Alex Axinte is an architect, researcher and educator who lives and works in Bucharest. Alex graduated from the UAUIM University of Architecture in Bucharest in 2004, has a Master of Social Science at the Sheffield Methods Institute in 2018 and a PhD at the Sheffield School of Architecture, University of Sheffield in 2024. He is interested in documenting and supporting informal based practices of commoning in the context of collective housing in the post-socialist city. Alex is involved in action research projects, applied education, participatory design and cultural and civic activation and is co-founder of the spatial practice studioBASAR (2006). In the context of his PhD fieldwork research, he initiated OPEN Garage in Drumul Taberei neighborhood, a space-project for research, mutual learning and cultural and community activation. From this approach, the qualitative research The Map of Neighborhood Libraries was developed. Alex is a guest collaborator at the Faculty of Sociology at SNSPA, the Faculty of Landscape Design at USAMV, the University of Architecture and Urbanism UAUIM in Bucharest and was an general training asistant at the Master of Urban Design (MAUD), University of Sheffield.

Public libraries in Bucharest have not benefited from the construction of dedicated spaces. The uneven coverage of the city, operating in inadequate spaces, has affected their role and impact. Despite chronic underfunding, libraries remain important spots on the neighborhoods’ map. In the context of the of community spaces’ accelerated disappearance, some libraries are becoming implicit community centers. Users develop a personalized relationship with librarians and adopt the branch as "our library" becoming "friends of the library". Here, users receive book recommendations, participate in communities of interest, get involved in caring for the space, and contribute to programming activities. In this context, the research Map of Neighborhood Libraries (HBC) aimed to illustrate the libraries’ community potential through local examples. HBC sought to highlight the impact of libraries on quality of life, their contribution to maintaining social equity and bringing communities together. The research seek to support the cause of libraries in the public narrative advocating for supporting, developing and expanding the public library network. The qualitative research was based on a participatory methodology, which included mapping, (non)participatory ethnography, semi-structured interviews and archival investigation. Following mapping workshops with users and librarians, a map of the public, civic and social infrastructure of the neighborhoods "as seen from the libraries' doorstep" was redrawn. The maps were distributed in libraries, and lessons learned were disseminated in presentations, articles, broadcasts and seminars with stakeholders. The research’ suggestions and recommendations were materialized in partnership with educational institutions (UAUIM, USAMV) through a series of applied education workshops in which the gardens of some of the studied branches were participatively transformed. Supporting public libraries as needed doesn’t entails just informed residents, but also emotionally balanced citizens, integrated into a community of interests and practices as resilient and supportive in times of crisis. Associated not only with the distribution of culture and education, but also as a space of living together, the library can function as a community laboratory. Action research can both articulate evidences and recommendations towards public policy, but at the same time is able to test these proposals through concrete actions and projects.