The Urban Commons?

We've all heard of the tragedy of the commons, in which unrestrained individual use exhausts a publicly shared resource. I recently came across an article that describes a phenomenon the author calls “the opening of the Urban Commons,” which features a shift to shared private infrastructure and more communal ownership of energy systems previously controlled by monopolies. The author cites a change in urban preferences to smaller, more connected homes, as well as the rise shared transportation services like Uber and rental bike networks as examples of a greater communal living. Check out the article here: http://www.greenbiz.com/article/opening-urban-commons Is the shift is as pronounced as the author claims? Are its benefits as widespread as the article says? How could the building industry contribute?