City as a Commons Policy Reader

* Book: The City as Commons: a Policy Reader. Ed. by Jose Ramos. Commons Transition Coalition, Melbourne, Australia (2016)

URL = https://www.academia.edu/27153839/The_City_as_a_Commons_A_Policy_Reader?email_work_card=view-paper

Description

"The City as a Commons: the idea of urban commoning is an emerging body of ideas and practices, that have the potential to transform the ways in which we experience and shape our urban environments, and indeed world. This reader attempts to bring various dimensions of urban commoning into one place, in a format that is easy to digest, communicate and advocate for. The intent of the project is to provide a resource for urban commons advocates, which helps them (you) to articulate and strategize urban commons transformation projects in a variety of areas. It is by no means complete, as the urban commoning movement has only just begun, and the scope of this reader is limited to who has contributed. It is merely a step on the journey toward our cities as commons. It is also part of a process of experimentation. Many of the ideas are new: urban collaborative governance, sharing cities, platform cooperativism, open money, the new political contract between citizens and the state, and so on. Therefore, you the reader are in a special position. Urban commoning is not a finished book, completed and to be followed like a recipe. It is a book with only the first chapter half written. You and urban commons advocates are in a place to propose new innovations and formulations. You the readers should go through each of the proposals with scrutiny and discernment. You may agree with some proposals and disagree with others. If you have suggestions for improvements for any work, let the author(s) know, or write and develop your own versions."

Contents

Jose Ramos:

"Critical Themes In The Reader

When reviewing the thirty-four or more contributions in this reader, some themes clearly emerge. The urban commons represents a new political contract. As mentioned, this is clearly seen in the development of the Bologna Regulation for the Care and Regeneration of the Urban Commons as well as Foster and Iaione's call for urban collaborative governance. In a number of examples in this reader, urban commoning strategies require civic-state alliances and coordination, in the vein of Bauwens partner state ideas.

In particular, new political contracts, such as the one created in Bologna, enfranchise citizens with a right to be social innovators in transforming their cities. Likewise, such political contracts enlist the state as a facilitator charged with empowering citizens in commoning the city. If a city is a commons, then following the wisdom of Elinor Ostrom, it can be governed as one by all the members of a city that depend on its perpetual sustainment. In contrast to the beyond market and state notions of the commons, it is clear that for urban commoning, the state's role cannot be disowned or discarded as a critical factor. In addition, the urban commons represents a\ new culture of citizenship. This is a fundamental transformation from citizen as passive beneficiary of technocratic systems, to one who is actively shaping the city around them, taking responsibility for the care and development of their cities. Whereas 20th century technocracy has infantilized citizenry, expected only to be tax payers, service users and once every 3-4 years voters, the urban commons demands that we step up as active citizens to not only create and shape our cities for the better, but indeed to play a role in actively governing our cities with others. The urban commons also represents new value exchange systems that sit outside the traditional marketplace and outside municipal service relationships.

The sharing economy, local currencies, time-banking, circularization of waste, and other reciprocity based systems are part of a new equation in which value finds new ways of circulating and enriching people's lives. To be truly commons-based, these value exchange systems must circulate the value they create back into the communities that produced them. It can also be added that the urban commons represents new visibility for what has been invisible in relation to urbanism. From intangibles such as culture and cultural intelligence, to the hidden costs of monopoly rents, to underutilized land, and cities' use of energy and contributions to our atmospheric commons through carbon emissions. The commons perspective naturally unearths dimensions of city life that are hidden by other perspectives, opening the way for more holistic strategies of responsibility taking and wellbeing making. Of course, the urban commons represents a new way of seeing the city. It represents an emerging worldview and vision. This will evolve over time and become clearer as we make the path by walking.

This reader would not have been created without the friendship and inspiration of Michel Bauwens. While giving talks in Melbourne in late 2015, Michel droppeda match in the dry kindle of my heart, sparking this call for policy briefs that culminated in this reader. I would also like to acknowledge the Commons Strategy Group, which brought me to Bangkok in 2012 for a commons deep dive and Berlin in 2013 for the Economies of the Commons conference. These experiences helped to seed my thinking and practice and have led to a number of commons projects and directions. Finally, acknowledgment goes to the authors of the policy briefs that have made this reader such a delight to edit. As an editor, having carefully readthrough each of your contributions, I have been continually inspired by your ideas, proposals and spirit. I am sure other readers will be just as inspired as I am by your words and visions."

(https://www.academia.edu/27153839/The_City_as_a_Commons_A_Policy_Reader?email_work_card=view-paper)

ToC

Space

Design and the City Commons ......................................................................... 14

Active Transit & City Commons: Putting People Back into the City & the CityBack into Place ................................................................................................... 18

Repurposing Public Spaces in a City as a Commons: the Library ................. 23

Heritage and City Commons ............................................................................. 26

Value Exchange

Sharing Cities: An Asset-based Approach to the Urban Commons ............. 33

Community Currencies and City Commons .................................................... 37

Time Banks and City Commoning ..................................................................... 41

Construction Waste Transformation and City Commons ............................... 44

Production

Platform Cooperatives for Democratic Cities ................................................. 48

Coworking: Challenges and Opportunities for a Prosperous and Fair New Economy .................................. 52

Orchards and the City as a Commons ............................................................ 57

Cosmo-localism and Urban Commoning ........................................................ 61

City Commons and Energy Demand ............................................................... 66

It’s Time to Create Chambers of Commons .................................................... 71

Governance

Sharing Cities: Governing the City as Commons ............................................ 77

Devolved Commons Governance for Cities ................................................... 80

Anticipatory Governance and the City as a Commons ................................ 86

A Civic Union ....................................................................................................... 90

Land

Tax Reform for a Commons-based City ........................................................... 97

Tax Delinquent Private Property and City Commons ................................... 102

Community Land Trusts ..................................................................................... 106

The City as a Regional Commons ................................................................... 109

Knowledge

Open Data and City Commons ...................................................................... 114

Human Service Directory Data as a Commons ............................................ 116T

The Unseen City: Commons Oriented Cities and the Commons Beyond .. 120

Culture

Culture as Commons ........................................................................................ 125

Ubuntu as a Primer for City Commons ........................................................... 128

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and the City as Commons ................................. 131

Accounts

Bologna Celebrates One Year of a Bold Experiment in Urban Commoning ......................................................... 138

Milano, New Practices to Booster Social Innovation .................................... 142

The Emergence of Assemblies of the Commons .......................................... 144

History and Evolution of the Chamber of Commons Idea ........................... 150

Big Blue Sky: Re-igniting the Art of Citizenship ............................................... 160

Zaragoza Activa, an Ecosystem of Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation and Creativity, in an Old Sugar Factory ................................................................. 163