Leagues of Commons-Based Cities

= a proposal by Michel Bauwens and the P2P Foundation

Description

Dirk Holemans & Kati Van de Velde:

"The real societal change will only occur if cities work together, not just in loose networks, but really forming a League of Commons Cities with a shared goal. This can include the co-development of global open source infrastructures that are needed to solve systemic issues that affect all cities. As an example, consider Munibnb or Fairbnb, coalitions developing alternative solutions to Airbnb. FairBnB is at this moment firstly a community of activists, coders, researchers and designers that wants to offer a community-centred alternative to commercial platforms, prioritises people over profit and facilitates authentic and sustainable travel experiences, while minimising the cost to communities. This is done on the basis of the principles of collective ownership, democratic governance, social sustainability, transparency and accountability. Another relevant development is the movement of cities that want to evolve from fablabs to fabcities. This initiative, Fab City, aims at a new urban model for self-sufficient cities. The project, initiated by institutes in Spain and the US, involves cities such as Barcelona (Spain), Kerala (India) and Shenzhen (China). Fab City aims to empower citizens with micro factories in every neighbourhood to allow for a drastic reduction of energy consumption and of transportation of materials and goods. The goal is to develop locally productive and globally connected self-sufficient cities by 2054. Hence, cities produce everything they consume; with a global repository of open source designs for city solutions."

(https://gef.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GEF_Article_Urban-Commons_Dirk.pdf)