must incorporate space outside work and home if they are to promote healthy societal life. Commercial and public space fails to foster togetherness due to market logic forces and the illegality of citizens to maintain neglected spaces. Therefore, this calls for inclusive participation of citizens in managing shared goods and services or urban commons. Despite the diversity of commons, only parks and greenery are used to describe those of a recreational nature. This chapter advocates for the use of recreational centres as urban commons in communities that experience deterioration, due to their potential to bring about regeneration. Using degenerated recreational centres in Zambia, this research adopts a qualitative approach to investigate the potential and determine the barriers constraining the regeneration of these facilities. The chapter found that although recreational centres are valuable, their management is hampered by a lack of institutional support and poor policy enforcement. Management of recreational centres as urban commons must thus be policy-driven for successful community regeneration.