Learning by trespass: Walking and reading and making commons in the Peak District

In this article, we consider a two-week workshop conducted with the European Architecture Student Assembly (EASA) in August 2023 to reflect on how creative practices might be drawn on to both learn about and learn the art of paying attention to the commons. We do so specifically in relation to land rights in Sheffield and the Peak District in England where the workshop was held. Following Linebaugh, we approach commons not as a thing but rather as (made by) a set of practices. We are also guided by Stengers who urges us to ‘learn the art of paying attention to’ the commons. We draw these provocations together to consider what we did during the workshop — walking(+trespassing), reading(+mapping), making(+repairing) — approaching these activities as practices of commoning. We also reflect on a set of creative responses made by participants to document the workshop (pamphlets, videos, and sound pieces). We consider how the activities and responses offered a way to learn about the topic of commons and land rights and how we fostered a particular bodily and emotional attunement to our experiences that we refer to as learning the art of paying attention to. We further explore how making the creative responses not only documented the workshop but was a key part of learning. The process enabled an opening up of critical questions, imaginaries and speculation and, in this, was also a generative practice of commoning. We argue that, faced with the erosion of the commons, if we can learn to pay attention, these practices can teach us that there are potentials for making otherwise.