This is a draft section for our forthcoming paper on “The Continuing Promise of the Noösphere and Noöpolitik — Twenty Years After. Republished from Materials for Two Theories: TIMN and STA:C Notes about the noosphere and noopolitik — #7: new hope for the noosphere and noopolitik — the global commons UPDATE — May 4, 2018:… Continue reading
In Barcelona, high-tech data platforms generate demand for old-fashioned community development. Adrian Smith: Residents living around Plaça del Sol joke that theirs is the only square where, despite the name, rain is preferable. Rain means fewer people gather to socialise and drink, reducing noise for the flats overlooking the square. Residents know this with considerable… Continue reading
The councilor for Citizen Participation, Transparency and Open Government of the City of Madrid, Pablo Soto, explains the municipal participation model Decide Madrid in a round table discussion, “Open Government to renew democracy and rebuild the confidence of citizens.” This talk was included in the Open Government Partnership day, held in parallel to the 72nd… Continue reading
Della Duncan: Here’s the problem – According to a 2012 report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 40 percent of the world’s population will be “living in river basins experiencing severe water stress” by the year 2050. While most of these areas will be responding to a reduction of both surface and groundwater, others… Continue reading
In Europe and beyond, the hegemonic liberal vision that has hitherto dominated global politics is being challenged. This impetus is not emerging from nation-states themselves, but from new alliances and constellations of power that fight the inertia of the nation-state. Today it is especially in cities that new conceptions of citizenship, development and sovereignty are… Continue reading
Recently, our colleagues Vasilis Niaros, Vasilis Kostakis and Wolfgang Drechsler received the Tallinn University of Technology 2017 Publication of the Year award for “Making (in) the Smart City”. Abstract Critical approaches to the smart city concept are used to begin highlighting the promises of makerspaces, that is to say, those emerging urban sites that promote… Continue reading
Most technology startups say they’re “making the world a better” place as anyone who watches the TV show Silicon Valley knows. Reality is, of course, murkier. In some cases, it can pretty objectively be argued that a company is really making something the world needs; if they’re innovating on renewable energy or a cure for… Continue reading
Exploring the paradox of community Group formation fascinates me. I invite you to get fascinated with me for a minute: In your imagination, picture a person as an H₂0 gas molecule, floating around in space. The molecule is an unattached individual. Maybe it’s you. You’re cruising through the atmosphere, bouncing off other individuals: maybe high-fiving… Continue reading
Mark Walton: The Forestry Commission estimates that 47% of England’s woodlands are unmanaged. If you like to think of woods as wild places and flinch at the idea of a tree being felled, then you might consider this a good thing. But woodlands, at least in this country, need management. Whilst truly wild woodlands are… Continue reading
Vassilis Gkisakis, M. Lazzaro, L. Ortolani and N. Sinoir: Digital technologies in the agricultural sector are highly promoted. However, do they offer a dimension of real sustainability, as regarded within the agroecological approach, or is it just another business trend? These new technologies are clearly market-oriented and they bring farmers dependency on costly tools, mostly… Continue reading
Hello friends, this Thursday, May 3, I’ll be holding an informal get together and workshop in London on the Commons along with a game of Commonspoly. This is a hacked version and critique of the game Monopoly, where the goals are to first re-municipalize private goods and, then, turn them into Commons. Rather than compete… Continue reading
The Newton Commoners Plot for Renewing Community The Plot is more than interesting. It touches something deep within us – the yearning for connection, for conviviality, for joining up with people in a shared place that together we can co-create, a place where community can be meaningfully experienced and strengthened. I discovered ‘The Plot’ in… Continue reading
Co-owned web infrastructure is a clear goal for the co-op movement. As well as ensuring our data is not abused by big corporates a co-owned ‘cloud’ of services like email, docs, spreadsheets and calendars could do wonders for collaboration. A cooperative cloud would also provide a clear stepping stone towards the open source, collaborative working… Continue reading
Working in tech is a mix of privilege and pain. Each week, we struggle with how our values fit in our workplaces and platforms. We’re a group of tech workers who see how the tech industry shapes our lives and data, and how it is complicit in forms of oppression, including racism, classism, sexism, cisgenderism,… Continue reading
Julia Reda: The European Commission today released a proposal on combating fake news. It includes a call for the extra copyright for news sites or “link tax”, which is part of the copyright reform plans currently hotly debated in Parliament and Council. In parallel, rapporteur Axel Voss is also trying to add this justification for… Continue reading
Great case example of resilience principles at work, the extending of the commons and community economic development all wrapped up in a 4 minute video. Find out more at Participatory City