Kindness, in the Times of Guerrilla Altruism: The Twin Grammars of Infrastructural Residual Space

Srijon Barua
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Srijon Barua: Temple University

No ruwz8_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: This article introduces "Guerrilla Altruism" a spatial practice and low-budget pedagogical method as a mechanism for contesting the rapid neoliberal commodification of urban commons. The research is grounded in "infrastructural residual space" (IRS): void space beneath or around urban transport viaducts. It identifies that IRS is governed by two coexisting spatial grammars: a hegemonic administrative grammar of regulation, and a subaltern grammar of lived care expressed through tactical acts of use. The article advances three arguments. First, IRS is an inherent feature of any transport infrastructure, not a commercial byproduct, a distinction that challenges its commodification. Second, infrastructural operators bear a custodial stewardship over these spaces. Third, it proposes "Guerrilla Altruism" as a radical pedagogical method for spatial resistance, establishing an empirical "kindness archive" to make subaltern care legible. Tested through 25 micro-interventions at Kyoto’s Fukakusa park, this approach shows how users can empathically share the urban commons to defend public ground without displacing existing infrastructure.

Date: 2026-05-08
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:ruwz8_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ruwz8_v1

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