BUREAU OF LOST CULTURE – Who Owns the Land Beneath Our Feet (11/10/2025)

We walk the streets every day — and through parks, along beaches, over commons and moubtains, across squares and pavements — without much thought for who really owns them

These so-called public spaces, have often been battlegrounds. From the rural enclosures that fenced off England’s open fields, to the city squares where protesters clashed with police, to the gated plazas and shopping malls of today — the story of The Commons is the story of who belongs, who is excluded, and who can gather.

In this episode, we’re diving into that story with historian Katrina Navickas, whose book Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England traces how people have fought, for centuries, to claim, reclaim and defend shared space — from the hedgerows of the countryside to the pavements of London.