I was invited to write the Preface to Rethinking The Modular: Adaptable Systems in Architecture and Design edited by Burkhard Meltzer and Tido von Oppeln. As the book has just been published, here follows my text: Back to the Present Trumpeted as ‘the most significant innovation in beekeeping since 1852’, the Flow Hive was pitched to a crowd-funding… Continue reading
The latest blog post from the FairCoop project – of which [disclaimer] I am an active member – shows the adoption by the project of the Open Collaborative Platform software, itself a fork of the Open Value Network software originally developed by Bob Haugen and Lynn Foster in collaboration with the Sensorica open hardware enterprise…. Continue reading
One of the quirks of people on the leftish end of the political spectrum is that we pay a lot of attention to language, especially to the words we use when we’re talking about a group of people. It’s a quirk that folks on the right know how to exploit. Let me explain… A couple… Continue reading
Cross-posted from Shareable. Kevin Stark: The word Decidim translated from Catalan means we decide, and it’s the name of Barcelona’s digital infrastructure for participatory democracy. One part functional database and one part political statement, organizers say Decidim is key to a broad digital transformation that is taking place in Barcelona — its institutions, markets, and economy. Organized by… Continue reading
[…] if we aim to change the energetic metabolism of modern industrial societies, for example, we should be aware of the scope of the project. It will not just be a technological task: it will in the end imply profound socio- economic, historical change […] you cannot profoundly alter a system’s output (i.e. its waste… Continue reading
The following paper was submitted for a parallel event at the 17th Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), held in Portugal from 25-27 September 2017. Written by Victoria Gater and Sonja Scherndl. STWR is a campaigning group based in London, founded by Mohammed Mesbahi in 2003, with consultative status at the Economic and… Continue reading
Peter Jones recently asked us for a list of our ten most representative articles to help others who wanted to come up to speed on the subject. The list was put together by Vasilis Kostakis, Vasilis Niaros, Stacco Troncoso and myself. Rather than ten articles, we came up with ten general categories, which then feature… Continue reading
First of a three part series, Niko Georgiades takes on a journey through Greece’s post-capitalist alt. economy. Originally published in Unicorn Riot Ninja. Niko Georgiades: Athens, Greece – While capitalism and consumerism dominate the culture of the United States of America and the Western world, community currencies are creating a buzz elsewhere. The radical need for… Continue reading
Kate Chapman: Just a few hours after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, a group of collaborators from the OpenStreetMap community began collecting all sorts of topographical data about the country – roads, towns, hospitals, government buildings. Within forty-eight hours high-resolution satellite imagery taken after the earthquake became available, and within a month… Continue reading
This report summarises the lessons learned from a two year nationwide action research programme of Community Economic Development (CED). It will be of practical interest to communities thinking about their local economies and policymakers tasked with fostering a more inclusive economy, locally and nationally. Unlike conventional approaches to local economic development, which centre on economic… Continue reading
“We must listen and talk with the people because it’s they we must obey” Ada Colau Learnings, limits and opportunities of two years of the government of change in the City Council of Barcelona, explained by some of its protagonists inside and outside the institution. Visit the documentary’s webpage here. TWO YEARS LATER This document… Continue reading
Humanity faces multiple sustainability crises in the 21st century, particularly with regard to the environment, energy, the economy, and equity—the “E4” crises. In this reader we’ve brought together leading scholars, scientists, and activists to explore: the depth and complexity of the challenges modern industrial society faces in the 21st century; the history and science behind… Continue reading
Cross-posted from Shareable. Aaron Fernando: The concept of ownership is a social contract that allows certain individuals and groups to have rights to certain resources or items while excluding others from that access. Under the mainstream conception of private property, both the ownership of land and anything built on top of it are combined into… Continue reading
Two years ago, we heard a great deal of hoopla on the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, celebrating it as the landmark advance for the rule of law and limits on the power of the sovereign. Far less attention was given to a companion document, the Charter of the Forest, which guaranteed the customary… Continue reading
Michel Bauwens: Few people have studied the protocols and processes of enclosures as Anthony McCann has, and this very interesting podcast represents an overview of years of study and insight into the matter. Recommended! As Anthony says: This work from 2007 was probably my last lecture on enclosure before turning back to the commons, in… Continue reading
Welcome to the FundAction blog; please, make yourself at home! We are a new peer-to-peer fund. We are run by a community of activists seeking social change in all corners of Europe. We are currently supported by a group of four funders. Our activities are grounded in the following values: Peer to peer respect We… Continue reading