by Michael Mehaffy, Nikos A. Salingaros, originally published by MetropolisMag.com Among environmental designers, the word “resilience” is bandied about a lot these days: in some quarters, threatening to displace another popular word “sustainability”. Partly that’s a reflection of newsworthy events like Superstorm Sandy, adding to a growing list of other disruptive events like tsunamis, droughts, and… Continue reading
ROAR Magazine 2.0: Independent Media for Real Democracy
“As our democracy finds itself under attack by powerful corporate interests, and as the media and academia are increasingly turning away from the type of thoughtful reflection and socially-engaged research that could challenge this state of affairs, we feel that the time has come to take matters into our own hands. In 2014, we want… Continue reading
How To Address Between-Groups Cooperation ?
does individual, lower level between individuals cooperation entail between group, higher level cooperation? The answer is no. But not only there is no necessary connection, there are in fact plausible mechanisms whereby lower level cooperation actually decreases higher level cooperation Excerpted from Joao Fabiano: “However attractive the cooperative paradise may seem, it is not clear… Continue reading
Crisis and the Emergence of Communal Experiments in Greece
“The Crisis and the Emergence of Communal Experiments in Greece” is a working paper that was presented by Nicholas Anastasopoulos, a Greek architect and researcher, in the ICSA2013 conference held in Scotland with the aim to investigate the communal pathways to sustainable living. According to Nicholas, “the Greek crisis is only a speck, albeit a… Continue reading
Looking Back on P2P and the P2P-Foundation in 2013
Michel Bauwens: Kevin Flanagan has asked me to write two articles, one that reviews p2p developments in 2013, and one that looks forward to 2014. Here is the first part of a personal and impressionistic interpretation of what happened in 2013. I like to describe the development of p2p ideas and practices and the P2P… Continue reading
The Ordinary Wisdom and Shared Power of the psyCommons
Denis Postle has produced a nice explanatory video on the concept and practice of the psyCommons, ” Ordinary Wisdom and Shared Power is the first of several videos about the psyCommons that he is producing. What is the psyCommons? Around 45% of the UK population have no need of ‘mental health’ services. They work and… Continue reading
Money, Market, Value and the Commons
Here is a video of a conversation that took place at the edges of the Economics and the Commons Conference in Berlin in May 2013. The participants are Gwendolyn Hallsmith, city planning director in Vermont and author of “Creating Wealth”, Pat Conaty, a research fellow of the New Economics Foundation in London, Anne Snick, who… Continue reading
Monetary History (1): From Matriarchies of Abundance to Patriarchies of Debt
Excerpted from Ellen Brown: (a bit of monetary history, from chapter 5 of the book, Web of Debt) “Located where Iraq is today, Sumer was a matriarchal agrarian economy with a financial system based on abundance and shared wealth. One of the oldest known bronze coins was the Sumerian shekel, dating from 3,200 B.C. It… Continue reading
Benjamin Barber on City-Based Global Governance
Summary of a talk by Benjamin Barber via Stewart Brand: “Sovereign nation states have conspicuously failed to cooperate well enough to deal with increasingly global problems such as climate change, environmental degradation, and organized crime, Barber said. Nations focus on their borders, which are seen as competitive zero-sum games. “But if we shift our gaze,… Continue reading
Peter Sloterdijk on the Acceleration of the Pace of Social Change
Very interesting commentary by German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk. Also on how capitalism is a machine to accelerate change through cultural projects that bypass generational reproduction. Watch the video here:
Declaration: An Internet for the Common Good
* An Internet for the Common Good: Engagement, Empowerment, and Justice for All. A Community Informatics Declaration. Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training Republished from the Community Informatics community, via Michael Gurstein: “Effective use of the Internet holds the potential to benefit everyone. Currently, however, its benefits are distributed unequally — some people… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Common Ground Health Clinic
Common Ground Health Clinic By the Rosehip Medics: “The Common Ground Health Clinic started on September 9, 2005 just days after hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Due to the humanitarian disaster and apparent lack of governmental response, two community activists, Sharon Johnson and Malik Rahim put out a call for healthcare workers to help… Continue reading
Trend of the Day: Circular Economy
Circular Economy = The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which materials flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere. Definition “A… Continue reading
Marica in Brazil launches local-government sponsored Electronic Social Currency
Via Janice Figuereido: The first Electronic Social Currency in Brazil has been launched by a government in Maricá, the state of Rio de Janeiro (130km from the city of Rio de Janeiro). “The Town of Marica sanctioned a municipal law establishing the Municipal Fund “Popular Community Bank of Marica”, responsible for promoting a program of… Continue reading
Group Process Innovation from Intentional Communities
Intentional communities experiment with and develop many different forms of interpersonal and group processes, or communication methods among people, some of which migrate into and influence the larger culture. Excerpted from Allen Butcher: “Intentional communities also make or adapt innovations in group process, for inter-personal communication, self-governance, and communal economics. There are many forms of… Continue reading
Last Year’s Best P2P Books
I never fully finished and published the selection of best p2p books for 2012 (yes!), but it would be really a shame to miss that selection. So before publishing our best book list of 2013, here is a recap of last year’s choices, just in time to still be able to say ‘last year’. Find… Continue reading