Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Katrina Navickas, Professor of History, University of Hertfordshire
Episode Title: Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England
Date: December 14, 2025

This episode presents a wide-ranging conversation with historian Katrina Navickas about her new book, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England. The discussion investigates the evolution of public space (“the commons”), shifting access to land, the regulation of urban environments, and the profound historical interplay between protest movements and physical space. Navickas traces these themes from the Industrial Revolution to the present, revealing how the fight for access is as urgent now as ever.

Key Topics and Insights

1. Defining Public Space and the Commons

[03:05-04:31]

• Dr. Navickas introduces her intellectual and activist interest in protest and public space, shaped by her own experiences in marches.
• Public space is commonly perceived as open and free to all, yet, in reality, it is heavily regulated by law and custom.

  “We all think of public space as something that's open, that everyone can use for all different types of purposes. But actually, when you dig down into it and you look particularly at the right to protest, public space is quite constricted, it's quite restricted by laws, regulations, policing.”
  — Katrina Navickas [03:34]

• The book unpicks the complexities of what public space really is and how it's changed across time.

2. Changing Landscapes: From Commons to Enclosure

[04:31-08:53]

• The early 19th-century English commons were rapidly diminished as industrialization demanded land for cities.
• Commons were never truly open to all; access was regulated and became more restricted through “enclosure” — fencing off land for private or industrial use.
• The “waste” refers to uncultivated land, which was also enclosed, reflecting both domestic and colonial attitudes about wilderness and ownership.

  “Waste also has imperial colonial connotations...the colonies are depicted as wasteland that the English and the British can go and colonize, because the idea of waste is about wilderness. There's nothing there. When, as we know, these places aren't uninhabited, they aren't wasteland. But there's a kind of colonial justification for taking over different countries through this idea of enclosure and waste.”
  — Katrina Navickas [08:02]

3. Verge Battles and Urban Margins

[08:53-11:53]

• The verge—land strips beside roads—became contested spaces as urban expansion pushed marginalized communities, especially Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people, further to the edges.
• Conflict arose between landowners and these communities, illustrated by cases such as the Onslow family’s disputes in Surrey.

  “There's quite a few battles between landowners and gypsy communities about where they can camp, where they can stop for the night. And increasingly, gypsy Roma travel communities are forced onto the verges of roads rather than on commons.”
  — Katrina Navickas [10:22]

• Law enforcement often tried to mediate between landowners' interests and the rights or needs of the travelers.

4. Urban Transformation: Squares, Paving, and Respectability

[11:53-14:09]

• Open commons gave way to paved squares and “regenerated” urban spaces, supervised by local authorities aiming to attract “respectable” middle-class users.
• This physical and regulatory shift excluded marginal and working-class uses, with bylaws banning “unrespectable” activities like loitering or hawking.

  “There was an argument that the middle classes are trying to civilize the working classes by enforcing all these rules and regulations. Obviously, that doesn't happen in practice. Cities are still very messy places, very lively, and all sorts of activities happen in these spaces. But certainly there's an attempt...to control the kind of behaviours that go on in an urban space.”
  — Katrina Navickas [13:18]

5. Parks: “People’s” Spaces or New Enclosures?

[14:09-17:23]

• Victorian-era public parks were carved from common land to compensate urban populations for lost access to open space.
• While intended for the people, parks quickly became highly regulated, with locked gates, wardens, and strict bylaws controlling behavior.
• Notable example: Kennington Park was enclosed following mass Chartist meetings — ending its role as a site of political assembly.

  “As soon as Kennington park was railed off with beautiful iron railings and park warden installed, no more political meetings were allowed on the space. So this common that had been used for hundreds of years for big gatherings suddenly becomes a much more regulated, specific type of space.”
  — Katrina Navickas [16:15]

• Later socialist and anarchist movements challenged these new restrictions to reclaim space for protest.

6. Local to Global: Protests and the International Commons

[18:55-23:07]

• Protest movements, even when focused on local spaces, often nurtured global networks and solidarities.

  “Even though they might be fighting over access to a particular park or a square, they're connected to a global movement...Most famously the anti Vietnam War movement in the 1960s, they're still doing the same, they're still claiming spaces.”
  — Katrina Navickas [20:52]

• The move from hierarchical, local protest to globally connected, loosely organized movements was especially pronounced after WWII.
• Doreen Massey’s work is cited as an influence in connecting local space and global struggles.

7. Contemporary Access and the Right to Protest

[23:07-25:08]

• Access to public space in the UK is more restricted than many realize, made sharper during the COVID-19 lockdown.
• High-profile protests (e.g., Black Lives Matter, Sarah Everard vigil) highlighted tensions over rights to assembly and new legislative crackdowns.

  “We've recently had legislation like the Police Crime Court Sentencing act and a new Public Order act which restricts people's types of protest even further...there's increasing legislative and policing concerns over the right to protest.”
  — Katrina Navickas [24:10]

• The history of contested commons remains deeply relevant today.

8. The Long Fight for the Right to Roam and Rural Space

[25:08-27:25]

• Navickas chronicles ongoing movements for the “right to roam,” noting persistent restrictions and recent campaigns (Guy Shrubsall, Nick Hayes).
• The story of the Kinder Scout mass trespass is recast as more limited in legacy than often portrayed.
• Organizations like the Open Space Society and the National Trust both facilitate and, in some ways, restrict access.

Memorable Quotes

• “Public space is quite constricted, it's quite restricted by laws, regulations, policing. So the book's about unpicking those complications about what we think is public space and then trying to see how that's changed over time.”
  — Katrina Navickas [03:35]

• “The commons are divided up, urbanised, turned into squares, turned into streets, turned into building land for new industries. And actually people's access to common land becomes a lot more restricted. And that's partly what they're protesting about.”
  — Katrina Navickas [05:50]

• “Parks are one of the most regulated urban spaces, even though they come out of quite often quite open spaces like commons, where it was a lot more free to do what you wanted to do.”
  — Katrina Navickas [15:30]

• “You can connect the local with the global...through occupying particular spaces.”
  — Katrina Navickas [22:45]

Looking Forward: Research and Future Projects

[27:25-29:26]

• Navickas is pursuing new research on “administrative resistance” — forms of protest operating through bureaucratic channels (e.g., anti-poll tax movement).
• Interest in tenants’ associations and collective action against governmental policies is also a focus.

  “Part of the success of the [anti–poll tax] movement wasn't to do with rioting, it wasn't to do with any illegal activity. It was actually people challenging the rules by being quite pedantic about them.”
  — Katrina Navickas [28:30]

Key Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Time | |--------------------------------------------|-----------| | Introduction to Navickas and the Book | 03:05-04:31| | History of Commons and Enclosure | 04:31-08:53| | Verge, Waste, and Traveler Communities | 08:53-11:53| | Urban Commons → Squares and Regulation | 11:53-14:09| | The Rise and Regulation of Parks | 14:09-17:23| | Global Commons: From Chartists to Vietnam | 19:23-23:07| | Trends in Legal Rights and Protesting Now | 23:07-25:08| | Right to Roam and Countryside Access | 25:08-27:25| | Navickas’s Upcoming Research | 27:47-29:26|

Conclusion

Dr. Katrina Navickas’s Contested Commons illuminates how struggles over land, access, and protest have defined English public life for centuries. The dynamic between democratic action and space, from urban parks to rural footpaths, continues to shape the landscape—both literally and politically. The episode links these past and present fights, providing crucial context for current debates on protest, access, and rights to the commons.